The Glass Ceiling Delusion (the Real Reasons More Women Don't Reach Senior Positions) - Tapa blanda

Equality of opportunity is a fine thing but equality of outcome is another matter entirely. There is little doubt that men and women have, on average, different talents and interests that make gender quotas in the workplace unfair and impractical. The Glass Ceiling Delusion is a welcome, well-argued addition to the debate about whether women should be pushed up the social ladder just because they are women, and thus at a presumed disadvantage. This is rather an insult to women and Margaret Thatcher, for one, would not have agreed. Individuals should be treated as individuals, not as members of a particular race, class or gender. Whatever the historic injustices, this is the only way that social structures can evolve naturally. Glenn Wilson Visiting Professor of Psychology, Gresham College, London The Glass Ceiling Delusion attacks head-on the militant feminist myth that men and women have the same interests and capabilities. Reviewing a wide range of evidence, Mike Buchanan shows that the under-representation of women in senior positions in business has nothing to do with discrimination and 'glass ceilings', and that attempts to impose quotas are therefore fundamentally flawed. A polemical book with an important message. Peter Saunders Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Sussex University The Glass Ceiling Delusion makes a significant counter-argument to the debate about women in boardrooms, and for this reason alone it deserves to be read. Whilst I'm personally too old to enter the fray, I'd nonetheless like to add that every scholarly study I've read about women in management during the past fifteen years indicates that successful women have exactly the same characteristics as successful men. All my life I've admired successful women as much as successful men and have had the privilege of working for and with many of them. A typical example is the brilliant Diane Thompson of the Camelot Group. Another is Professor Lynette Ryals, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of my own University. Women like this get to the top on sheer talent; they have no need of a 'gender agenda'. In this debate, however, we also need to be aware that we need pressure groups to ameliorate deep-seated prejudices in society, but a point is inevitably reached beyond which we must let meritocracy in a free society take over, otherwise we enter the dangerous domain of social engineering. The irony is that Mike Buchanan's own movement, Campaign for Merit in Business, is also a pressure group. So, whilst I don't agree with everything he says and does, I believe his book at least deserves to be read and seriously considered, preferably dispassionately. Malcolm McDonald Emeritus Professor, Cranfield School of Management At long last, someone has taken on the myth of discrimination against women who aspire to senior positions in business, including the boardrooms of major corporations. The Glass Ceiling Delusion demythologizes each of thirty elements the author has identified of the now generally accepted claim that women are discriminated against in the world of white-collar work. Much has been accomplished recently in disclosing the half-truths about women and domestic violence, for example, but Buchanan illuminates an area that other critics of ideological feminism have not considered. Buchanan's analysis is based partly on his experience of working as an executive for major British and American multinational corporations for over 30 years until 2010. His book should inspire research on settings of corporate power everywhere. Always witty and sometimes even biting in style, Buchanan's text is grounded in important texts in psychobiology, sociology, history and politics. It is an impassioned yet not angry argument that deserves the careful attention of policy-makers and a general readership. Professor Miles Groth PhD Editor, New Male Studies: An International Journal The Glass Ceiling Delusion is an important and brave book, the best book on social economics and society in general published for decades. It's irresistibly compelling, cogently argued and superbly put together. It should be in all school and college libraries. It should be compulsory reading for social science, economics and politics students. It should be force-fed to male and female politicians. This is definitely a five-star book. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Dr Vernon Coleman bestselling English author

Women are right. There SHOULD be more women in senior positions and in the boardroom. But they need to recognise the implications of a simple reality: individuals are promoted to senior positions, not groups. So why are many women seeking to progress collectively through gender equality initiatives rather than through their individual merits? Talented women who reach the boardroom typically find such initiatives patronising. Some widely-held assertions about the genders in the workplace: - women's progression into the upper levels of organisations has long been hampered by overt and covert discrimination against women exercised by the men (and sometimes the women) already holding senior positions - the 'glass ceiling' - men aren't more likely than women to have qualities which make them fit for senior positions. Women, conversely, are more likely than men to have such qualities, including higher emotional intelligence, consensual decision-making styles... - more women would seek advancement if they felt inspired by more role models (but who will be the role models' role models?) A former business executive with over 30 years' experience in major corporations and business consultancy critiques 30 assertions about men and women generally and in the workplace - including 'the glass ceiling' - and finds them all to be variously delusions, fantasies, lies or myths. He reveals the real reasons why more women don't reach senior positions. More gender equality will result when more hardworking talented women recognise that to progress they will have to do so individually, not collectively. How hard can that be? Harder than beating the drum for gender equality initiatives, certainly, but possibly more effective too? Corporations pursuing gender equality initiatives are engaging in a social engineering experiment which could prove ruinous both for them and for society at large. Militant feminists - a small but vocal band of angry women embracing a Marxist ideology, as the book explains - are behind campaigns for gender balance among senior executives. Why are corporations trying to placate a small band of angry Marxists? The book reviews the state of gender equality legislation in the United Kingdom where David Cameron, a Conservative prime minister and head of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, has enacted 90% of The Equality Bill (2010). The Bill was the crowning glory of the career of Harriet Harman, a militant feminist Labour politician.