Glass Ceiling?

What does the term "glass ceiling" mean? I know I've heard it several times on the news or in everyday life. Although I've heard it several times, I have never heard it referred to anything except women. When I think of the phrase, I think of it in terms of salary, and women working the same job as a man but not receiving equal compensation. I ran it through dictionary.com and this is what I got:


glass ceiling
–noun
an upper limit to professional advancement, esp. as imposed upon women, that is not readily perceived or openly acknowledged.
[Origin: 1985–90]


This definition states just what I thought it would. But what I found interesting was the origin. It says "1985-1990" From what we learned in class we know that women didn't have a place in the workplace until at least the 1960's. And even then they worked "feminine" jobs such as secretarial work, teachers, social workers, and nurses. It took a while before women started working jobs equal to men. When they finally did, the phrase "glass ceiling" was coined between 1985-1990.

My mom worked before I was born in August of 1991. She worked up until the week she had me, and went back to work after three months. I'm probably bias, but I think this is a very short time to spend with your newborn. Work should not dominate over a child. But this is another reason why women are looked down upon in the workplace: Women bear the children.

I think that even though as a society we have come a long way, there is still a long way to come. We should be celebrating the fact that woman can have a family and a job, not putting extra stress on the women. Even though the law requires it, women are still not paid as equally as men. In a perfect world, men and woman would be equal. But I think for now we should try and shatter the glass ceiling.