Probably the most widely recognized architectural metaphor is the glass ceiling, which is used to draw attention to the exclusion of women from leadership. Unlike a simile, where two things are compared directly using like or as, a metaphors comparison is more indirect, usually made by stating something is something else. C the attachment of women in america to their housekeeping duties. More recently, the medical literature has been using the term sticky floor which describes the position of women in academic medicine and dentistry where fewer are promoted and fewer are given any institutional resource at the start of their careers to set them on their way, when compared with their male colleagues 10. Suppose that you know a woman who receives a low salary as a secretary, despite the fact that she works long hours and her job requires complex work.
Berheide, a sociologist of work at skidmore college in upstate new york, proposes the sticky floor as an image to encapsulate the plight of hundreds of thousands of women trapped in lowwage. Metaphor examples for kids a metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that arent alike but do have something in common. But pull away from the sticky floor and many women will hit a glass ceiling. Sticky floor research suggests that not only are women less likely to be promoted from entrylevel jobs, but when they are promoted, they receive less pay than their male counterparts.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the most common general metaphors for womens leadership. The sticky floor is a metaphor used for a the problems women have being promoted to top executive positions. Because silicone oil is super slippery and minimallyreactive, it can lubricate most anything. Oil companies must adjust their profits if the floor price of gasoline drops more than they expect. Based on the pooled regression model, glass ceiling and sticky floor exists in the malaysian labour market in 2009 and 2012. When applied to the asian american experience, the sticky floor refers to the phenomenon by which young professionals of asian descent are often trapped in lowlevel, lowmobility jobs. An object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol of something else. Definition of stickyfingered in the idioms dictionary. The gender wage gaps, sticky floors and glass ceilings. Stickiness may be a metaphor for connection, but sometimes the kind of connection thats not necessarily desired on both sides.
The authors discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these metaphors for characterizing womens current situation as leaders. The connotation of the new metaphor the sticky floor is that majority of women are stuck at the bottom. The celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county questions and answers. Sticky metaphors and the persistence of the traditional. The sticky floor is the metaphor commonly used to depict the select one. Oct 31, 2017 now imagine replacing that camera icon with a metaphor, like an eyebecause cameras help us view the world. Expression used as a metaphor to point to a discriminatory employment pattern that keeps workers, mainly women, in the lower ranks of the job scale, with low mobility and invisible barriers to career advancement. Metaphors are like the glue that holds a good sermon together september 25, 2014 by christian vischi. The gender wage gaps, sticky floors and glass ceilings of the european union we consider and attempt to understand the gender wage gap across 24 eu member states, all of which share the objective of gender equality, using 2007 data from the european union statistics on income and living conditions. Definition of sticky fingers in the idioms dictionary. From glass cliffs to sticky floors, social scientists often use evocative imagery to highlight the. Aug 27, 2015 sticky brandings deep metaphor is transformation.
They refer to the idea that women can only reach a certain level in terms of a successful career and are often held back. An assessment of the impact of sticky floors and glass. How metaphors shape womens lives bbc future homepage. Close to half of working women, compared to onesixth of working men. Because men belong to a more privileged social group than women do, men feel that they deserve higher salaries. Javascript must be enabled to view this email address there is a common fallacy out there. A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given. Glass ceiling and sticky floor are pretty much the same thing. Metaphorically, it can mean the lowest limit of a price or process. When we were going through the rebranding and naming process for leapjob we used the exercise above. It can used as floor price or price floor with the same meaning.
The sticky floor effect refers to women trapped in a lowpaying job with no opportunity for advancement, which is. The center, which used 1990 data from the equal employment opportunity commission in its research, found that more than half of all women in. Oct 15, 2019 sticky floor research suggests that not only are women less likely to be promoted from entrylevel jobs, but when they are promoted, they receive less pay than their male counterparts. Now imagine replacing that camera icon with a metaphor, like an eyebecause cameras help us view the world. Sticky floor is the metaphor used to define invisible walls that keep females over represented in jobs with poor conditions, many times as a result of being considered as female jobs. Silicone in its many forms is used in airplanes, prosthetic devices, body implants, as a waterproofing for paper and ceramics, as a caulk, adhesive, heat resistant insulator, and as a lubricant. The most meaning is delivered when you are clear about which deep metaphor your brand is closely associated with. The sticky floor is a metaphor used for the occupational frustrations experienced by working women stuck in lowpaying, deadend jobs maternity benefits for working women are worst in. Nov 01, 2016 the purpose of this paper is to explore the most common general metaphors for womens leadership. The question and answer section for the celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. From the sticky floor to the glass ceiling and everything in between. Mar 03, 2010 stickiness may be a metaphor for connection, but sometimes the kind of connection thats not necessarily desired on both sides. Although the glass ceiling is a metaphor describing an inequitable architectural feature of career paths.
A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given demographic typically applied to minorities from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy. How the glass ceiling became such a powerful and problematic metaphor. What is the meaning of glass ceiling, the sticky floor. Career strategies for asians, where she addresses the barriers faced by many asian americans in the professional arena, such as stereotypes and racism, while also providing solutions to overcome these barriers. Women in low paid jobs may feel they are on the sticky floor. The sticky floor metaphor strives the show people that there are only a few, white, educated women, who can even make it to a higher position to hit the top glass ceiling. Most of the workers who experience the sticky floor are pink collar workers, such as secretaries, nurses, or waitresses. A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that arent alike but do have something in common.
We do not claim that the sticky metaphor theory is the sole solution to the puzzle described in the text, nor do we contend that it completely explains the resilience of the traditional voluntary manslaughter doctrine. The bamboo ceiling, as defined by jane hyun, is a combination of individual, cultural, and. Perhaps content to reach a certain level and to call it a day. Pdf exploring the glass ceiling and sticky floor in malaysia.
The term bamboo ceiling was coined in 2005 by jane hyun in breaking the bamboo ceiling. Put differently, the research tests the validity of the presence of a sticky floor and thus calls for some automatic stabilizers that tend to reverse the initial cultural bias that exists upon appointment. This term can be used when describing the tendency of people to recruit in. Although the glass ceiling metaphor implies that women face obstacles once they have risen to very high levels of leadership and the sticky floor metaphor implies that women are prevented from any advancement beyond entry level, the labyrinth reflects the myriad obstacles that women face throughout their careers.
A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar. The metaphor was first coined by feminists in reference to barriers in the careers of highachieving women. Merriam websters dictionary defines metaphor like this. Definition of sticky fingered in the idioms dictionary.
From glass cliffs to sticky floors, social scientists often use evocative imagery to highlight the barriers that women face in work and life. Whose undoing is not so much out there but in here. Sticky floors can be described as the pattern that women are, compared to men, less likely to start to climb the job ladder. Another commonly cited barrier, complementary to the bamboo ceiling, is the sticky floor. They are not really sticky, but they help with traction and they do not slip even when you are doing rigorous exercises. A maze of metaphors around glass ceilings request pdf. If you want a more creative worship service, add a screen. A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given demographic typically applied to minorities. What is the meaning of glass ceiling, the sticky floor, and. An extreme instance of sticky advertising was the ads cocacola. Metaphors are commonly used to describe women in the workplace. Metaphorical floors, walls and ceilings metaphors in. From the sticky floor to the glass ceiling and everything. The european institute for gender equality defines the term sticky floor as follows.
Nonetheless, other researchers have referred to the sticky floor as a metaphor for discrimination that is pronounced at lowrather than highlevel positions arulampalam et al. The gender wage gaps, sticky floors and glass ceilings of. For you english majors, i occasionally use the term metaphor as a blanket term for metaphors, similes, and analogies. Similar to the sticky floor, the frozen middle describes the phenomenon of womens progress up the corporate ladder slowing, if not halting, in the ranks of. From the sticky floor to the glass ceiling and everything in.
The glass ceiling and the sticky floor numerous metaphors have been coined to. However, it is noted that the impact of s ticky floor is greater than. Mar 31, 2015 the sticky floor metaphor strives the show people that there are only a few, white, educated women, who can even make it to a higher position to hit the top glass ceiling. In the literature on gender discrimination, the concept of sticky floors complements the concept of a glass ceiling. Being the opposite of a ceiling, the floor is the lowest part of a room. Architectural metaphors are a popular way to think about inequality. Life is an overused metaphor, so im gonna eat an entire box of chocolates. Jun 09, 2016 how the glass ceiling became such a powerful and problematic metaphor. I encourage you to come up with your own and share them with me. However, she tells you that she thinks her salary is appropriate.
For instance, women have to break the glass ceiling in order to get ahead. May 08, 2017 the labyrinth metaphor is a useful one, as it represents the challenges and opportunities women may face along their career path, not just at a single point. In each of my businesses i have anchored the brand on a deep metaphor. May 21, 2009 glass ceiling and sticky floor are pretty much the same thing. The celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county metaphors. The sticky floor metaphor is one where women somehow hold themselves back, either unwittingly or by design. Throughout the interviews participants described their career and job hunting like a journey.
In the us, the concept is sometimes extended to refer to obstacles. Sticky floors can be described as the pattern that women are, compared to. It is used today in association with another term, the sticky floor effect, and some can argue that the two conditions are inherently interchangeable. The sticky floor metaphor is a powerful reframe that changes the context of what it is that prevents us from moving up. She believes the reason there is a little metaphor fatigue. While there are several metaphors used to illustrate the challenges faced. D the sad fact that most floors in the united states are cleaned by. There are real factors which mean that many women take lower paid and part time jobs, like wanting to spend more time with family, and these are covered by the. Oct 09, 2014 the sticky floor metaphor is one where women somehow hold themselves back, either unwittingly or by design. Is a metaphor sometimes used to convey the difficulties that disadvantaged groups experience in moving from the bottom of the organizational hierarchy. The absence of self correcting mechanisms in the labor market needs government intervention to protect the career paths of females. The term sticky floor is used to describe a discriminatory employment pattern that keeps a certain group of people at the bottom of the job scale.