Before exploring the negative impacts of gender bias on women, it is necessary to understand the meaning of gender bias in the workplace and the glass ceiling. According to Heilman (2012), gender biases in the workplace refers to generalizations or stereotypes about the attributes of women, and they are used to describe what female employees are like stereotypically or define what women should be in the workplace. Generally, gender bias emphasizes negative understanding or expectation about female employees’ performance by claiming the “lack of fit” of women in positions than male peers (Heilman, 2012, p. 114). For example, women can be stereotyped as lacking ambitions, stable emotions or rationality. Also, more gender norms are applied to restrict women’s behaviors in the workplace, so they have to engage in “should nots”, such as should not be too feminine or too masculine etc. (Heilman, 2012).
A glass ceiling is a term used to describe the barrier that impedes people from rising beyond a certain level within a system or a hierarchy (Lutz et al., 2011). This term was first and frequently coined by feminists when referring to the barriers in women’s career development. For example, women are more likely to encounter a glass ceiling as fewer women will be promoted to senior managers or executive management (Lutz et al., 2011). Also, Davies-Netzley (1998) points out that the glass ceiling is an interlocked issue because women and people of color are facing similar issues, so women of color are those who suffer the most from marginalization and discrimination.
Within the glass ceiling, women will encounter further biases and stereotypes if they become mothers—in the workplace, it is known as the “maternal wall bias”. According to Reiners (2019), not only mothers but also pregnant women and even women who are at childbearing age will face such bias. When women have babies, they are more likely to be viewed as less competent and less committed to their work because they have to spend more time taking care of children (Ogden, 2019).
Both gender bias and the glass ceiling are issues rooted in sexism and genderism. Due to the male dominance in the long history, women were deprived of the opportunities to work outside or attain education. It was not until the early 20th century did women in the West start to strive for their equal rights in employment and education (Lutz et al., 2011). Today, though women’s equal rights in employment and career development are protected, they still suffer from visible or invisible gender biases or discrimination.