silver ceiling

silver (suggesting the gray hair characteristic of advanced age) + ceiling (suggesting a barrier to upward advancement)

silver ceiling

1. An informal (and often unacknowledged) barrier to promotion or advancement, in employment and elsewhere, for middle-aged and elderly people.
   • 2007, Jeri Sedlar & Rick Miners, Don't Retire, Rewire!, Alpha Books (2007), →ISBN, page 239:

     Although society won't change its negative impressions about aging overnight, we are beginning to see real cracks in the "silver ceiling," the point at which age becomes a serious obstacle to employment.

   • 2015, Matthew Hall, Metrosexual Masculinities, Palgrave Macmillan (2015), →ISBN, page 44:

     He notes that the consumption of hair-colouring and hair-loss products, along with moisturisers, pedicures, facials and even cosmetic surgery by middle-aged men has increased over recent decades in order to avoid the 'silver ceiling'.

   • 2015, Charles R. McConnell, The Effective Health Care Supervisor, Jones & Bartlett Learning (2015), →ISBN, page 503:

     A dramatic increase in age discrimination lawsuits and greatly increased visibility of the problem have done little to alleviate the effects of the perceived “silver ceiling.”

• ageism
• gray ceiling