Classificaton of the level of glass ceiling in organizations within the context of contingencies: A comparative study between education and health sectors

Gender inequality encountered worldwide, also visibly exists in organizations as a problem. The entire global workforce bears signs of gender discrimination. Women who are not less in numbers than men in some organizations, occupy much fewer managerial positions. Women work in organizations in low hierarchy and less responsible jobs, and are paid lower wages. The situation of women who are not given a chance for promotion in organizations, is depicted figuratively by a transparent barrier. The barriers, which invisibly hinder women from rising in the organizational levels are mentioned as glass ceiling in the literature. The reasons behind the creation of a glass ceiling in an organization include; organizational culture not open to diverse ideas, lack of mentoring, insufficiency of workplace training, socialization barriers, inaccessibility to men dominated networks, and work family conflict.This study is an investigation into the way several chosen contingencies affect the perception of glass ceiling in women. The industry to which the organization belongs, socialization provided by the family, whether the organization is in the public or private sector, women?s marital status and the number of children, and the establishment date of the organization are the selected micro and macro contingencies. These contingencies show in which organizations women?s perception of glass ceiling increase or decrease and thus provide a way for classification. In this research a comparative analysis of women?s perception of glass ceiling in the health and education sectors has been carried out. The above cited sectors have been chosen to make a comparison between a sector which can be traditionally accepted as women?s field and a sector which can be regarded as outside of this field. A glass ceiling questionnaire was answered by women in these sectors and the results supported the previous arguments in the literature.Key Words: gender inequality, glass ceiling, contingencies.