Why we need to break the bamboo ceiling

By Joshua So, 18

Imagine yourself passed up for promotion year after year. You think you’ve done everything right, from starting with an elite tier college degree to working hard day in and day out. Yet, even with your ever-growing years of experience, someone else is always selected as “better suited” to be your boss. At this point, you may have just reached the glass ceiling, or, if you’re Asian, the bamboo ceiling.

First, the glass ceiling refers to a barrier where employees can’t be promoted past a certain point or leadership position. The bamboo ceiling, however, refers to the glass ceiling specifically for Asians. This term is most likely unfamiliar and that is understandable. Typically, Asians are excluded from discussions of diversity and minorities. It’s quite obvious. The model minority myth perpetuates the idea that Asians do not need help navigating prejudice or racism. After all, Asians have the highest levels of education and income amongst all ethnic groups in America. Surely, they’re all fine without help right?

Asians comprise twelve percent of the U.S. professional workforce despite accounting for only five and a half percent of the U.S. population. Nevermind that analysis of this statistic at face value can overlook that Asian households typically promote higher education as a ticket to success.

Today these ideas are still deeply prevalent. Asian culture pushes children to be studious, to aim for financially stable, high paying professions in medicine, law, or engineering. One need only look to the overrepresentation of Asian students in college, in STEM majors, and in Silicon Valley to confirm this cultural phenomenon.

Silicon Valley is where we find a good example of the bamboo ceiling, though, because people will point to the large overrepresentation of Asians in tech jobs and possibly dismiss claims of a ceiling. Yet, according to a 2015 Silicon Valley Diversity report cited by the Harvard Business Review, what remains unaddressed is the lack of Asian representation in leadership within these corporations, and therein lies the bamboo ceiling. Now when I say this next part, I don’t want it misconstrued as saying that the system is solely and simply propelled by racism. There is a certain prejudice that undoubtedly works both for and against Asians. The model minority myth that Asians are educated, will work hard to get any project done, and be unproblematic in the workplace, potentially puts them in an attractive spotlight for employers. Yet, the myth then works against Asians when it comes to promotion and leadership positions. Yes, there are other factors involved such as social circles, experience, and implicit in-group bias, but the model minority myth can also lead to them being ignored for company promotion requests.

Another term that comes into play here is called the “sticky floor,” which works in conjunction with the bamboo ceiling to describe how Asians are hired in tech industries, business companies, and scientific communities, but then cannot rise from within, according to Tyler Lacoma, a writer and editor for Career Trend. No company will openly admit to this discrimination because it is largely implicit within individual hiring managers. Combine that with the new trend for companies to seek “diversity” in their leadership, touting Black and Latino leaders. In a certain sense, albeit a cynical one, when it comes to diversity, Asians do not “count.”

As specified before, do not misconstrue my words to mean this is all due to racism, because even within the bamboo ceiling, there are more discrepancies between South Asians and East Asians. According to research from Columbia, MIT, and Michigan, there exists a leadership gap between South Asians, such as Indians and Pakistanis, versus East Asians, such as Chinese and Japanese people. By tracking corporate CEOs, senior managers, and MBA graduates and controlling for varying demographic factors, the study ruled that prejudice between South Asians and East Asians did not account for the leadership gap, nor did any difference in ambition. Ultimately, the study concluded that the gap could be explained by the difference in assertiveness between the two groups. Jackson Lu from MIT Sloan says that the study’s lowered measured averages of assertiveness in East Asians show the prevailing influence of the values of Confucianism that promote “humility, harmony, and stability,” which have created a culture that encourages a passive style of communication. Lu contrasts that with South Asian cultures which “encourage debate and argumentation, as discussed in Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s book The Argumentative Indian.”

The inclination toward non-confrontation can help keep a workplace calm and encourage listening. However, as Professor Michael Morris at Columbia Business School says, “The fundamental culprit here is that East Asians’ communication style is misaligned with American leadership expectations. A non-assertive style is perceived as a lack of confidence, motivation, and conviction.”

Don’t get me wrong. We as Asian-Americans have nothing to prove to American society. It is American corporate leadership that must learn the value of diversity not just in race, but in communication style. Yet, the reality is that to change an established and self-perpetuating American leadership culture that prizes assertiveness requires us to first break into those upper ranks ourselves. No one automatically deserves to lead. Therefore, you and I must fight for the opportunities to climb to top leadership positions, and to do that we will have to adapt. As long as the status quo requires projections of confidence, motivation, and conviction, we will shape ourselves to meet that demand.

The bamboo ceiling exists when Asian Americans are intentionally or unintentionally excluded from company diversity reports. It exists when Asians are overrepresented in the American professional workforce but are the least likely ethnic group to be promoted to management. It exists when people assume connections between a style of communication and confidence and thus competence. So when we, Asians, realize this barrier to our ambitions, let us strive to seize the power to break it. Disregard the optimism that anyone will help you and take it upon yourself to shift the paradigm of the bamboo ceiling.

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I won’t settle for anything less than the C-suite in my future and I encourage my community to do the same. I’ve seen how reluctant many people are to speak up either in class, Model United Nations, or in other conversation. I just happen to have developed a more extroverted and outspoken personality recently that I’ve discovered works heavily in my favor.

Instagram @jxshh_so

Photo by Eleonora Albasi