GLASS CEILING: LATENT DANGER TO WOMANHOOD

Ariba Nayeem1
INTRODUCTION
The dictionary meaning of glass ceiling is " an unacknowledged barrier to the advancement in a
profession especially affecting women and member of minority.". This word was first coined by
feminists in reference to barriers in careers of high achieving women. Women have always been
subject to hurdles and barriers whenever she tries to move up and walk around the world with all
her rights. This has been happening ever since the society came into existence, women were
always kept behind the curtain and was deprived of all the essential roles even in the family
matters, they were not even supposed to take part in family decisions. Women and men are
biologically different but society created the difference between blue and pink and created a
taboo, gradually this taboo became strongly rigid and every woman tried to fit into the glass shoe
made by society or largely patriarchy, even when she could shatter the glass Ceiling.
TYPES OF CEILING
Women as compared to men had considerably very low advancement in every field be it
corporate, politics, science, social, etc. These are because of the restrictions which she has to face
if she desires proceed and make decision in life. The major barrier in the path of high aspiring
women is the society, the society always pulled the women down and objectify them and decided
limits for them creating conscious and unconscious stereotype. Women always lacked
opportunity as she is judged when she tries to break the stereotype. This is not the only cause of
low advancement for female development in different field but there is a long list for the same
causes like, different pay for same work, sexual harassment at work place, lack of friendly
environment for women to work, Gender discrimination, religious discrimination, lack of role
models, perception of women’s role and ability, and the list is never ending. All the hurdles has
always discouraged women to go beyond the limit set by the society. Many aspiring young girls
drop out from school because they are catcalled molested, and abused on their way to success.
Many girls are forced to discontinue their higher education because people think education is
meant for boys and girls have nothing to do with education. Though the condition of women has

1
B.A.LL.B, 3RD YEAR, ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY CENTRE MURSHIDABAD, CONTACT NUMBER – 9163287427,
EMAIL ADDRESS – aribanayeem12@gmail.com
improved today but yet every women has to face judgments of society at their each step. This is
why women is yet not able to match up to men.

BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

So, it is evident that glass Ceiling which affects tons of men and women especially women can
never disappear from the society. Therefore, all aspiring women should not restrict herself to
some air tight jar and wait for the glass Ceiling to come and then smash it because no matter
what you do people will judge. She should work on herself and bring out the best version of her.
She must follow her dreams ambitiously and passionately and smash all the hurdles which come
into her way.
She should aim higher than any glass Ceiling and set her own goals and at every step create a
higher standard which us higher than any limit set by any society. A women need to be fierce,
fearless and utterly passionate. It is very essential to know oneself to know her worth, her ability,
dreams, her passion. She should always embrace her flaws and be confident as no one is perfect
in this world. And yes, it is not wrong to aspire for everything. Do dream big and work utterly
hard try everything to get the whole pizza to herself and enjoy it alone. There is nothing wrong in
wanting and having the whole pizza until it hurt others.
A woman should never ever compromise with her dreams and settle down with something less
than dreamt of. And squeeze every opportunity she gets till the last drop. Nobody likes to fail it's
a horrible thing to experience but the truth is people do faces failure at some point or the other in
life. A woman should know that failure is not the end of life it's just a phase and failure comes
out as the person want it to be. Stand bold when failure hits, face it with courage and get your
way out of those depressions.
Women never are too rigid, loosen up shake it off and take risks in life. Yes it is thrilling but
worth it. If she aspires to get something desperately she will always find way. Initially it seems
foolish but it's really worth it, same as the first person who had said he wanted to get to the
moon, sounds foolish but today people has reach the moon and back. Therefore, take risks in life.
Never try to break the glass Ceiling but aspire and want anything passionately and work all the
way crushing and smashing the hurdles and get to ones dream. None can stop her from achieving
ones dream but herself.
CONCLUSION
Glass Ceiling has always existed in the society pulling and grabbing women down at every
single step due to which most of the women has lost ability to dream beyond the Ceiling. It is not
possible to break or erase the ceiling but thinking out of the box and dreaming above the set
limits and giving every drop of labour in achieving it can definitely deplete the glass Ceiling. It
should always be remembered that change is constant and one have to choose from the two.
Being wise is the best option and welcome the change in your life and enjoy it. If she knows her
value her ability and believe in herself no glass Ceiling can stop her from achieving her set goals.