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Women's Experiences Of The Glass Ceiling In U.S. Manufacturing And Service-Based Industries, Diane Michele Mastroguiseppe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fewer women occupy executive-level positions in U.S. companies compared to the number of men. Antidiscrimination laws have been in place for 30 years to combat the threat to gender equality. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of executive-level women employed in the manufacturing and service-based industries to explore the persistence of the glass ceiling. Social learning theory provided the framework for the study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 12 executive-level women in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Data analysis involved hand coding and software coding to identify six themes: discrimination, opportunities, support …