ABSTRACT

                         A "glass ceiling" refers to that invisible barrier beyond which minorities, in particular women in middle level management, never rise. Silent, yet unreachable, this barrier is one of the root causes why the percentage of women occupying top-level management is much lesser than men.  Some women like Indra Nooyi, Chanda Kocchar, Nishi Vasudeva, Shikha Sharma, Simone Tata and Kiran Mazumdar- Shaw. Etc. has managed to break the glass but the numbers are too few. Gender- based discriminations form a major hurdle in the path of promotions or salary hikes at senior levels creating a euphemism for bias against women talent at work. Not only are the high positions considered as male dominated, there are lot of other factors such as (socio-cultural, legal, personal) that prevents the female force from climbing the top ladder. According to the latest Grant Thornton's International Business Report, 40% of businesses worldwide have no women in senior management, a figure that has remained unchanged since 2004. However, the good news is that Asian countries have an edge over the rest of the world.

The present paper attempts to review the previous literature on this topic with giving its own findings and suggestions.

 Keywords:  Glass Ceiling, Gender discrimination, Gender gap, Management, Organization.