INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: GLASS CEILING

Welcome back, everyone! Happy Monday to you all. 

Today is International Women's Day. To celebrate, we are spending this week learning words and phrases related to women's rights and equality. Today's lesson is on the phrase GLASS CEILING.

Definition: A metaphor to describe a barrier for advancement. Usually, this term is used to speak about the opportunities not available to women and members of minority groups.

Example 1: The first female Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, will be known for breaking the glass ceiling for women in U.S. politics. 

Example 2: She was an actress who wanted to be a director... but the glass ceiling in Hollywood during the 1950s made that impossible. 

This barrier is called a GLASS CEILING because you can't "see" a glass ceiling, (just like you can't physically see these barriers for women and minority groups). Yet the barriers exist, and they keep people from advancing socially and professionally.

To overcome this barrier, we say we BREAK THE GLASS CEILING. 

Example 3: As an engineer, I can definitely say that there is a glass ceiling that still needs to be broken for women in this industry.

What are some examples you can think of related to glass ceilings? Tell us on our social media pages (Facebook or Twitter).

And here is a fascinating article from 2017 about the woman who invented the term more than 40 years ago. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-42026266

Happy International Women's Day to all of our female readers!