silver ceiling

English

Etymology

silver (suggesting the gray hair characteristic of advanced age) + ceiling (suggesting a barrier to upward advancement); modeled on glass ceiling, the first of such figurative ceiling terms.

Noun

silver ceiling

  1. An informal (and often unacknowledged) barrier to promotion or advancement, in employment and elsewhere, for middle-aged and elderly people.
    Coordinate terms: gray ceiling; more at glass ceiling § Coordinate terms
    • 2007, Jeri Sedlar, Rick Miners, Don't Retire, Rewire!, Alpha Books, →ISBN, page 239:
      Although society won't change its negative impressions about aging overnight, we are beginning to see real cracks in the "silver ceiling," the point at which age becomes a serious obstacle to employment.
    • 2015, Matthew Hall, Metrosexual Masculinities, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 44:
      He notes that the consumption of hair-colouring and hair-loss products, along with moisturisers, pedicures, facials and even cosmetic surgery by middle-aged men has increased over recent decades in order to avoid the 'silver ceiling'.
    • 2015, Charles R. McConnell, The Effective Health Care Supervisor, Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 503:
      A dramatic increase in age discrimination lawsuits and greatly increased visibility of the problem have done little to alleviate the effects of the perceived “silver ceiling.”

See also

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