Definition of Glass Ceiling
(noun) An artificial, unseen, and often unacknowledged discriminatory barrier that prevents otherwise qualified people such as women and minorities from rising to positions of leadership and power, particularly within a corporation.
Glass Ceiling Pronunciation
Syllabification: glass ceil·ing
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /glAs sEE-ling/
- British English – /glAHs sEE-ling/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /glæs ˈsilɪŋ/
- British English – /glɑːs ˈsiːlɪŋ/
Usage Notes
- Plural: glass ceilings
- The term is typically attributed to Gay Bryant who used it in interviews and in the book The Working Woman Report: Succeeding in Business in the 1980s (1984). However, who and when the phrase was coined is debated.
- Jane Hyun coined the term bamboo ceiling to describe the experiences of dealing with the glass ceiling for Asians in Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians (2005).
- The term glass cliff coined by Alex Haslam and Michelle Ryan, describes the precarious leadership positions women are often given when they break through the glass ceiling, such as managing failing departments or dealing with limited resources.
- The glass escalator coined by Christine Williams in “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions,” refers to the rampant rise of some employees over others. Originally this term was used in reference to men moving up the hierarchy over women in “female professions” or pink collar jobs, but has grown to include aspects of race and ethnicity.
- The stained-glass ceiling refers to limiting women’s access to positions of authority and power within various religious institutions and systems.
Related Quotation
- “The glass ceiling operates so that although all applicants may be welcomed by the firm at entry levels, when it comes to powerful managerial and executive positions, there are limits, generally unstated, on the number of women and nonwhites welcomed or even tolerated. Women may be doing better at getting top management positions than minorities, but they still lag well behind men” (McNamee and Miller 2013:196).
Additional Information
- Word origin of “glass” and “ceiling” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Barreto, Manuela da Costa, Michelle K. Ryan, and Michael T. Schmitt. eds. 2009. The Glass Ceiling in the 21st Century: Understanding Barriers to Gender Equality. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Jalalzai, Farida. 2013. Shattered, Cracked or Firmly Intact? Women and the Executive Glass Ceiling Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Ryan, Michelle K. 2007. Managing Diversity and the Glass Cliff. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
- Williams, Christine L. 2013. “The Glass Escalator, Revisited: Gender Inequality in Neoliberal Times, SWS Feminist Lecturer.” Gender & Society 27(5):609–29. doi:10.1177/0891243213490232.
- Where did the term “glass ceiling” originate? – Cornell University – Catherwood Library: ilr.cornell.edu
Related Terms
References
Connell, R. W. 1987. Gender and Power: Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller, Jr. 2013. The Meritocracy Myth. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Works Consulted
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Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Glass Ceiling
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “glass ceiling.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved June 5, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/glass-ceiling/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
glass ceiling. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/glass-ceiling/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “glass ceiling.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed June 5, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/glass-ceiling/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“glass ceiling.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 5 Jun. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/glass-ceiling/>.