Natural Selection

Khai Ian Van

Jim Smith

English 100

Nov 29, 2013

“Natural” selection

“Only 1.7 percent of board members are Hispanics” according to the statistics provided by Gary M. Stern, a New York- based freelance author, in the article “Hitting the “Granite Wall””(505). That means out of one hundred CEOs there are only two or fewer Latinos. It seems there is a uniform pattern for CEO, which eliminates people of diverse background from power. Thus, such barriers as limiting talented people from advancement, creating ceiling for women, and holding minority people back in the workplace hinder equal opportunity.

The first barrier to equal opportunity in the workplace is the limitation on the promotion of talented people of diverse backgrounds. People from different backgrounds “are on the slippery floor. We are pushed aside, pushed out the door”  says Mickle Solorio Luna, who serves as the California state President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, in the Ines Pinto Alicea`s article “Move Over, Glass Ceiling; This one`s Adobe”(58). Many talented people are undervalues and swept away on the “slippery floor”. This “tradition” has lasted for many years, and it has caused “many talented Latinos and blacks to flee corporate career” says Stern in his article (503). Moreover, released by Department of Labor in United States, report shows that 97 percent of managers in of Fortune 1000 Industrial and Fortune 500 corporations are white. (11) The priority to outstanding jobs is overwhelmingly for white people. Therefore, people of diverse backgrounds are limited from promotions.

Another obstacle to fairness is creating “ceiling” for women. “An adobe ceiling is dense, impenetrable, and it does not allow you to see to the next level” acknowledges Cecilia Preciado Burciaga, former associate vice president for student affairs at California State University at Monterey Bay, in Alicea`s article (56).An adobe ceiling also requires a remarkably professional and personal costs to break through. It takes a lot of effort and time to overcome. Moreover, struggling with “ceiling”, many women feel frustrated and leave the corporation. The term “adobe ceiling” is related to racial and gender discrimination. Gender discrimination excludes women “contributing as board members and executive officers of the largest companies in the nation” says Anna Escobedo Cabral, who is Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility president and CEO(Alicea 59). Researches in Alicea`s article show that women only occupy 0.3 percent of all board seats and hold 0.08 percent of Chief Executive Officers positions in Fortune 1,000 companies(59). (Another article starts)Also Lynch emphasized the fact in his article that a decline in wages is observed in the industry in which a significant number of women entered (Lynch 30). That is only a tip of the iceberg. In addition women also encounter the adobe ceiling in the field of higher education as well. There is evidence shows that less than 12 percent of women hold business degree and less than 2 percent have engineering degree, by contrast about 17 percent of man is succeed in having engineering degree, which is nearly eight and a half times more than women (Lynch 30). Women start having hard time from college or university. That only makes the “ceiling” women face denser. Thus, “ceiling” has become a crash proof barrier for women blocking them from climbing to high ranking positions.