The Skirting Board Problem: Why the Ceiling Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Glass

We talk a lot about glass ceilings, and rightly so. They’re real, they’re frustrating, and they’ve kept far too many brilliant women from rising to the top.

But let’s get honest for a minute.

The real challenge? It starts long before any woman even gets close to the ceiling.

It starts at the skirting board.

Yep. Down there. Where the dust settles, expectations gather like cobwebs, and subtle social conditioning kicks in before a girl even knows how to spell “CEO”.

You see, by the time we’re talking about senior leadership or board seats, the system has already weeded out a huge chunk of us. Not because we weren’t good enough, but because we were never seen in the first place.

Let’s talk about what happens at skirting board level:

📍 The little girl told she’s “bossy” when she shows leadership
📍 The teenage girl subtly encouraged to choose “people-friendly” careers
📍 The early-career woman given the admin-heavy tasks “because she’s so organised”
📍 The mum who’s assumed to be less ambitious simply because she has a child

These aren’t big dramatic events. They’re not front-page news.

They’re quiet. Insidious. And constant.

A thousand little nudges that shape what girls believe they can be. What jobs they should take. How much they should speak up. How far they should push.

So yes, glass ceilings are a problem, but what about the slippery floors, the locked doors, and the missing ladders?

We need to stop pretending that it’s a level playing field just because the job spec doesn’t say “men only.”

By the time a woman is being considered for leadership, she’s already had to work twice as hard just to stay in the room. And when she does reach the top? She’s often told she’s “intimidating”, “too confident”, or — my personal favourite — “not a team player”.

Give me strength.

The pipeline leaks because the whole damn house is wonky.

So what do we do?

Well, for starters, we need to stop putting the onus on women to fix themselves. There’s nothing wrong with us. We’re not lacking confidence. We’re not too emotional. We don’t need to “lean in” more.

We need workplaces that stop rewarding sameness and start recognising brilliance in all its forms.

We need managers who don’t assume parental status equals lack of ambition.

We need policies that support flexibility, not just for parents but for humans.

And we need to start calling out the nonsense at the skirting board level, not just waiting to celebrate women who’ve defied the odds.

Because let’s be clear. Succeeding despite the system isn’t a badge of honour. It’s a sign the system is broken.

Here’s what I want:

I want girls to grow up knowing that “bossy” is just another word for “leader-in-training”.

I want early-career women to be given stretch opportunities, not just spreadsheets.

And I want workplaces to stop asking, “Can she really handle this?” and start asking, “What do we need to do to help her thrive?”

The ceiling matters. But if we don’t fix what’s happening at floor level, fewer women will ever get close enough to break it.

And that, my friends, is the real issue.

So next time someone bangs on about the glass ceiling, remind them to look down. There’s a whole lot of untapped potential still crouching at the skirting board.