Lessons from the Bamboo Ceiling
Author: Ludmila Nunes
Abstract:
Like the metaphorical glass ceiling, which refers to the invisible barriers preventing women from attaining leadership positions in their fields, the bamboo ceiling describes the barriers keeping qualified Asians from attaining leadership positions in the U.S. For decades, Asians have been perceived by many as the “model minority”: quiet, hardworking, studious, and rule-abiding. However, the type of seemingly positive stereotyping that Peterson described carried negative consequences. In a groundbreaking 2020 article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Lu and APS William James Fellow Richard E. Nisbett of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Michael W. Morris of Columbia University conducted a series of 9 studies of Asian Americans and other Asians in the United States. Cultural mismatch, in addition to prejudice, often stands in the way of leadership success for East Asian professionals. Asians were found to be well represented in the companies’ nonmanagerial workforces but underrepresented at the executive level.