glass ceiling
14
4.0
- noun
- /ɡlæs ˈsiːlɪŋ/
- Literature
:
techo de cristal
- Workplace practices, which are reinforced by societal norms, have contributed to the glass ceiling.
- shattering the glass ceiling
And so yeah, the glass ceiling still exists in fashion.
- And so yeah, the glass ceiling still exists in fashion.
- We're going to smash glass ceilings along the way.
- And then they hit this glass ceiling, they begin to hit a wall.
- But why does your business continue to hit a glass ceiling and then slide backwards?
- But they come from backgrounds as poor as mine and yours, but they don't have that sort of glass ceiling, rigid class structure thing that plays on top of them.
- And you were quoted as saying they call it the glass ceiling, but I call it the brick wall in terms of being a female filmmaker.
- But as a man, you almost set a glass ceiling based on your own position within this dominance hierarchy.
- She knows that Egypt isn't ready for a woman president, but Busena Kemel has at least shattered the glass ceiling.
- When you think about it, the glass ceiling is the metaphor that stands for my right to have as good a job as my elite father.
- Hillary leaned in a lot into being that first woman to break the glass ceiling.
- Women who break the glass ceiling with their bodies still have to figure out how to exercise authority with their voices.
Examples
-
Dubois had battled her way through glass ceilings in academia and government.
Fiction book (1998) -
So I think it's great that the women here have broken the glass ceiling that so many women have.
-
Have you broken the glass ceiling and talked to the audience as the business woman that you are yet?
-
And so yeah, the glass ceiling still exists in fashion.
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Peter Bart wrote a column in Variety, talking about the glass ceiling and how it no longer exists.
-
American women constantly find themselves hitting a 'glass ceiling' when climbing up the corporate ladder.
Academic text (1996) -
Now, why do you think it's taken so long for an all-lady group to break through that a cappella glass ceiling?
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But equal rights mean equal responsibilities, and the truth is it's women like Audrey who make our jobs more difficult to actually break through that glass ceiling.
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"Women's salaries still lag behind men's; women still bump into a glass ceiling.
Academic text (2009) -
American women constantly find themselves hitting a glass ceiling when climbing up the corporate ladder.
Synonyms
309
3.7
Something that stops or makes it hard to make progress
1
3.9
Something that stops a project or work from moving forward
An unwritten rule that stops women or minority groups from getting promoted in jobs
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'glass' (transparent) and 'ceiling' (an upper limit), so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer the idea of an invisible limit that caps advancement. However, the mapping to the specific social meaning (barriers facing women and minorities in workplaces) is metaphorical and requires socio-cultural knowledge, so the sense is motivated but not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The term glass ceiling gives a clear image: a ceiling of glass you can see through but cannot get past. That's why it means 'an invisible barrier' that keeps women and minorities from reaching the highest jobs.