The term dates to 1978, when female employees at Hewlett-Packard and the New York Telephone Company used it to describe their inability to rise beyond the ranks of middle management. Betty Friedan, a founder of the National Organization for Women, told The Times in 1986 that it described women who “get to a middle level and then there’s a glass ceiling — not overt discrimination, just a feeling that you can go this high and no higher.”

Hillary Clinton made the phrase a staple of her presidential campaigns and noted, upon her 2016 loss, that the United States still had not shattered that “highest and hardest glass ceiling.”

But the 2020 candidates are using other language: Senator Kamala Harris prefers to talk about her willingness to “break things,” while her colleague Elizabeth Warren has vowed to “persist.”

“Words have their moments, especially colloquialisms,” the linguist Robin Lakoff told The Times last week, noting that glass ceiling “seems tired.”

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Melina

Thank you

Alisha Haridasani Gupta helped compile today’s briefing. Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford wrote the break from the news. Jessica Bennett, gender editor for the Times, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about an idea to end partisan gerrymandering in the U.S.

• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Stylishness (5 letters) . You can find all our puzzles here.

• Amazon dropped the first trailer for “Modern Love,” a rom-com anthology series based on the Times column, with a cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey and Dev Patel. The show premieres on Oct. 18.