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Social Forces 79.3 (2001) 1201-1202



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Book Review

Glass Ceilings and Asian Americans:
The New Face of Workplace Barriers


Glass Ceilings and Asian Americans: The New Face of Workplace Barriers. By Deborah Woo. Alta Mira Press, 2000. 241 pp. Cloth, $62.00; paper, $24.95.

The "glass ceiling" is a powerful image, suggesting that women and minorities stall in their drive to reach the top of the corporate hierarchy while less qualified white men whiz by them. As the "model minority," Asian Americans are considered to be immune from these dynamics, because of their high levels of educational and occupational attainment. Woo begs to differ. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data, Woo demonstrates how ethnicity interacts with corporate practices to produce discriminatory outcomes.

Early on, Woo reviews the Asian experience in America. While Woo takes each nationality in turn, the experiences are remarkably similar. Initially viewed as a source of cheap labor, immigration was encouraged until swelling numbers resulted in legislation that restricted further immigration. Many states also barred noncitizens from owning land or holding jobs in competition with natives. In response, Asians concentrated in certain "niches" in economy, either holding jobs that whites did not want, or creating ethnic economies in segregated neighborhoods.

This situation changed with the Sputnik launch in 1957 and the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act. In a climate in which technical expertise was needed, Asians constituted less than one-tenth of all immigrants before 1965, but more than half [End Page 1201] of the immigrant pool in 1971. More important, among all engineers and scientists admitted into the county, the Asian share of this group rose from 14 to 62 between 1964-70. As these immigration patterns continue into the present, Asian Americans are the "dominant minority" in scientific, engineering, technical, and medical fields, bolstering their image as the "model minority."

But that does not mean that Asian Americans receive fair treatment in the workplace. Drawing from the 1995 Federal Glass Ceiling Report, Woo reviews the intraorganizational practices that producing immobility for minorities. These include initial placement in "dead-end" jobs, lack of mentors, biased and inconsistent standards of evaluation, and isolation form or harassment by colleagues. After describing what to look for, Woo applies these markers to specific workplaces.

She starts with the academy, showing that Asians are "virtually absent from high-level administration positions." Woo attributes this to the hostility Asians face in developing their careers, drawing on three highly publicized discrimination cases. All three were Asian women denied promotion because they were in male-dominated departments pursuing research agendas that were "different" from those of established professors in the department. The evidence showed that the plaintiffs were held to a higher standard than their male colleagues were, and subject to attacks on their personal and professional integrity. Woo concludes that the purpose of the attacks and changing the rules was to deny Asian women admittance into the "old boys network."

Equally compelling are Woo's interviews with nineteen engineers employed at a government aerospace research unit. This employer had long recognized the problem of the glass ceiling and had a reputation from commitment to diversity. It had established a "management track" (separate from its "research track"), and provided development seminars for those who aspired to a management career. Still, Asians were less likely than whites to be placed on the management track, and those that were made it only to middle management.

Part of the explanation is the desire of existing white male managers to select trainees who resemble them. In addition, the company failed to set up a mentoring program for Asians. But, another part of the explanation lies in the "culture" of the organization. As defense contracts dried up in the 1990s, managers competed against each other to maintain their research programs at the expense of others. The culture favored the selection of self-promoting bullies, which was inconsistent with the Buddhist philosophy in which many Asians were raised.

Woo ends on an optimistic note, citing research showing the importance of establishing a formal mentoring...

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