bamboo ceiling

Noun

bamboo ceiling (plural bamboo ceilings)

1. (US, idiomatic) A social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for a person of East Asian ethnicity.
   • The title Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling was selected because it acknowledges that Asian Americans do indeed face obstacles in the workplace and it asserts that there are cultural barriers that play a role in impeding career advancement.2005, Jane Hyun, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, Harper Business, →ISBN, page xx
   • Schools where admission is purely through a test, like the elite public New York City high school Stuyvesant, often have large percentages of Asian-Americans. The University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles are more than half Asian. That doesn’t help them integrate effectively, to pierce...2012 November 1, Ethan Bronner, “Asian-Americans in the Argument”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Apr 2014
2. (idiomatic, East Asia) A social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for women.
   • Nonetheless, women are definitely breaking through what has variously been called the glass ceiling, the bamboo ceiling, or the old boy's network.1995, Mahnaz Sarachi, "Women: Being and Becoming" in The Emergence of Women Into the 21st Century (P. Munhall and V. Fitzsimons, eds.), p. 9 (Google preview)
   • She says the changes brought by the Internet will help crack the bamboo ceiling. "The business practice of face-to-face negotiation and drinking sake together into the night has made it difficult for women to advance in the business world," she said.2000 May 14, Stephanie Strom, “Rising Internet Use Quietly Transforms Way Japanese Live”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Apr 2014