During a discussion in my Sociology class at NYIT, the subject turned to the concept of the ‘glass ceiling’. I told the story of a woman I knew who had been promoted to the Board of Directors of a large corporation. As a Board Member, she was entitled to attend board meetings and vote on policy decisions. During her first meeting as the only female Board Member, she sat at a large table in the well appointed, wood paneled room and shared her views on a upcoming company decision. She was shocked and appalled, however, that when the time came for a vote, all the board members retreated into the men’s room where the final decision was made. She was effectively shut out by their passive/aggressive maneuver(play on words intended). As another case of engender discrimination, a bright, attractive, graduating coed shared an untoward experience at her recent interview at Goldman Sachs. She told us that after several straightforward questions, the male interviewer came out of left field and asked her if she had a boyfriend. With that, she grabbed her coat, stood up and as she walked to the door, told the guy: “This interview is over”. Apparently shocked, he apologized and practically begged her to stay. She told him that if his attitude were any reflection of the ethos of the company, she wanted no part of it. The class cheered her; a male student said that she was his hero. Someone else said that she could sue. She said that she’d think about it.
One conclusion that can be drawn from these examples is that in most cases of social change, legislation alone does resolve the problem. Real change usually takes place first on the micro level, between people in dyads, triads and small groups. Over time, the changes migrate upward to the larger society.
