what is a glass cliff 
the term glass cliff refers to a situation in which women are promoted to higher positions during times of crisis or duress or during a recession when the chance of failure is more likely put simply women in these situations are set up for failure the term was coined by researchers at the university of exeter united kingdom who published research on the 100 companies included in the financial times stock exchange ftse 100 index these researchers found that promoting women to higher positions often comes with negative implications and that being set up for failure is the equivalent of standing on the edge of a cliff if they fail they fall off 1understanding a glass cliffthe glass cliff occurs in many different fields including finance politics technology and academia it addresses the tendency to promote women into problematic situations whether that s organizational or situational this makes it more likely that their performance will falter the metaphor of the glass cliff is that women in this position are at risk of falling off a cliff and failing there are many reasons why women are promoted to more precarious leadership roles than men one is the notion that a struggling company will likely result in a shorter upper management tenure so the position itself is risky placing a woman in that position gives the company someone to blame if she fails to pull the company out of its downward spiral in times of crisis companies don t want to risk the loss of who they believe to be their most valuable high potential talent white men in tough times they are more likely to sacrifice employees who they perceive as less valued and more dispensable women and racial minorities according to chief executive officer ceo of pinsight and author martin lanik it also makes the company look good if the woman fails the company is labeled as being progressive and is free to replace her with a man if she succeeds the company is better off and may even take credit for appointing the right person for the job even with the high chance of failure a glass cliff position can be difficult to turn down because leadership roles are so infrequently offered to women there is no link between leadership potential and gender by keeping women out of top leadership positions companies are missing out on some of the most qualified and talented leaders additionally by allowing the glass cliff phenomenon to persist organizations create an environment where these female leaders struggle to perform to the best of their ability special considerationswomen often struggle when they re placed on a glass cliff that s because there is often a lack of mentors in the workforce there may also be barriers for them to access what is commonly called the good old boys club which is an informal network of connections through which men use their positions of influence by providing favors and information to help other men strategic networking is one of the most common strategies for moving up in the world of business this is where the phrase it s now what you know it s who you know originates women cannot do this without networking with men and seeking out men as mentors but women aren t always welcome in these informal social networks so they miss out on these connections 2although the glass cliff typically refers to the obstacles that women face the term is also commonly used to describe the challenges minorities and other marginalized groups face when they are promoted to leadership roles in the workplace history of the glass cliffin 2004 university of exeter researchers michelle k ryan julie s ashby and alexander haslam studied the 100 companies included in the ftse 100 index which consists of the 100 companies listed on the london stock exchange lse with the highest market capitalizations 3according to the researchers companies that appointed women to their boards were more likely to perform poorly in the preceding five months they claimed that sexism motivated those in power to appoint women to these precarious positions because they don t want to risk tarnishing a prominent man s reputation with failure ryan ashby and haslam followed up their research with another study involving law students which was published in an article called legal work and the glass cliff evidence that women are preferentially selected to lead problematic cases they found that in 2013 alison cook and christy glass researched the likelihood of promotions and leadership tenure of women and racial ethnic minority ceos within american fortune 500 companies using a dataset of all ceo transitions over a 15 year period their findings aligned with the glass cliff theory that occupational minorities white women and men and women of color are more likely than white men to be promoted as corporate ceos that perform poorly in their paper cook and glass wrote their research also revealed that performance declines under the tenure of white women and people of color lead to them being replaced by white men a female ceo succeeded another female ceo in only four of the 608 transitions at fortune 500 companies the researchers coined this phenomenon the savior effect businesses led by female ceos are more likely to be targeted by activist investors according to university of missouri research these investors specifically buy shares with the intention of directing management decisions and must register with the securities and exchange commission sec according to vishal k gupta sandra mortal and daniel b turban their findings revealed that impact of a glass cliffwomen already face many barriers when they are trying to scale the corporate ladder and enter leadership roles the same scenario is also true for other minorities such as people of color the glass cliff creates an unfortunate and impossible situation where they are set up to fail in a workplace for individuals who surpass these obstacles when an organization is in crisis women are often seen as being able to come in and take care of a problem they re effectively handed the mess to clean up according to anna beninger senior director of research and corporate engagement partner at catalyst 7not only is this phenomenon setting women and minorities up for failure but it s also unsustainable for the businesses themselves when a company is in the throes of an organizational crisis it may not have the infrastructure and extra support to facilitate an effective leadership transition if an individual is promoted without any kind of organizational support or development it may result in the illusion of progressiveness or inclusivity for the company when in reality that individual is being tokenized as a minority 