This may not come as a great shock, but a new comprehensive study of Chinese Americans finds that they face “glass ceiling” obstacles in the workplace.
According to a press release about study:
Chinese Americans, one of the most highly educated groups in the nation, are confronted by a “glass ceiling,” unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts, and that on average, Chinese American professionals in the legal and medical fields earn as much as 44 percent less than their white counterparts.
The study was done by the University of Maryland Asian American Studies Program with support from the Organization of Chinese Americans.
An interesting point the authors bring up is that Chinese Americans are split evenly between “poorly educated recent immigrants from China and a more settled, acculturated, educated and prosperous group of older immigrants and second generation Americans. These earlier arrivals came mainly from Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
This is counter to the model minority stereotype, as the study points out. It seems many of these findings could mirror those of other Asian American groups, though I’m just thinking out loud. I have no statistical knowledge to back that up.
It’s great to see more research like this and the recent survey of Asian Americans. I hope to see more research on groups other than Chinese Americans as well.
Anyone out there hit the glass ceiling? I’m wondering if people notice these things in real life situations and attribute it to discrimination or racism?
This post is also on Hyphen magazine’s blog.