Glass Ceiling

KOFI ANNAN is not a household word in this country. Some people even think that's Anon. But he is likely to become the best-known United Nations secretary general in decades. And some of the people who put him there will begin to wonder why.His predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was Washington's favorite for the job five years ago. The U.N. needed cleaning up. Who better than an outsider? Mr. Boutros-Ghali was an Egyptian diplomat-politician-courtier who had performed nobly in peace-making with Israel under U.S. brokering.

The results are in. And, wouldn't you know it, white males rule.In fact, we kick butt.In case you didn't hear, it's now official. We're No. 1. We've got 2 through 10 pretty much locked up, too. In fact, you pick the number, look him up in your program, and it's probably going to be a white guy.That's the news from a bipartisan commission of bureaucrats, who wouldn't even have their jobs if we didn't pay way too much in taxes. They issued a report finding that white males make up only 43 percent of the workplace -- but have big-footed their way into 95 percent of the senior-management jobs in Fortune 2000 companies.

Progressive-minded viewers of the popular "Star Trek" series probably thought nothing of it when the latest Gene Roddenberry spin-off, "Star Trek: Voyager," debuted earlier this year with Kate Mulgrew in the role of Capt. Kathryn Janeway, the first female captain of a star ship. Ms. Mulgrew barked orders, faced down danger and reflected on the meaning of life with a gravity that would have made her male predecessors, Captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, proud.Alas, given the current pace of women's progress into the upper reaches of corporate management, it may well be the 24th century before a woman at the top becomes commonplace.

Despite almost three decades of affirmative action, the glass ceiling is still an impenetrable barrier to the advancement of women and minorities, a Labor Department report says.Although women and minorities make up two-thirds of the nation's working population, the corporate hierarchy is overwhelmingly male and white, according to a federal Glass Ceiling Commission report released Wednesday.The bipartisan commission reported that 97 percent of the senior managers at 1,500 industrial Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 corporations are white and almost all of them are men. Only 5 percent of all Fortune 2000 industrial and service company managers are women, and virtually all are white, the report said.

A federal commission studying the slow progress of women and minorities in the workplace says breaking the so-called glass ceiling is an economic priority that the nation can no longer afford to ignore.The 4-year-old Glass Commission, which went out of business at midnight Tuesday as it completed its work, also urged the federal government to strengthen anti-discrimination laws and increase efforts to eliminate internal barriers to the advancement of minorities and women.The commission also advised American firms to actively support affirmative action and diversity programs.

A glass-enclosed aircraft observation lounge planned for Baltimore-Washington International Airport has been delayed at the departure gate because bids on the project came in 50 percent to 75 percent higher than a contract engineer estimated it would cost."

Working Woman magazine is out this month with its eighth annual report, hyping the "25 hottest careers" for women. Just how hot are they?Not very, according to the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), which last month issued an eye-opening report on the status of women in the workplace.The jobs cited by Working Woman include computer programmer, telecommunications manager, employee trainer, family physician, nurse practitioner, physical therapist, diversity manager, ombudsman, environmental consultant, private investigator and professional-temp placement.

WASHINGTON -- Women who work for the federal government receive better performance reviews and are more committed to their jobs than men, but are less likely to be promoted, a new study concludes.The study suggests there is good reason for the feeling many female government workers have that they are butting their heads against a "glass ceiling" -- subtle attitudes and interactions at the office that prevent them from getting ahead."These barriers take the form of subtle assumptions, attitudes and stereotypes which affect how managers sometimes view women's potential for advancement and, in some cases, their effectiveness on the job," says the study report by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

Until 1967, women hit a gold-bullion wall -- stronger than a glass ceiling -- on Wall Street when they tried to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.It wasn't until Muriel F. Siebert broke through the barriers 25 years ago that women were let in the golden gates of wheeling and dealing.Today, 48 more women have managed to buy seats on the Big Board, and Ms. Siebert owns and operates her own New York Stock Exchange member firm, Muriel Siebert & Co., a discount brokerage and underwriting business.

Gail Lufkin Sphar, 46, is senior vice president of administration and corporate affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri in St. Louis.Ms. Sphar is in charge of human resources, work management, quality improvement, building services, corporate communication, advertising and legislative relations. She earns in the six figures.In addition to 22 years of experience, Ms. Sphar has the credentials for her high-ranking post in the health-care industry: a master's degree in molecular biology and a master's in business administration.

If you know a young woman who is about to graduate from college or who has just started working, you ought to buy her a copy of Skirt! Rules for the Workplace: An Irreverent Guide to Advancing Your Career, by Kelly Love Johnson. It is advice on how to work smarter, faster, tougher and better than any guy - or any other woman - and get ahead. Johnson is the managing editor of the unfortunately titled Skirt magazine (Why not call it Dame or Doll magazine?) and she uses her own up-from-the-freelance-pool story to illustrate her tips.

BOSTON -- Let me begin the New Year by taking my (party) hat off to Terry Hekker. Here's to an elder with the courage to offer her life story as a cautionary tale. I don't remember the column Ms. Hekker wrote a quarter-century ago in The New York Times on the satisfactions of being a housewife and mother in an age of "do-your-own-thing." Nor do I remember the book that morphed from that piece, winning her media attention and lecture audiences. But on this New Year's Day, the mother of five was back in the same paper, updating her life.

Many women have celebrated Mother's Day in the president's house, but none of them was president. We've had two John Adamses and two George Bushes as president, but no Abigail or Barbara, Victoria, Margaret, Shirley or Elizabeth. Women have been presidents and prime ministers of various countries - Great Britain, Ireland, India, Israel, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Norway, Finland, Guyana and Sri Lanka among them. But not the United States. Women are 51 percent of the U.S. population, but just 14 percent of Congress.

NEW ORLEANS - As the son of the city's first African-American mayor, Marc H. Morial sought to make his own mark when he took over New Orleans' top political post in 1994. His most notable act was hiring as police chief a reformer who reined in a department notorious for corruption and violent behavior and put more cops on the street, cutting violent crime by 40 percent. Working with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which elected him president in June, Morial became a leading national advocate for reclaiming old industrial sites and rebuilding blighted neighborhoods.

KOFI ANNAN is not a household word in this country. Some people even think that's Anon. But he is likely to become the best-known United Nations secretary general in decades. And some of the people who put him there will begin to wonder why.His predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was Washington's favorite for the job five years ago. The U.N. needed cleaning up. Who better than an outsider? Mr. Boutros-Ghali was an Egyptian diplomat-politician-courtier who had performed nobly in peace-making with Israel under U.S. brokering.

A federal commission studying the slow progress of women and minorities in the workplace says breaking the so-called glass ceiling is an economic priority that the nation can no longer afford to ignore.The 4-year-old Glass Commission, which went out of business at midnight Tuesday as it completed its work, also urged the federal government to strengthen anti-discrimination laws and increase efforts to eliminate internal barriers to the advancement of minorities and women.The commission also advised American firms to actively support affirmative action and diversity programs.

Progressive-minded viewers of the popular "Star Trek" series probably thought nothing of it when the latest Gene Roddenberry spin-off, "Star Trek: Voyager," debuted earlier this year with Kate Mulgrew in the role of Capt. Kathryn Janeway, the first female captain of a star ship. Ms. Mulgrew barked orders, faced down danger and reflected on the meaning of life with a gravity that would have made her male predecessors, Captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, proud.Alas, given the current pace of women's progress into the upper reaches of corporate management, it may well be the 24th century before a woman at the top becomes commonplace.

The results are in. And, wouldn't you know it, white males rule.In fact, we kick butt.In case you didn't hear, it's now official. We're No. 1. We've got 2 through 10 pretty much locked up, too. In fact, you pick the number, look him up in your program, and it's probably going to be a white guy.That's the news from a bipartisan commission of bureaucrats, who wouldn't even have their jobs if we didn't pay way too much in taxes. They issued a report finding that white males make up only 43 percent of the workplace -- but have big-footed their way into 95 percent of the senior-management jobs in Fortune 2000 companies.

Despite almost three decades of affirmative action, the glass ceiling is still an impenetrable barrier to the advancement of women and minorities, a Labor Department report says.Although women and minorities make up two-thirds of the nation's working population, the corporate hierarchy is overwhelmingly male and white, according to a federal Glass Ceiling Commission report released Wednesday.The bipartisan commission reported that 97 percent of the senior managers at 1,500 industrial Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 corporations are white and almost all of them are men. Only 5 percent of all Fortune 2000 industrial and service company managers are women, and virtually all are white, the report said.

A glass-enclosed aircraft observation lounge planned for Baltimore-Washington International Airport has been delayed at the departure gate because bids on the project came in 50 percent to 75 percent higher than a contract engineer estimated it would cost."