The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter September/October, 1998, Vol. 5, Number 5. What Glass Ceiling? by Rita J. Simon

I n the August l998 issue of the American Sociological Review, Professor Laurie Morgan of the University of Michigan, published the results of two national surveys (a longitudinal one conducted in l982, 84, 86, and 89, and a cross sectional survey conducted in l992) about the relative earnings of men and women engineers. On the basis of the longitudinal survey, she concluded that "the earnings penalty to women is more a matter of when an individual entered the profession than how long she has been in it." Analyses of the l992 survey showed that "the overall earnings gap between men and women engineers was zero." Professor Morgan then went on to explain that the findings reported about the relative earnings of men and women in the professions generally that are attributed to a "glass ceiling" (a practice whereby women lose ground over time or continue to progress on par with men until, at some point their progress is blocked) may well be due to other factors; most especially when women start their careers. Her analyses showed that there were no gender earnings penalties for women engineers who started their careers after l971. Professor Morgan concluded that there may well be an absence of gender differentials in the earnings of men and women in law, medicine, accounting, academia and other professions among individuals who entered those professions within the past 15 or 20 years. In other words, we need to take another look at the earnings of men and women in all professions by examining cohort effects (when a woman enters a profession) rather than by assuming that there is a glass ceiling for women.

Let's hope other academics take up Professor Morgan's challenge and reanalyze existing data or conduct new surveys. My guess is if these studies are conducted we will be able to put to rest the belief that professional women face a glass ceiling in their career.