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Asian Americans and the `bamboo ceiling`

Posted October. 13, 2015 07:26,   

한국어

The number of female winners in the 114-year history of Nobel Prize stands at just 48 people, or five percent. Even looking at only the past decade, the figure stands at just the 10 percent range. This year, however, the organization has granted award to women in medicine and literature. Although this was partly attributable to not so many female scientists, still this raises speculation that there is a glass ceiling in Nobel Prize.

A new term, bamboo ceiling, which got an idea from glass ceiling, has been coined, which refers to barriers blocking women hoping to climb up the social ladder. The term comes from Korean American Jane Hyun`s book "Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling (2005)," referring to Asian Americans suffering from discrimination in the workplace including in promotions. The term has taken a renewed interest when a coalition of 64 Asian American groups filed complaints against Ivy League colleges to the U.S. Department of Education, asking for an investigation into what it alleges are "discriminatory practices" in the Ivy League school`s admission process.

Chinese student Michael Wang who was second best in school and had a perfect score on his ACT and a near-perfect score on his SAT, applied for six colleges in Ivy League but was ignored by all. Knowing that his friends who had lower scores were accepted, Wang asked the colleges the reason of rejection, but couldn`t hear any explanations. There are many other similar cases. Asian immigrants in the U.S. focus on nurturing their children on belief that education is guarantee for success. Asians account for only 5 percent of the American population, but the Asian students ratio at prestigious schools is much higher, with that at Harvard University, Stanford University standing at 18 percent and 24 percent, respectively. As Ivy League institutions use racial quotas to admit students, Asians have to worry about discriminations before they advance into the society.

Even if Asians overcome reverse discrimination and graduate prestigious colleges, they have more to suffer after entering into society. It is never easy, in a corporate culture dominated by white males, to stand out and be promoted to high ranking positions. In Fortune 500 companies, Asians take up just 1.4 percent of CEOS and 1.9 percent of lower executives. Under these circumstances, the bamboo ceiling can`t simply be lowered or broken down. Asian people themselves need to find ways to exercise rights to speak politically in the U.S. society, by rethinking the Asian cultural tradition of modesty and perseverance. They have to break the ceiling with utmost efforts to rise to top.



mskoh119@donga.com