Marilyn Loden coins the phrase "Glass Ceiling"

In 1978, the New York Telephone Company tapped Marilyn Loden to step in for one of its female vice presidents at the 1978 Women's Exposition in New York. The date was May 24, 1978, and Loden had been given a slot at a forum called "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall." The expectation? That she would deliver remarks arguing that women themselves were responsible for undermining their own professional advancement. But Loden had something very different in mind.

The notion that women's lack of self-confidence or poor self-image was holding them back didn't sit well with her. Nor did she have any interest in discussing the idea that women were supposedly sabotaging their careers by failing to dress appropriately for promotions. Rather than follow the script, she chose to address what she believed was the true obstacle: invisible barriers embedded within workplace cultures, corporate hierarchies, stereotypes, and misogyny that systematically blocked women from advancing. She gave this unseen barrier a name — "the glass ceiling."

That single speech turned out to be a landmark moment. The phrase quickly entered the national dialogue and took on a life of its own. By 1986, the Wall Street Journal had published a major piece exploring the concept. Loden's "glass ceiling" metaphor captured the essence of one of second-wave feminism's central battles — the fight against gender-based inequality in professional life. As the issue gained mounting attention throughout the 80s, the Department of Labor responded by establishing the Glass Ceiling Commission in 1991 to investigate the problem. The term has since earned a place in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. As for Loden herself, she went on to build a career as a writer following her history-making remarks.