The Glass Cliff

by SeoJin Ahn

​The glass cliff is when women are placed in leadership roles just

before a large crisis or a great chance of failure. The term was

created by Dr. Michelle Ryan and Professor Alex Haslam from the

School of Psychology at the University of Exeter in the United

Kingdom.

---

The research carried out by these scholars showed that women

were more likely to be placed in roles where there are more risks

that can lead to large­scale failures. “We found that when a

company is doing well, people prefer leaders with stereotypically

male strengths, but when a company is in crisis, they think

stereotypically female skills are needed to turn things around.”

However, this usually leads to women leaders being portrayed as

the destructors of global companies and nations.

Some victims of the so­called “glass cliff” are Jill Abramson at the

New York Times and Sallie Krawcheck, former head of Merrill

Lynch. Katie Couric became an anchor at CBS when ratings were

in third place and dropping, and when ABC World News lost half

its audience, Diane Sawyer was hired to gain back ratings.

Recently, Theresa May became the Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom as soon as they left the European Union. At this fragile

point in both political and economic history, a woman was

appointed, which has not been done since Margaret Thatcher was

first elected in 1979. She too could become a victim of the glass

cliff.