Broken Rung
- “what is the broken rung”
- “broken rung statistics”
- “broken rung vs glass ceiling”
- “women in the workplace report”
:: COMPARE ::
Broken rungvsGlass ceiling
The short answer
Fixing the ceiling without fixing the rung leaves you promoting from a pool that already thinned at manager level. The ceiling is the more famous metaphor and has its own research behind it; the rung is the one with a promotion count published every year.
Side by side
| Aspect | Broken rung | Glass ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Location | First promotion | Near the top |
| People affected | Very many | Few |
| Quantified | Precisely | Loosely |
| Fixable by quotas | Not really | Partly |
| Located | At first promotion | Near the top |
| Affects | Many | Few |
| Measured by | Promotion ratios | Board counts |
| Named | 2010s | 1978 |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Broken Rung rather than Glass ceiling are usually searching for phrases like “what is the broken rung”, “broken rung statistics”, “broken rung vs glass ceiling”.
Glass Ceiling
- “what is the glass ceiling”
- “who coined glass ceiling”
- “glass ceiling vs broken rung”
- “does the glass ceiling still exist”
Which came first
Glass ceiling. 1978 — Marilyn Loden coins the phrase in a speech.
- 1978Glass CeilingMarilyn Loden coins the phrase in a speech.
- 2015Broken RungAn annual Women in the Workplace study is launched, producing the data the metaphor rests on.
Read either one in full