Today, many organizations tout diversity and inclusion as their core values. But often, women and minorities are still underrepresented at the leadership level. The phrase glass cliff encapsulates the struggle traditionally marginalized groups can face in reaching the top of an organization — and staying there. But what exactly does this term mean?
We spoke to Dora Kingsley Vertenten, professor and faculty coordinator for USC’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) online program, about the concept of the glass cliff, its deeper meaning and why it is trending right now.
What Is the Glass Cliff?
You may have heard a certain term used lately: glass cliff. This phrase describes a phenomenon in which women are elevated to leadership positions more often in times of crisis than during more prosperous times — setting them up for failure. Such an action gives the illusion of diversity, while letting organizations off the hook to once again promote a man to the leadership role if the woman “fails” to salvage the situation.
Although the term has resurfaced in the public vocabulary lately, it’s not new. “That terminology is about 20 years old,” Kingsley Vertenten said.
The term was first coined by researchers from the University of Exeter in the early 2000s in a scholarly article focusing on women in the British business world. The researchers, Michelle Ryan and Alex Haslam, found that women were over-represented in high-profile “positions [that were] risky or precarious.”
But the phrase has since expanded to apply more broadly to traditionally marginalized groups in the worlds of business and politics.
“At its core, the idea of a glass cliff talks to both bias and risk, and those are clearly two core topics that we talk about in terms of leadership and management,” Kingsley Vertenten said. “They’re important not only for policymakers, but those who are elected officials as well.”
How Is It Related to the Glass Ceiling?
The concept of a glass ceiling describes any unseen or unacknowledged barrier keeping minorities from advancing to leadership positions or public office. The term was invented in 1978 and has been studied extensively since.
Since glass is transparent, the word is used in both glass ceiling and glass cliff to describe a structure that is invisible but durable. In both phrases, glass is a metaphor for the structural barriers that certain groups of people face that are invisible to other, more privileged groups.
What Are Real-World Examples of the Glass Cliff?
Real-world examples of the glass cliff phenomenon are up for debate, as people differ on what constitutes a risky situation — and who counts as a minority in a given sphere.
In the business world, many point to Linda Yaccarino, who was appointed CEO of X Corp (formerly Twitter, Inc.) amid a tumultuous period for the company. Yaccarino is the first woman CEO of the company since its inception.
This speaks to a broader trend of women being underrepresented in executive roles. Kingsley Vertenten noted that, according to a study by McKinsey & Company, only 26 percent of C-suite roles were held by women in 2022 — and only 5 percent by women of color.
Some also see politicians of color who were elected to lead their respective countries during periods of turmoil and economic downturn — such as former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former U.S. President Barack Obama — as evidence of the glass cliff phenomenon. And, when U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in his stead, some questioned whether a glass cliff scenario was at play.
“So, taking Kamala Harris … for lots of legal reasons, you go to the vice president because the finances would work, but it also was seen as a precarious situation [at the time], if Trump was leading in all the polls,” Kingsley Vertenten said.
What Biases Are Behind the Glass Cliff?
In general, women candidates face a “very tricky path,” Kingsley Vertenten said. If they talk about their families or traditionally “female issues,” they risk getting pigeonholed.
“Often the electorate says, ‘Why don’t you stay home and take care of those nine children?’” Kingsley Vertenten said. “They would never say that about a male candidate who talks about their family.”
Similarly, biases and stereotypes about women can also feed into their appointment to leadership during turbulent times, Kingsley Vertenten said.
“When there’s a great deal of disruption and it focuses on issues of morale or engagement … and things that require intuition or social or emotional intelligence, that’s when women leaders make sense and are often selected and supported by the candidacy,” Kingsley Vertenten said.
Conversely, male candidates often rise to the forefront of elections dealing with economic or technological issues, Kingsley Vertenten said.
“This is how we choose our leaders, based on the attributes they are perceived to bring to that need,” she said.
How Can We Avoid the Glass Cliff?
The glass cliff is just one lens through which to view gender and racial disparities in business and politics, Kingsley Vertenten said.
“Government service … should be a meritocracy, but certainly on the policymaking and politics side, it has been a system of ‘who you know’ because that’s who you trust to get the work done with you,” Kingsley Vertenten said.
In general, however, Kingsley Vertenten said more representation is needed for women and people of color — and not just in precarious opportunities.
“I think we need to make sure that women and people of color are not atypical choices,” she said. “We need to see those individuals as necessary to the success of the whole organization, and so it’s not just in times of disruption that we give [them] opportunities.”
While disparities in leadership positions certainly exist, Kingsley Vertenten said women are entering the political sphere in increasing numbers. This is reflected in the USC Price School of Public Policy’s student body, she said.
“We’re turning out from our graduate programs more women than men, and those women will progress in their careers and hold positions of power by virtue of their numbers,” Kingsley Vertenten said.
Learn more about the Master of Public Administration (MPA) online program at USC Price School of Public Policy today.