Glass Ceiling Quotes

“Domination was and is at the heart of penis politics: a man maintaining power over a woman through gender or sex-based control…. Andrew (Cuomo) was the master of the art of penis politics. In Washington, he’d given me a job and then worked to undermine me in it. He made me feel as if I were no good at my job and, thus, totally dependent on him to keep it…. I had never seen anyone push so hard, day, noon, and night… But I was soon to learn that, as Andrew pushed up and up, some of us would be pushed aside.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“Unofficially, we understood. There was a ceiling. Always had been, always would be. Even for him. Even for our hero, there were limits to the dream of assimilation, to how far any of you could make your way into the world of Black and White.”
― Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown

“The last few weeks of that summer, Janice lost interest in our conversations…. Her mind was taking her to other places, as though she was listening to a song or watching a movie or reading a book we could neither see nor hear.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“Driving home, I thought of Janice, wondering why I wasn’t upset or hurt by (William) Styron’s wine-soaked moves. Did I give his flirtations a pass because of the alcohol? Was it because he was a famous and a highly praised writer whom I'd wanted to meet? Or did I need to protect him since he was somebody, and I was nobody? I only knew that I didn’t feel abused, like I knew Janice had been…. Styron was famous. But so was Coach, at least in Soso.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“Should I stay in Greenville, teach my students, or work for Mike Espy (in Washington, DC)….Capitol Hill had many more men than women walking the halls, whether they were members of Congress or congressional and committee staff or lobbyists. The receptionist was usually a woman, and the chief of staff, a man. Sometimes I wondered why anyone in Washington would want to listen to what a girl from Soso, Mississippi, had to say.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“In the back of my mind, I thought maybe I would find my Robert Redford in New Orleans. We made our way to the city by afternoon and planned to drive home when the sun rose over Lake Pontchartrain. We had no idea where else to go, except to Bourbon Street. We walked toward the bright lights and glowing colors of one strip club after another…. In 1975, Big Daddy’s was the top, topless go-go joint on Bourbon.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“…I was finding that reporting the news wasn't enough. I wanted to be more than just a paid observer. I wanted to be in the fight. I got my chance.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“Many women arrange their lives around the people they love. Unfortunately, that arrangement takes up most of our days.”
― Holly Robinson

“...if I have a daughter I will tell her she can do anything, and I will mean it, because I have no other intention of informing her otherwise. As my mother did with me, and my mother's mother before her, I shall simply hide the truth from her. I will tell her that despite what others may whisper, there is no difference between her and any boy. I will tell her to work her hardest and try her best. And that if one day she looks around and finds that, despite her very best efforts, lesser men have superseded her, then she probably could have done better. These words may not be true, nor will they be fair, but I would hope that they ensure she never becomes a victim of her own femininity. I hope she will be empowered to pick herself up, study harder, work longer, and exceed her own expectations. I don't want my daughter to break any glass ceilings. I'd rather she never even contemplated their existence. Because glass ceilings, closed doors, and boys clubs are notions, they're ideas, and they're not tangible. You can't see, touch, or feel them. They can only exercise power over us if we choose to believe in them. So why lay down your own gauntlet? The cliche rings true, if you reach for the moon, you might just land on the stars. Throw a glass ceiling into the works, and it can only get in the way. And I suspect that deep down, every woman who ever truly excelled thought exactly this way. I doubt they ever gave much thought to the fact that they are women. I think they just really wanted to rock out. And they did; louder, harder, and better than anyone else around them. And at some point down the line, enough people took note.”
― Amy Mowafi, Fe-mail 2

“Making God a man is the consolation prize that our forefathers gave themselves for not being the ones who were each blessed with a vagina.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“A 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

“Still, I wonder if more women artists, musicians and writers aren't household names because we don't have enough faith in our own pursuits to give ourselves the time we desperately need to be transformed by a creative vision. Maybe that glass ceiling isn't really made of glass at all, but of sticky little fingers, dishes piled in the sink, and mortgages that demand two incomes.”
― Holly Robinson

“When you break through a glass ceiling, you're going to get cut, and it's going to hurt.”
― Kamala Harris, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

“No glass ceiling was ever shattered by a whiner.”
― Melanie Hope, Get Over It & Get Started: Self help with a spine!

“In all societies, both women and men are powerfully conditioned to repress the daily realities of (sexual harassment and workplace glass ceilings) and to collude with the rest of society in keeping these dimensions of shared experiences hidden.”
― William Keepin, Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men

“This is the ultimate chicken and the egg situation. The chicken: Women will tear down the external barriers once we achieve leadership roles... The egg: We need to eliminate the external barriers to get women into those roles in the first place. Both sides are right.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

“[Peggy Mcintosh] explained that many people, but especially women, feel fraudulent when they are praised for their accomplishments. Instead of feeling worthy of recognition, they feel undeserving and guilty, as if a mistake has been made. Despite being high achievers, even experts in their fields, women can't seem to shake the sense that it is only a matter of time until they are found out for who they are -- impostors with limited skills or abilities”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

“Don’t aim to break the glass ceiling; aim to shatter it.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“glass will cut
you every day, and
sometimes you will
crawl through hell
to feel the sun.”
― Ben Ditmars

“They said it was a mystery until someone acquired the necessary knowledge and experience to make it an open book. They said it was impossible until someone defied the odds and did it. Our world is filled with many imitators and few initiators because we listen more to others than to the gentle inner voice urging us to believe the impossible and do the unthinkable. Ultimately, breaking the glass ceiling is about who you are listening to.”
― Abiodun Fijabi

“I was waiting
For the rapture
And glass
To shatter
In my hair”
― Ben Ditmars, Firebird

“Our answer to lean-in feminism is kick-back feminism. We have no interest in breaking the glass ceiling while leaving the vast majority to clean up the shards. Far from celebrating women CEOs who occupy corner offices, we want to get rid of CEOs and corner offices.”
― Nancy Fraser, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto