ThePerceived Glass Ceiling For Women: Attributes of a Successful Woman
Abstract
ThisIndependent research aims to provide the theoretical framework forshattering the glass ceiling in any career. The paper examines theelements of success, inequality, and laws that affect equal rights,the progress of equality for women, exposure of the perceived glassceiling and debunk the concept that hard work pays off or thatloyalty and contribution to an organization is how to climb thecorporate ladder. We have successful Women like Deborah Sampson,Bridget Biddy Mason, Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.They have confirmed the attributes that are required by Women inorder to be successful and they have broken the glass ceiling intheir career. Prosperous Women think and speak differently. Theirthoughts are directed towards the achieving of the goals and also itis important to speak positively in life. . I define personalsuccess as the inner feeling of joy that one gets after overcomingall the obstacles and achieving the initial goals set. It ischaracterized by purpose, resilience, and joy. A purpose is about thechanges that you make in the life of other people in your journey ofyour success. Your purpose cannot be completely fulfilled until youpossess that ability to serve others.
Individualsuccess can be based on many elements. When people talk about beingsuccessful, they may tend to concentrate on the monetary value andforget their inner state. Do they have so much money in the bank, butthey are always in tears and devastation? Have they made anydifference in their success? When defining an individual ‘success,it is important that we involve drive, resilience, and joy. I definepersonal success as the inner feeling of joy that one gets afterovercoming all the obstacles and achieving the initial goals set. Itis characterized by purpose, resilience, and joy. A purpose is aboutthe changes that you make in the life of other people in your journeyof your success. Your purpose cannot be completely fulfilled untilyou possess that ability to serve others. Resilience is the capacityto remain active and overcome the challenges that you encounter asyou work towards achieving your goal. This trait gives you hope topress on and not to give up despite the problems. For instance, whenwe consider it as outstanding characteristics for a successful woman,we would say that they have to be distinct in the way they think inthe face of fear and disappointments and problems. Joy gives theenergy to thrive. It`s not all about what you encounter in your dailylife, but it also entails your attitude towards your career. Forinstance, we consider a situation where you are so unhappy about whatyou do. This will never make you feels prosperous. When you love whatyou and enjoy doing it, success comes so easy without having tostrain. A woman who is determined and focused towards achieving hergoals should pursue peace in the choices that she makes, love inassociating with others and the drive in her life (Valorie, 2012).
Theglass ceiling is an expression that was established in the 1970s togive a description of imperceptible artificial obstacles shaped byattitudinal and organizational biases which prevent women from thehigh-ranking executive. When the education parity was achieved andsociety’s changed their attitudes towards the responsibility of menand women, there has been an assumption that it is easier for a ladyto move up the career ladder quickly. It is used to refer toobstructions that prevent females from prospering past a particularlevel in a hierarchy. There is the description of from getting to thetop not because they do not have the skills and the capability to,but because of their gender. There is a perception in most societiesof what a woman is supposed to do and how far she should get. It`s isthe greatest threat to a woman because it keeps her from unrollingher abilities and allows her to be defined by this view. However, awoman can decide for herself and make a choice of disregarding thisby having some attributes that play a significant role towards herachievements. It’s not about what a crowd of people want or say,but it’s entirely about an individual decision. The failures andsuccess of females cannot be entitled to the society but to only toher. The glass ceiling has been broken tremendously over the pastyears. Women have been of extraordinary importance in changing theeconomy of various countries, and their capacity to spend is criticalto the product of the economy. There has been an increment in thepopulation of women in the workforce from a third in 1970 to a halfcurrently. There is no limitation to girl education, and they canpursue any career that they want. The traditional view of a woman tobe responsible for taking care of the family and bearing children isnot there anymore.
Aswe said earlier, the personal success of women in any line ofbusiness is not achieved by a community perception, but it’s ratherabout having the personal attributes that will enable you to grow inbusiness. When you socialize with any wealthy woman, you willrealize a big difference in the way they think, sort out theirchallenges and also the way they differ in their speaking from thosewomen who fail in business (Valorie, 2016). In elaboration, a humanbeing is a product of his thoughts and who you are today issubstantially determined by the structure of your thoughts. If youthink of yourself as a failure in a career or business, failure isalready there even before you begin. If you see yourself to prosperin business, its true there will be challenges, but anyone determinedwill thrive through them until they hit the target. A positiveoutlook is an important key to success. In the same way, we speakwhat we see and also our thoughts. Whatever is spoken, it ispossessed because according to the Bible, there is the power in thetongue. The words and thoughts of a successful woman should bedirected towards making the business thrive.
Definitionof a successful woman comes with various characteristics. To beginwith, she must be willing to take a risk. They usually don`t fearfailure because of awareness that encountering essential forprosperity. In most cases, a risk could either be medium or rational.A woman who is an entrepreneur does not go for all kinds of risks,but they prefer venturing certain and rational risks. The reason asto this is that apart from the entrepreneurs following the ideas as apractical situation, they also consider risks they get by exercisingthese ideas. The risks are usually the uncertainties that thebusiness persons have. Some types of risks include financial risks,job hazards, mental risks and social and family risk. In starting agiven business, she risks all her money in it of which there is noassurance that business will be profitable. She may lose or gain, adecision to take the risk must be laid down the failure of which theindividual will never try anything and the finances will not plowback any profits but will maybe put to use as bill expense. Mentaldevotion required to make any business succeed. Long hours ofworking, thinking of the ideas to make the business better, and otherthings that involve the mind like some of the mental strains that onegoes through. After going through all these, the woman is not sure ofhow the business will turn, out, but hope keeps her going. One maynot get all the time to spend and have fun with the family becauseshe is devoted to the business. Also, quitting the job may happen soas to give maximum concentration to the firm. Risk taking is anessential element for all persons of activity, and without it, therecan never be any businesses because investors would not be willing tobe involved in any risk. A prosperous woman takes risks with apositive attitude that she will get results and in case it fails,giving up is not an option but finding a solution to the issue cansave the day.
Anefficacious woman accepts failure. She does not think that successis a destination but rather something that has to be worked for. Anyentrepreneur should take it as a regular part of her journey. Incases where a woman would fail and get discouraged to the extent ofnever raising again, that marks the end of her goals. Takingdisappointment as a typical path should shape her to become evenstronger and aggressive in the business. When one idea fails, sheinvents another and tries out with the same positivity that successwill be there. Any business person requires having this in him if atall they are looking forward towards achieving the set goals.
Courageis a solution to all the things that you tend to be afraid of whenmanaging a business. It has its roots from fear. If a person is neverafraid, he will never have courage. It’s that moment that you feelterrified by a given occurrence and then instead of going down withfear one makes a decision of being courageous. A step of bravelyhelps you to solve problems and also try new things. Just like lifechallenges, fear cannot be avoided, and also it’s not a signal thatyou are supposed to stop and lose hope in your dreams. A woman willalways encounter fear because it’s a very common challenge tosucceeding and being happy. It is a temptation for you to deviatefrom your original goals as it leads to a bad feeling that theauthentic goals are not what one required and it also makes anindividual feel as though he had made a huge mistake while settingthem. If you compare the woman who was establishing the objectivesof the business at the beginning and the one who has been struck byfear, these are two different people. The first one is much focused,believes everything is possible, hopeful and joyful while the latteris the complete opposite of this character. A prosperous woman shouldnever succumb to fear no matter what. The same case applies to allthe other businesses. In losing your courage, one should startmarking the beginning of his end in business.
Settingauthentic goals is part and parcel of this process and should not beignored. It is the top most things that a woman should do in herfirm. All business owners, be they managing a small or big businessrequire objectives to keep them going forward. The goals also help inassigning roles to other employees, staying motivated and maintainingthe success of the firm because all the effort that is exercised isusually to see to it that the objectives have been achieved.Objectives could be established on a short-term basis or long.
Furthermore,she should learn to denounce good opportunities if at all there is aprobability that they may alter proper functioning of the business.Your biggest priority is making the business success, and if takingsome chances compromises it, you should be in a position to say no.She should not put her concentration in what is not available at theexpense of losing her possession.
Additionally,it is important to have the faith that when problems come you will bein a position to offer solutions. As your dreams grow, there aregreat opportunities for more obstacles and discouragements. Making adecision of seeing the challenges as a chance to grow makes it easierfor the woman to get to her visions. It’s just like the way you putyour mind into solutions and in the process more opportunities comeup. Most of the women in business have a tendency to complain andmake excuses, thus being exceptional to deviate from the normalattracts success.
Lastly,you cannot succeed alone, and people are required to make it happen.It’s a person to select people to socialize with intelligently.Possessing a strong support system has an advantage of creating doorsof opportunity and also empowering them in the face of difficulties.Relating with other people is a source of happiness.
FiveSuccessful Women
HillaryClinton
Hillaryhas been involved in challenging fights during her profession inpublic service, but she never gave up even though the battles weretough. Some of her eight achievements include the following. For morethan 40 years, Hillary Clinton fought for kids and families. Despitethe fact that she had pursued law as her career, she did not want towork in the law company but instead, she was employed at thechildren’s defense funds. She said no to her career because she wasfocused on assisting youngsters to live up to their capacities. Shewas happy working with families with incapacitated children andadolescents. The perspective of this lady id different from how anyother person who has completed the whole law course would think.Hillary also made sure that millions of children were provided withhealth (Klein, 2005). She was involved in a battle of passing healthcare reform. Even though this bill was not passed, she did not losehope, but she looked for other options. She contributed inestablishing the children health insurance program by working withdemocrats and republicans. This shows that she accepted failure andtook it positively thus she was able to come up with other options.Just after she was elected the Senator of United States from NewYork, she saw to it that, those patients who had been suffering fromhealth effects at ground zero received the required care(Klein,2005). This happened after the country was under terroristattack. She also courageously fought for human rights. In the U.Nconference, she declared that women rights were fit to be classifiedas human rights. Even though the government was hesitant of her goingto Beijing, she went anyway. Still, there were people who wanted herto select a topic which was less polarizing in the 1990s. She hadthe determination to fight for the abuse of human rights, and hermessage helped many generations after that. She was strong minded,had positive attitude and attitude, and she fought for what shethought was right despite the opinion of other people. Also, shecontributed to the expansion of family leave and health care for themilitary families she touched the lives of many people and overcameall the challenges that came her way. As we saw earlier, the womanhas a purpose in her journey, and it is evident in Hillary Clinton’slife.
OprahWinfrey
OprahWinfrey in successful in the being an actress, philanthropist,producer and the most outstanding one is her talk shows which arerecognized worldwide. Her show which emerged to be the most ratedshow of all time was known as The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Sheis known to be the richest African woman and also the most involvedblack philanthropist in the history of America. Her male kinsfolkshave raped her. She schooled in the University Of Tennessee StateUniversity and took a course in Radio and Television broadcasting.She began hosting the show “People Are Talking” in the year 1976,and it was a hit for eight years. Talk shows were booming in the1990s, and Winfrey made a decision not to include scandalous stylesubjects in her show. She was badly rated at the beginning but later,she was highly respected for keeping her word, and this made herfamous. The courage to stand for what she thought was right despiteeveryone going with it is evident. Winfrey had accepted failure whenshe was poorly rated just to keep her word. She was a risk takerbecause Winfrey undertook various projects with her production firmwhich comprised the exceedingly rated 1989 TV miniseries. The risktaking will is also seen when she signed multi-film contract withDisney. Her first project called Beloved received mixed reviews andlet down her expectations. However, she did not lose hope andovercame the challenge. She was hard working as she put effort inlosing a weight of 90 pounds and weighed 150 pounds. She wasconcerned about her body despite being rich. Because of herinfluential character, she contributed to the world of publishing bythe making of Oprah’s Book Club and made it part of her talk show.Winfrey did not accept to be defined by her sexual abuse but insteadshe looked it from a positive perspective until it inspired her tosucceed.
Bridget‘biddy’ Mason
Masonwas born in the year 1918(Greenstein,1999). She was black,illiterate woman who was at one time succumbed to slavery and sheplayed the role of a midwife. She then moved from MISSISSIPI toCalifornia. She was given birth to in a plantation, and the owners ofthe land were Smith and Roberts. Smith left with the slaves after hewas converted to a Mormon and left her the duty of shepherding thecattle. She also cooked, functioned as a midwife and also cared forthe kids. Mason moved her family back to California in 1851 but shewas not aware that the city had become a free city and slavery wasnot allowed. Charles Owens, a friend of hers from the blackcommunity, assisted Mason in petitioning the court where succeeded ingetting the freedom even for the daughters in 1856. Mason re-locatedto Los Angeles where she became a nurse and midwife. She was ahardworking woman, and she got enough money to be independent. Shewas financially stable and in ten years’ time she purchases a plotin Spring Street for 250$. She made a sale in the section of the landand earned 1500$ constructed a building for rental. She madeintelligent decisions in the real estate business and became worth300000$. Smith evolved to be the richest African-American black ladyin Los Angeles. Some of the characteristics she has are hard work,overcoming challenges, positive attitude and courage.
DeborahSampson (1760-1827)
Deborahconcealed herself as a man so as to serve in the Continental army inthe time of American Revolutionary War. To begin with, this was avery courageous step to take especially for a woman. She is among thefew women known to have fought such battles. She called herselfRobert Shirtliffe and served for 17 months in the army. She was froma poor background. The father of Debora left them and after a shortwhile the mother died, and she was taken to live with a Reverendcalled Peter Thatchers who was 80 years old. Later he died and shewas taken to live with Jeremiah Thomas where she was a hard workingindentured servant. She had learned to read the Bible from thewidow. She was not taken to school because girl education was notbelieved in, but she worked hard to learn from the sons of Thomas tosuccessfully overcome his opposition.
ROSAPARKS
Rosais taken to jail for objecting to giving a white European her seat ona public bus. This was civil disobedience, and it must have takenmuch gut and courage to do that. She is referred to as the mother ofcivil rights. She was born in the year 1923 in Alabama. She had a jobas the seamstress where she worked hard. It was the obligation of theblack to offer their seats to the white men after the front seatswere full. Rosa was necessitated by a white driver to give up herseat but she could not. On her arrest, there was a boycott by theAfrican American on Monday. This shows that she had the goodassociation with the people thus they were willing to hold ademonstration because she was arrested. She had a goal and a visionof fighting for the civil rights of the black community.
|
DEBORAH SAMPSON |
Courage |
Goal definition |
Hard working |
|
BRIDGET ‘BIDDY’ MASON |
Courage |
Hard working |
Overcoming obstacle |
|
ROSA PARKS |
Courage |
Purpose and Vision |
Overcoming obstacle |
|
HILLARY CLINTON |
Courage |
Accepts failure |
Purpose and Vision |
|
OPRAH WINFREY |
Courage |
Accepts failure |
Risk taker |
References
Greenstein,Albert (1999). "Bridget"Biddy" Mason". TheHistorical Society of Southern California. Retrieved 15February 2015.
Klein,Joe (2005)."TheRepublican Who Thinks Big on Health Care".Time.
ValorieBurton. ( 2012). Successful Women Think Differently: 9Habits to Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient
VolarieBurton.( 2016). Successful Women Speak Differently: 9Habits That Build Confidence, Courage, and Influence
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