What is "bamboo ceiling"

n. 1 Especially in America, a social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for a person of East Asia ethnicity. 2 In East Asia, a social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for women.

The term "bamboo ceiling" was coined by Jane Hyun in her book focusing on Asians in the workplace, Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians. It is defined as a combination of individual, cultural, and organisational factors that impede Asian Americans’ career progress inside organizations. Since then, a variety of sectors (including nonprofits, universities, the government) have discussed the impact of the ceiling as it relates to people of Asian descent and the challenges they face. As described by a senior writer at Fortune magazine, "bamboo ceiling" refers to the processes and barriers that serve to exclude Asians and American people of Asian descent from executive positions on the basis of subjective factors such as "lack of leadership potential" and "lack of communication skills" that cannot actually be explained by job performance or qualifications. Articles regarding the subject have been written in Crains, Fortune magazine, and the Atlantic and Forbes (2016).

The term is a derivative of the glass ceiling, which refers to the more general metaphor used to describe invisible barriers through which women and minorities can see managerial positions, but cannot reach them.

Based on publicly available government statistics, Asian Americans have the lowest chance of rising to management when compared with blacks, Hispanics and women in spite of having the highest educational attainment. When it came to in terms of adding gender into the evaluation of the Bamboo ceiling it was revealed that Asian American women faced higher rates of promotion discrimination than Asian American men, and Asian American women faced a pay equity discrimination in comparison to payment with Asian American men.