If a firm's going belly up, chances are a woman will be put in charge, writes Ann-Maree Moodie.

If your daughter wants to pursue a career in politics, diplomacy, business or law, you might point her to a few local role models: state premiers Kristina Keneally and Anna Bligh, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, or our commander-in-chief, Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

But speak to British researchers from the University of Exeter and you'll find today's female role models aren't always what you'd like, especially if they're standing on what is colloquially referred to as "the glass cliff". Almost since the advent of modern feminism in the 1960s, women seeking careers in male-dominated professions and workplaces have encountered the "glass ceiling", a phrase used to describe the invisible barrier to career advancement, prestige and high salaries.

The "glass cliff" is just as sinister but it is a more dangerous form of invisible discrimination and bias. It describes what happens when a minority group, such as women, take on leadership roles that are associated with a greater risk of failure and criticism.

In other words, companies and political parties that are in, or heading towards, troubled times. When the company or political party's fortunes fall even further, the woman is hung up for blame. This is then used as "proof" of the inability of women to do the "tough" jobs.

"I think the glass-cliff phenomenon is very subtle and is a product of often-unsaid feelings and our notions of leadership, our stereotypes about men and women and our ideas about diversity in the workplace," says Dr Michelle Ryan of the Glass Cliff project.

"In our research, male and female respondents were just as likely to place women in glass-cliff positions - and some women have told us that they actively seek out such positions as it is sometimes the only way to get ahead."

In a paper detailing contested seats in the 2005 British general election, Ryan and colleague Professor Alex Haslam found more women candidates in the Conservative Party contested harder-to-win seats than men. A parallel study compared safe and risky by-election seats.

"Results indicated that a male candidate was more likely than a female [candidate] to be selected to contest a safe seat but there was a strong preference for a female rather than male appointment when the seat was described as hard to win," the study concluded. No doubt the former premiers of Victoria and Western Australia - Joan Kirner and Carmen Lawrence - would agree.

The phenomenon is international, at least in wealthy Western countries. As the US was heading towards financial catastrophe in 2008-09, the race for the White House came down to two people: Hillary Clinton (who eventually stepped aside) and Barack Obama, who was elected the first black president of the US.

"When you consider [the 2008] American presidential election, the glass-cliff theory becomes particularly tantalising," The New York Times opined. "Perhaps it was only during extremely hard times that America would finally consider a woman and a black man for the highest office."

Business is another area in which the glass cliff is found. For example, it is being discussed as the reason why now-bankrupt bank Lehman Brothers appointed Erin Callan to be its CFO, despite her lack of qualifications for the role.

The 44-year-old former tax lawyer, who doesn't even have an accounting degree, was found to have breached her duties after ignoring "ample red flags" over contentious deals known as "Repo 105", according to the report by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy examiner on the company's collapse.

While in the role, Callan was a high-profile face for the bank, regularly appearing on television. She has since gone to ground. The researchers say women are more likely to be appointed to glass-cliff roles after a period of poor company performance or when the chance of success is slim.

Another study looked at the performance of FTSE 100 companies before and after the appointment of a male or female board member. "The research was conducted in reaction to a newspaper article that appeared on the front page of the business section of The Times in late 2003," Ryan says.

"The article claimed women were 'wreaking havoc' on FTSE 100 companies because companies with the most women on the board had a lower-than-average share price, while companies with the least women on the board had higher-than-average share prices. "The conclusion of the article was to argue that corporate Britain would be better off without women on boards.

In response, we re-analysed the data and showed that it wasn't that women caused company performances to drop but rather that women tended to be appointed to companies that had experienced a consistent pattern of poor performance. Thus, our research both questioned that women are bad for business and, in doing so, unveiled a new and relatively subtle form of discrimination."

Further research into the glass-cliff phenomenon will examine how other minority groups, defined according to race, age and disability, can be affected. "Our work has focused on women because it is women who are breaking the ceiling in the greatest numbers [compared with other minority groups] and, therefore, they are vulnerable to glass-cliff positions," Ryan says.

"But we have done some interviews with individuals with disabilities and have found that they too experience precarious positions." Ann-Maree Moodie is the managing director of the Boardroom Consulting Group.

Have you been set up for a fall? Tell us at mycareer.com.au/vote