Glass ceiling

In October, when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences（瑞典皇家科學院） in Stockholm（斯德哥爾摩）announced Canadian scientist Donna Strickland to be one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics（諾貝爾物理學獎）, a netizen commented that she broke through the “glass ceiling”. 

Is this comment positive or negative? The metaphor “glass ceiling” is commonly used in Western countries in modern times to describe an invisible barrier that prevents women or minority groups from gaining promotion or advancement in the workplace. 

Strickland shattered the “glass ceiling”, the hard-to-see obstacles in her career, because she is the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics as of 2018, and the first woman to win this prestigious award in 55 years. 

The expression “glass ceiling” originated in the USA. Its written form was first used in 1984 by Gay Bryant, a British-born editor who pursued her publishing career in the USA: 

“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.” 

According to “BBC 100 Women”, Marilyn Loden, an American management consultant, created the expression “glass ceiling” in 1978 at a meeting about women’s aspirations. While many people believed that fewer women than men could progress to the senior management position because of women’s capabilities, Loden argued that the implicit gender bias was like a “glass ceiling” to further opportunities that people were not aware of. 

Can you think of other kinds of glass ceiling （玻璃天花板；無形限制）that women or minority racial groups have to break through in today’s Hong Kong?