Abstract
The current study investigates discourses that animate women's experiences of the gender leadership gap in the United States while calling specific attention to moments of contradiction and/or paradox. Results of 31 in-depth interviews reveal three emergent themes: (a) disconnects between mentorship needed and mentorship received, (b) disconnects between leadership opportunities and "opportunities," and (c) disconnects between advice given and action taken. Findings led authors to advance a glass treadmill metaphor to describe participants' experiences more accurately in the workplace. Like the broken rung metaphor, the glass treadmill emphasizes a lack of vertical advancement, yet the treadmill captures participants' feelings of working and being kept busy in ways that does not lead to forward, and upward, progress. Once we name this workplace phenomenon as a glass treadmill, we can ask deeper, more concerning, questions, and discuss theoretical and practical implications for findings.