stained-glass ceiling n. a barrier to the advancement of women within the hierarchy of a church. Etymological Note: This is a specific form of “glass ceiling,” which is the barrier to advancement of women in any profession. A related term is marble ceiling, which applies to the same situation in politics. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
One of the most powerful words you’ll ever hear — and one of the most poignant — isn’t in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means “the last surviving member of a species.” The...
A nurse in Jacksonville, Florida, finds that, without even being aware of it, she takes on the accent of her patients, and she wonders whether that’s because she’s in a profession where she needs to make strong connections quickly with...