Problem:
Blaine and Brenchley (2021) explain that gender stereotypes distort perceptions of competence and leadership fit, so women are more likely to be routed into staff or support paths instead of line roles tied to power and profit. These dynamics are intensified for women of color, who are more likely to be "onlys" in teams and to experience microaggressions that signal conditional belonging (McKinsey & Company, 2021). When initiatives fail to address these everyday status cues, they stagnate into compliance checklists rather than mobility engines. Stalling is less about a lack of programs and more about a lack of teeth. Systems drift back to their default settings when leaders stop attending to them. Sexism continues to sustain the glass ceiling because it is embedded in social identity expectations and reinforced through implicit bias in decision-making. Gender roles teach that men should be agentic and women communal, and workplaces often treat those cultural scripts as job-relevant truths rather than stereotypes (Blaine & Brenchley, 2021). The Glass Ceiling Commission identified biased performance standards-where identical behavior is judged differently depending on the actor's gender, as a core barrier to senior advancement (U.S. Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995). Need Assignment Help?