The existence of the glass ceiling reminds us of the current issues of gender equality and female leadership faced by the business community both in the United States and abroad 'abroad. The civil rights movement and incentives for the feminization of various aspects of public life led to the official recognition of equal rights and opportunities for professional women; however, in many cases this recognition takes purely formal forms. In too many cases women are professionally discriminated against in the workplace. They get paid less, have fewer promotion opportunities and, in the case of performance management or even downsizing, are often considered the first to be eliminated from a company. The number of female CEOs in companies, both in America and abroad, remains very low, although there are signs of improvement. It is paradoxical that in other areas of professional life, such as government institutions or even the military, there seems to be much less discrimination, even if a sort of glass ceiling remains. It is proven that these obstacles to the professional growth of women executives are artificial in nature and that women's work style is in no way inferior to that of men. There are different views and perspectives on the glass ceiling at the executive level for women leaders in large organizations and a number of facts that demonstrate that female professionals deserve equal rights and working conditions. The glass ceiling is a phenomenon that originated in the past few decades and can be defined as the lack of promotion opportunities for female professionals at the management level. It is true that excessive discrimination based on gender is punishable by law in the vast majority of developed democratic nations, however... middle of paper... career and advancement opportunities take a long time and are not always flexible, there are reasons to believe that things like gender inequality and the glass ceiling will not exist in the near future either. Works Cited1. Albrecht, J. (2003). Is there a glass ceiling for women in Sweden? Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 21, no. 1 (2003), p. 145-1752. Pelled, L. H. (1999). Exploring the black box: An analysis of workgroup diversity, conflict, and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, no. 1 (1999), p. 3-28.3. Lublin, J. S. (2012). Companies are grooming more women for corner offices. Forbes, May 22, 2012.4. Hoenig, C. (2013). Supreme Court redefines workplace discrimination. Diversity Inc. Network. Retrieved from http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-and-inclusion/supreme-court-redefines-workplace-discrimination/ on December 11, 2013