Glass Ceiling Meaning

(idiomatic) An unwritten, uncodified barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for a member of a specific demographic group.

Example: 2007 Jan. 5, "Six thousand women missing from boardrooms, politics and courts," The Guardian (UK), p. 1:
  Women are “woefully” under-represented in parliament, the courts and the boardroom, with new research showing that the glass ceiling is still holding back 6,000 women from the top 33,000 jobs in Britain.