The Glass Ceiling - Where is it? Women's and Men's Career Prospects in the Private vs. the Public Sector in Sweden 1979-2000

Bibliographic Data

ID3422018
AuthorsErik Bihagen (0000-0001-8800-9867), Marita Ohls
Year2006
Volume54
Issue1
Pages20-47
Publication date2006-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2006.00600.x
OpenAlexW1486422786
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited53

Previous research suggests that women have more limited career opportunities than men. Using Swedish longitudinal data, covering the period between 1979 and 2000, more light is shed on the association between hierarchical levels and differences between men's and women's career opportunities in terms of occupational transitions. The analyses indicate that women face the greatest hinderance to advancement at lower hierarchical levels and that these disadvantages attenuate with higher hierarchical levels. These results contradict the common idea of a glass ceiling, ie that problems for women accrue with increasing hierarchical levels. The findings point to the need for focusing more on gender inequalities at low hierarchical positions although the glass ceiling hypothesis cannot be dismissed altogether. Moreover, the results do not support the view that the gender penalty in careers is larger in the private sector as compared to the public sector

Ceiling (cloud) · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Face (sociological concept) · Geography · Glass ceiling · Inequality · Multilevel model · Political science · Private sector · Public sector · Social science · Sociology · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Law · Work-Family Balance Challenges