iron ceiling
東京都の小池知事が，リオデジャネイロオリンピックのメイン会場で記者会見しました。
Tokyo governor hopes for boost from Japan's women athletes
RIO DE JANEIRO — Yuriko Koike, Tokyo’s first female governor, hopes the strong performance of Japan’s female athletes at the Rio Olympics will rub off on other Japanese women, starting with her fellow politicians.
As of Saturday morning, Japanese women had claimed seven of their country’s 12 gold medals in Rio, pushing Japan close to its goal of 14 gold medals with two days of Olympic action remaining.
Compared with the sporting world, Koike said the number of female politicians remained low in Japan but they were making more strides.
“Hillary Clinton has often spoken of a glass ceiling but in Japan it’s an iron ceiling,” Koike told reporters on Saturday, the day before she receives the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony as head of the next host city.
今回取り上げる表現は，“iron ceiling”です。これに似た“glass ceiling”「ガラスの天井，目に見えない障害，女性の社会進出を拒む壁」は，よく見かけますが，どのような意味でしょうか。
日本の記事によると，「鉄の天井」とありました。これは，アメリカの女性の自由度に比べ，日本のほうが女性の社会進出や自由度が低く，破るのに困難な状況であることを意味しています。それだけ，日本の女性の社会進出等は，困難な問題であることが分かります。(Nao)
