Glass Ceiling | Meaning and Definition

What is a glass ceiling?

The term means an invisible barrier that stops or prevents individuals like women or freshers from upgrading in their position to an executive level and leadership role of an organization.

It is often a colloquial term representing the social barriers faced by the individuals from being promoted to the top level in organizations.

The ceiling is referred glass in the term “glass ceiling” because it is compared to the sky. Everyone can see it, but not everyone can reach the sky; some are prohibited though they have no fault on their own.

In many cases, often the glass ceiling is faced by women rather than minorities. Also, it feels like an obstacle to a particular race of individuals working for the organization.

What are the obstacles in the workplace? – There are a few obstacles that hold the women not moving forward or upgrading their position in their work environment. The effect of the glass ceiling even causes depression in the employees.

Sexual Harassment – This is the first obstacle faced by every woman who was in managerial positions. In most organizations, it is a rare situation to fire the offender for misbehavior. So, women, in most cases, fail to report to the management, and this might reflect in their job as they will not be interested in taking the risk by upgrading their level in such worst situations.

In order to break the glass ceiling, an individual has to overcome the barriers that prohibit or stop them from attaining a higher position in the organization. Breaking it must also include removing the barriers for other individuals who face the same struggle in their work environment.