Beforeword: The “glass ceiling”, was coined by Management consultant Marilyn Loden in 1978. It symbolizes the invisible barriers that hinder women and marginalized groups from advancing in their careers.
The thing about “glass ceiling” when smashed
is that the shards don’t vanish—
they fall
Sharp, jagged, relentless,
raining down like a warning,
like a punishment for daring to rise
Falling glass cuts deep—
Patriarchy, splintered but still clawing
Violence, turning freedom into something fragile
Laws, binding instead of breaking chains
Norms, polished smooth but when harmful they wound
Root causes slicing through progress
turning triumphs into scars
Rights into relics
Hard won gains into loss
Reproductive rights overturned—
choices stripped, voices silenced,
autonomy reduced to a battlefield
where laws are weapons,
and women’s bodies contested spaces
But how does the ceiling hold?
It’s not chains you can see,
not walls you can touch—
It’s an unspoken limit, the silent “no”
It’s underrepresentation dressed as “not the right fit”
It’s the weight of pay gaps
The care work not paid
The lock on leadership doors
The promotions that never come
no matter how qualified or how high women climb
They say, “You’ve come so far”
But they don’t mention the cracks beneath our feet
The unequal shifting ground
The backlash waiting at every turn
Every step forward risks another wound, another push back, another war to fight—again
The thing about glass—
It was never meant to be a cage
Meant for clarity, yet it distorts,
letting light in but keeping power out
The thing about ceiling—
It was never meant to hold in
Meant to shelter, yet it confines,
holding dreams beneath its weight
So, like Maya Angelou, women—we rise!
Not just breaking, but building
Not just shattering, but shaping
Hands wrapped in armor, feet steady on the dust
Helmets on, hearts fierce, forging new foundations
Until the sky stretches wide,
and the only thing above us—
is rights, equality, justice
About Women’s History Month:
About International Women’s Day (March 8th)
IWD is a worldwide day of activism, celebrating achievements while continuing the fight for women’s rights.
IWD began in the early 1900s as a movement for women’s labor rights, better working conditions, and suffrage. But the first milestone in US was much earlier – in 1848. Indignant over women being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention, Americans Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott started the US first women’s rights convention in New York. Inspired by protests in New York, socialist activist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual Women’s Day in 1910, leading to the first official IWD on March 19, 1911, in several European countries. The 8 March date was chosen after Russian women demanded “bread and peace” during a war-time strike in 1917.
The United Nations recognized IWD in 1975, expanding its focus to broader gender equality issues. This year the UN theme is “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”
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In creative solidarity, Dee
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