The Inaugural "Break The Glass Ceiling" Day Is Here

When it comes to gender equality, plenty of progress has been made over the past few decades. Painfully serious work to still needs to be done, however, including establishing the right for all people to have autonomy over their own bodies. On an international scale, a 2021 report from the World Economic Forum posited that it would take an average of 135.6 years for men and women to achieve parity in a variety of arenas: political empowerment, economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, and health and survival (other genders were not included in the study).

To symbolize that statistic, media company VML and Luminary, an education and networking platform for women, have declared May 15 the first Break the Glass Ceiling Day. The new annual event falls on the 135th day of the year. To mark the occasion, women in New York will gather for a networking happy hour at Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar that — while enclosed by glass, yes — is intended to symbolize the empowerment of women and people from underrepresented communities.

“We need to champion individual values and standards, and ask the tough questions like, how do we see women as equals and role models for all — not just other women?” Jennifer DaSilva, executive officer at VML, tells Bustle. “How do we make space for diverse, even conflicting, definitions of success?”

The event comes at a time when social media conversations around breaking the glass ceiling have dropped by almost 40% and positive sentiments have fallen by 60% from 2020 to 2022, according to VLM. “Because of this dramatic decline, it’s clear that there’s still so much work to be done,” DaSilva says. “There are still too many often-invisible systemic barriers that keep women and underrepresented communities from advancement.”

A virtual panel was held earlier in the day for women to pledge their commitment to breaking their own professional and personal glass ceilings. During a conversation moderated by author and journalist Amy Shoenthal, four panelists discussed what people can do today to ensure that the concept of a glass ceiling will be considered a distant relic by future generations.

Quotes have been edited and condensed for clarity.

How Things Can Change, Big Picture

Intersectional Inclusion In The C-Suite

“We do have women at the top, but do we have them at the top all the way through? How are they relating to each other? And I always talk about the relationship between Black women and white women. How are we making sure women of color and other women are all together in that discussion?” — Kaleeta McDade, Chief Experience Design Officer, VML

How are we making sure women of color and other women are all together in that discussion?

Starting From Scratch

“Only a system can take down a system. The corporate system, it’s been built by men. We need to build our own. Women have been leaving the corporate world in droves, regardless or agnostic of the level, and I think it’s because, the way it’s been created, it’s not meant for us. We have to figure out what our new version is — not try to acquiesce to what the structure is currently, but what’s our own version of this? What’s our own network? How do we become our own sponsors? Our own mentors?” — McDade

Sticking It Out To Redefine Success

“We need to start remaking the rules of success — what it looks like, how we define it, and how we bring it into the workplace. I’m not going to volunteer anyone, but some of us have to be the sacrificial lambs who are willing to stay in the existing systems to then break them down, shift, and climb to the top. Each of us can define this part, at least for ourselves: How much am I willing to give up? What can I sacrifice or trade off so that the world that we want to create can be more real? That’s the harder pill to swallow, but I think that is a fundamental part of what we're going to need to do.” — Rupal Patel, two-time CEO and former CIA agent

How You Can Create Change Today

Practice Mindfulness

“When you feel angry and you want to lash out or take that next drink or be up at 11:45 doom-scrolling on your phone, can you put a moment of pause in there? Can you take five deep breaths? Can you see what you’re avoiding? Try to get that out so you don’t put it out into the world.” — Julie Potash Slavin, DJ and licensed therapist

Pay It Forward

“I have a 10-year-old daughter, and I’m always like, I can teach her tools by modeling them. I can teach her to listen to her own experience and learn how to process her feelings.” — Potash Slavin

It may not serve us today, it may not serve even in the next generation, but you do it for the generation after.

Be The Change You Want To See

“It may not serve us today, it may not serve even in the next generation, but you do it for the generation after. You have to stick with it and see it through. I was on the basketball team in college, and it looked very different 10 years ago than it does now. And that’s a testament to the hard work that's gone in. Just because I won’t have gotten to benefit from NIL (name, image, and likeness deals) or from the media coverage that’s taking place today, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.” — Jackie Caldwell, head of content at Just Women’s Sports