The glass cliff refers to the tendency for women to be more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions that are risky and precarious. This paper reviews the first decade of research into the phenomenon.
By: Michelle Ryan, Alexander Haslam, Thekla Morgenroth, Floor Rink, Janka Stoker and Kim Peters
Posted on 1 June 2016
Overview
While society in general has made great gains in women's participation in social, political, and employment spheres, women's representation in positions of power and influence has been notably less impressive. Nonetheless, there are increasing numbers of women who do manage to break through the glass ceiling and occupy top-level leadership positions. However, research suggests that these successful women are likely to be disproportionately represented in leadership positions that are risky and precarious, a phenomenon known as the glass cliff.
This paper provides an overview of the first decade of research on the glass cliff and has three key aims: (a) to summarise and integrate evidence of the glass cliff phenomenon, (b) to clarify the processes that have been shown to underlie the glass cliff, and (c) to explore the factors that may moderate the glass cliff phenomenon. We show that the glass cliff has had a significant impact on public discourse around women and leadership but nevertheless is a complex, contextual, and multiply determined phenomenon.
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