The Glass Ceiling Still Holding Women Back

Despite decades passing since women entered the workforce, the glass ceiling is still a reality that many women must break through to reach higher salaries and managerial positions. For every 100 male managers, there were only 64 female managers, and in executive roles, that number drops to 45. The report also found that construction is one of the most gendered: Even with the recent push for diversity in building, the Census data shows that almost 93 percent of craft workers—which includes construction workers—are male. Though the number of women in managerial and executive roles is creeping up, we still have a long way to go before the country achieves true equity in the workplace.

According to 2018 Census data, women make about 80% of what men make nationwide. The average full-time female worker earned $42,295, while the average full-time male worker earned $52,144. Though this gender pay gap suggests differences in compensation between men and women and their ability to save, it does not distinguish between two distinct metrics: pay discrepancies between men and women who have the same job and differences in promotion rates between men and women. That is, the gender pay gap may partially be a result of the fact that men are promoted more often than women and, in turn, earn more in higher-level positions.

In this study, we investigated women’s status as managers within the private sector and the extent to which men have higher odds of promotion than women. Using data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an independent federal agency that promotes equality through the enforcement of federal civil rights laws, we examined national, industry and geographic trends in promotion rates by sex. It is important to note that employers with fewer than 100 employees are not required to file with the EEOC, and as a result, the data used captures about half of the private sector workforce at the national level. Industry representation varies depending on the percentage of large firms in the workforce; industries comprised primarily of large firms are more fully represented than those comprised primarily of smaller firms. For further details, see our Data and Methodology section below.

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