Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the authors
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Preface
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Being a Woman in Business Life in Turkey: On Glass Ceiling Syndrome (Prof. Dr. Mine DEMİRTAŞ)
- The Comparative Analysis of Gender Divergences of Media Professionals in Turkey and Finland (Hasan GÜRKAN, Assoc.Prof. , Aybike SERTTAŞ, Assoc.Prof., Nur Tuğçe BİGA, Res. Asst. PhD)
- Using Social Networks for Women’s Movement Within the Scope of Digital Activism: “We Will Stop Femicide” Platform (İlknur DOĞU ÖZTÜRK, Assoc. Prof.)
- A Study on Digital Feminism in Turkey: #istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır (#istanbul contract keeps you alive) (Azime Ayşenur ÇELİMLİ, Res. Asst.)
- The Problematics of Femininity Roles in Turkish TV Series on Digital Platforms (Selin KİRAZ DEMİR, Asst. Prof. Sema BULAT DEMİR, Res.Asst.)
- (In)visibility of Women in Art (Canan ARSLAN, Assoc. Prof.)
- A Review on Cover Designs of Technology Magazines in the Context of Gender (Volkan ÇETİN, Asst. Prof.)
- Why Does the Idea of Bodily Integrity Matter? (Inst. Tuğba GÜLAL)
- The Status of Women on the Male-Dominated Screen: An Investigation of News Discussion Programs on the Basis of Gender (Sertaç KAYA, Asst. Prof.)
- Violence Against Women in the Turkish Press, Ethical Value Attitude in the Awareness Raising Process: An Analysis of Academicians (Begüm Aylin ÖNDER, Asst. Prof.)
- Female Images in the Works of A. P. Chekhov (Jale COŞKUN, Asst. Prof.)
- Building the Ideal Woman in Social Media (Erdem KOÇ, PhD)
- Gender and Game: A “Squid Game” and “Alice in Borderland” Analysis (Selin YILMAZ Res.Asst., Tamer BAYRAK Asst.Prof., Prof. Dr. Deniz YENGİN)
- Examining the Perspective of Social Robots from the Framework of the Gender Approach (Gonca YILDIRIM ÖGE, Assoc. Prof.)
- Power of Social Media Within the Context of Symbolic Violence (Nur Emine KOÇ, Asst. Prof.)
- About the Writers
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the history, all the societies tried to establish and maintain their own culture. Roles and responsibilities of women and men, determined by societies are called gender, which differs in time and from culture to culture. Current policies at the national and international level leads to inequality between individuals. Gender concept defines and seperates culturally attributing spiritual meanings to the material bodies. The roles and status of men and women are identified through femininity and masculinity entirely. This distinction, playing a leading role in the emergence of inequality, has many disadvantages against women. By this book, we all try to eliminate the discrimination, traditions, and conventions produced by patriarchal discourse and raise an awareness of gender studies that really shows an attention to the women points of view that will save, protect, and rise up the world from the inequalities.
Asst. Prof. Nur Emine KOÇ and Assoc. Prof. Ayşegül AKAYDIN AYDIN
Being a Woman in Business Life in Turkey: On Glass Ceiling Syndrome
Abstract: It is clear that women are underrepresented in the corporate world, and male supremacy persists in many cultures. The detrimental impact of the male-dominated working environment on women frequently results in a variety of situations instead of solidarity among female employees. “Feminism” and “masculinity” are gender roles directed at the sexes by culture, and the dominant culture in society expects the individual to fulfill some roles that are related to their gender. Many women, on the other hand, believe that there is a double standard between them and men and feel that they are always lagging behind in internal promotions. This condition is defined for them as an invisible barrier erected by men and society around them, namely the “glass ceiling,” which is one of the most attractive metaphors used to reveal the inequalities between men and women.
The glass ceiling syndrome, defined as an artificial career barrier that prevents women from accessing the same opportunities that men have, is a phenomenon arising from both male and female managers and the obstacles that the person puts on himself, and it is a career barrier for women in working life in Turkey to reach a senior managerial position. In almost every society, women may face many negative situations, such as wage inequality and sexual harassment in the workplace. In this context, the aim of the study is to investigate the symptoms of the glass ceiling syndrome by conducting face-to-face interviews with female employees in their daily business lives.
Keywords: Glass Ceiling Syndrome, Social Gender Inequality, Glass Ceiling Effect
Introduction
Women are not represented quite sufficiently in modern business life, and male dominance perpetuates in many cultures. The negative effects of this male-dominated work fields on women can result contrary to the expectations for solidarity among female workers. “Femininity” and “masculinity” are societal roles that are attributed for the genders by the culture itself. The dominant culture in societies is expecting individuals to fulfill a couple of roles related to their gender. Many women consider themselves inferior in comparison to men in terms of ←15 | 16→occupational capability in business life and think that there is a double standard. Therefore, they feel that they are disregarded in the in-house promotions. So, this issue is defined as an invisible obstruction built around women by men and society, namely “glass ceiling,” one of the most attractive metaphors being used to analyze the inequalities between women and men in business life.
Gender discrimination occurs against women due to the social gender inequality in societies where patriarchal perspective is dominant and so in the families and foundations sharing these male-dominated cultures (Derin, 2016:1120, Yoğun Erçen, 2008: 10).
Glass ceiling syndrome, a career obstruction for women to reach a higher level of administrative position, is an issue originating from the obstructions that both female and male administrators and the individuals put forth for themselves; for women, it is “a ceiling made of glass,” an invisible obstruction built by men and society, an artificial obstruction preventing women to reach opportunities that men have.
Social gender inequality, which mostly occurs in male-dominated cultures, paves the way for gender discrimination much more apparent than in other cultures.
By means of the value for women and family constitution in the Old Turkic States, it became possible for women to have a place in daily life, every right as much as possible, and preserve these rights with social and religious values.
In societies where Turkish women participated in social and political activities along with men, appropriated their own property, and had legal rights on territories.
It is observed that women are not represented sufficiently in administrative positions and had low participation rates in the union activities. The reason why the male-dominated structure is dominant in unions is that the social roles being given to women and the industries they have are not suitable for unionization and they do not fancy unionization due to the glass ceiling issues suffered. By the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, it was transitioned into an industrial society, and the house and the workplace have separated from each other. Women have started to work in the institutional area outside the home in exchange for a fee. The association of women more with private space and men with public space in terms of public space and private space distinction has caused women to experience inequalities in the public space. Because women lag behind men in business life, they have been unable to get in return for their labor (Umar, 2021:247, Kymlicka, 2006: 535). According to the findings of the research in Turkey, remarks the importance of the glass ceiling problem quite well. The female rate has surpassed only 10%, a little among only members of parliament, ←16 | 17→deans, bank presidents, and top administrative bank members’ levels based on the findings of the research. Within the scope of the research, it is remarked that the female rate is quite low among governors, lieutenant governors, district governors, mayors, ministers, undersecretaries, and directors.
Objective and Method
We observe that women face adverse conditions, such as wage inequality and sexual harassment, in their workplace in almost every society. The purpose of this study is to analyze women’s challenge with the glass ceiling syndrome, a career obstruction for them to reach any top executive position in their work life in Turkey. In this sense, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the female workers about their work life.
Glass Ceiling Syndrome
The glass ceiling is a metaphor expressing the disadvantageous status of women and minorities who are climbing up to the top in terms of hierarchy in the foundations and assimilating a thin and insurmountable barrier with the obstruction to the advancement of the women and minorities. It is possible to reach out to the lower levels of this barrier, but impossible to reach out beyond it (Zeng, 2011:313). It is widely acknowledged that the “glass ceiling” term is put forth by two female executives, Katherine Lawrence and Marianne Schreiber. Lawrence and Schreiber have put forth this metaphor to portray the women’s career process in the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press held by Katherine Lawrence. For the first time in 1986, the glass ceiling concept, which is used in the news called “Women in the Business Life” in Wall Street Journal by Hymovitz and Schellhard, is defined as “the obstructions that women faced during their effort to be promoted to the top positions in the governmental and corporal, educational and non-profit organizations” (Lockwood, 2004:22–35). The emergence of the glass ceiling phenomenon is parallel to the participation of women in the business life intensely. In the 1970s when glass ceiling was first used in the United States, the participation of 12 million women in business life has caused profound changes in both business and social life (Derin, 2020:138–139). From then on, it is occasionally observed that the insufficient representation of women existing in every part of the social and business life and their success in the fields of science, art, sports, and politics have been ignored by the media, so that it could not be recognized by the society.
←17 | 18→In the past 20th century, men have had dominance in business life. Even though half of the population is comprised of females in the world and Turkey, they could not be represented as equal to the male in business life and economic activities. Today, women do not want to be behind men but next to them; however, the negative effects of the administrative circles disapproving women still last. The traditional concept regarding women rather in the loop of house, husband, and children, underlies the basic foundation of this circle. This mentality is much more observed in underdeveloped countries. Since women taking up a certain position in both social and business life is not easily accepted in these countries, the promotion of women in top administrative positions is prevented (Karcıoğlu/ Leblebici, 2014:3, Akoğlan, 1997:75). In the research conducted, it is observed that many reasons lead to the glass ceiling syndrome. These reasons can be listed as: the masculinist structure, institutional culture reflecting the characteristics of the majority of the members, prejudgment, family–work role conflicts, and the multiple roles of women for life. Because of all these reasons, many people consider women unsuitable to be administrators. If a female and a male candidate are present among the options, mostly the male candidate is preferred (Derin, 2020:149; Bridge, 2003:80; Nancherla, 2010:19; Schulpen, 2017). According to research conducted in a number of countries, the glass ceiling is present everywhere, and the reasons behind this are identical.
Details
- Pages
- 302
- Publication Year
- 2022
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631886878
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631886885
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783631886892
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631864364
- DOI
- 10.3726/b20058
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2022 (October)
- Keywords
- Cybersickness Digital ecstasy New media Social media Technology addiction Virtual reality
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2022. 302 pp., 42 fig. b/w, 24 tables.
