glass ceiling

[ glas see-ling ]

noun

1. an upper limit to professional advancement, especially as imposed upon women, minorities, and other nondominant groups, that is not readily perceived or openly acknowledged:

   It’s more difficult for women of color to break through the glass ceiling.

glass ceiling

noun

1. a situation in which progress, esp promotion, appears to be possible but restrictions or discrimination create a barrier that prevents it

glass ceiling

1. An unacknowledged — and ultimately illegal — barrier to advancement, especially for women and people of color: “In many professions a woman cannot break through the glass ceiling to the upper level of management.” The term dates from the 1980s.

Word History and Origins

Origin of glass ceiling¹

First recorded in 1980–85

Idioms and Phrases

An unacknowledged discriminatory barrier to advancement, especially for women and minorities. For example, Harriet knew she'd never be promoted—she would never get through the glass ceiling . [1980s]

Example Sentences

The Prices were motivated by “a funny version of feminism, where the glass ceiling is whether or not you’re allowed to shoot a gun at policeman,” Zetumer said.

From Los Angeles Times

Harris very deliberately downplayed both her gender and racial identity this campaign, in sharp contrast to Hillary Clinton's 2016 run, centered around soaring rhetoric about the candidate breaking the final glass ceiling.

From Salon

She has been talking about what was on the other side of that glass ceiling since the day the vice president announced her candidacy.

From Salon

She now has to slog it out, fighting for every vote, to stand a chance of breaking what the last woman to run for US president, Hillary Clinton, called “the highest, hardest glass ceiling”.

From BBC

It has been a long road which led the first female mayor of Mexico City to break the glass ceiling in Mexican politics again, this time at national level.

From BBC