glass ceilingとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From glass +‎ ceiling, a metaphor using ceiling to suggest a barrier to upward mobility, and glass to allude to the often unacknowledged or “invisible” nature of this limitation. The term was coined by the American diversity advocate, management consultant, and writer Marilyn Loden (1946–2022), who referred to the “invisible glass ceiling” during a panel discussion about women’s aspirations in 1978.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɡlɑːs ˈsiːlɪŋ/, /ɡlæs-/
• (General American) IPA: /ɡlæs ˈsilɪŋ/
• 韻: -iːlɪŋ
• ハイフネーション: glass ceil‧ing

名詞

glass ceiling (plural glass ceilings) (originally US, idiomatic)

1. An unrecognized or unwritten barrier to further progression or promotion, in employment and elsewhere, for a member of a specific demographic group (originally women). [from 1978]
   • 1984 March 15, Nora Frenkiel, quoting Gay Bryant, “The Up-and-Comers; Bryant Takes Aim at the Settlers-in”, in Adweek: Magazine World 1984 Supplement, New York, N.Y.: A/S/M Communications, →OCLC, page 39, column 2:

     Women have reached a certain point—I call it the glass ceiling. They're in the top of middle management and they're stopping and getting stuck. There isn't enough room for all those women at the top. Some are going into business for themselves. Others are going out and raising families.

     This is the earliest quotation recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary.

   • 1986 June 18, Rusty Brown, “The glass ceiling”, in Dan Bolton, editor, Lompoc Record, volume 112, number 60, Lompoc, Calif.: Donrey Media Group, →OCLC, page A4, column 2:

     A recent Wall Street Journal report describes the invisible barrier at the top as "the glass ceiling" and speculates that it is caused by corporate tradition and prejudice—the same factors that had to be dealt with years ago in order for women to make it beyond the steno pool. […] In the spate of recent articles about glass ceilings faced by women, it's been said that men at the top feel uncomfortable with women of equal or nearly equal power. One high-level vice president quoted her boss as saying, "It was his problem, but he couldn't make serious decisions if a woman was in the room."

   • 1991 December 15, Kathyrin E. Diaz, “Telling Fortune: A Media Watch Report”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 22, Boston, Mass.: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 1:

     There are fears of hitting a "glass ceiling" beyond which known or suspected gay men and lesbians cannot rise. According to Fortune: / In a 1987 survey by the Wall Street Journal, 66% of major-company CEO's said they would be reluctant to put a homosexual on management committees; while attitudes may have changed since, there's no evidence of a revolution.

   • 2007 January 5, Polly Curtis, “Six thousand women missing from boardrooms, politics and courts”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 December 2023:

     The glass ceiling is still holding back 6,000 women from the top 33,000 jobs in Britain, according to new research from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Thirty years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, women are "woefully under-represented" in the country's boardrooms, politics and courts, it says.

   • 2017 September 19, Jennifer Szalai, “The Education of Ellen Pao [review of Pao’s book Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change (2017)]”, in The New York Times Book Review‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 February 2025:

     [I]t was the genteel chauvinism of the enlightened elites at Kleiner Perkins that carried with it the sting of betrayal. They promised her [Ellen Pao] a meritocracy and gave her a glass ceiling instead: "It just wasn't fair."

   • 2021 November 19, Chris Megerian, quoting Bakari Sellers, “Kamala Harris makes history, again, as first woman with presidential power – for 85 minutes”, in Los Angeles Times‎, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 August 2024:

     "Has the glass ceiling shattered?" said Bakari Sellers, a political ally of [Kamala] Harris. "No, but it does have another crack."

   • 2022 July 29, Lux Alptraum, “Women, the game is rigged. It's time we stop playing by the rules.”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 January 2025:

     And yet as we stand amid the metaphorical shards of all those shattered glass ceilings, it's hard to ignore the fact that empowerment feminism hasn't really delivered on its promises.

   • 2023 October 13 (online version), Raphael Minder, quoting Agnieszka Holland, “Lunch with the FT: Filmmaker Agnieszka Holland: ‘It’s possible to commit the worst crimes and never pay’”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section)‎, London: Financial Times, published 14 October 2023, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 April 2024, page 3:

     My father [Henryk Holland] really believed at some point that [communism] would be great for humanity, perhaps also because he was facing all the glass ceilings for being a Jewish boy […]

2. (figurative) A barrier to progression that is not obvious.
   • 1994 August 25, Charles Pretzlik, “The Market: Ceiling gives way thanks to Uncle Sam”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 43,288, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, column 1:

     After several spirited assaults, the FT SE's 3200 glass ceiling finally gave way yesterday, allowing the index to close sharply higher after a day of drifting.

等位語

派生語

• glass cliff

参照

Further reading

• glass ceiling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “glass ceiling, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025.
• “glass ceiling, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “glass ceiling”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Eric Partridge (2005), “glass ceiling”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 1 (A–I), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 873.