The Glass Ceiling: A View from the Middle

The question of why there are so few female senior
managers has been of interest to academics,
organisational stakeholders and the media for over
30 years. Yet, despite all the available research on
this question, there is no definitive answer to this
problem. Building on this background this book
provides the opportunity to explore the experiences
of female managers, in mid-level managerial
positions, in the Irish context. Their experiences
assist us in understanding the key issues faced by
this group of women, who are, essentially, the
successors to the executive suite; a new model of
the glass ceiling is also proposed. The insights in
this book should be useful to those interested in
investigating the gender imbalance in senior
managerial positions. The voices of the female
managers illustrate the difficulties they encounter
and remind us that there is still much organisations
can do to address the managerial imbalance.