• The glass ceiling is a colloquial term for a social barrier preventing women from advancing to leadership positions.

  • The term has been expanded to include discrimination against minorities.
  • Marilyn Loden coined the phrase “glass ceiling” at the 1978 Woman’s Show.
  • Women make up 56.8% of the US workforce but hold only 29.1% of leadership positions.
  • In 1991, the US Department of Labor established the Glass Ceiling Commission to address the glass ceiling problem.