It would not be surprising if we were all able to agree that some of many reasons for this are:
- lack of inspiration or a guide/mentor to show the way
- a sense of the social glass ceiling arising from others’ expectations
- a lack of 100% confidence in one’s own abilities
- an absence of understanding in others of the innate and powerful potential in each human
- prejudice, whether conscious or unconscious
- a past experience that gave rise to a false sense of the limits of a person’s potential
- absence of determination to try again and again to achieve a goal, arising from wrong assumptions made when the first attempt failed
- the influence of the opinions of others
- pockets of potential that have just never been uncovered, through lack of exposure or investigation into them
- cultural (so called) norms
- cultural or family and peer group expectations
- organisational structures and behaviours that actively work to inhibit the extension of potential / talent

Its a complex mix and no doubt we all put Glass Ceilings all around ourselves. What we must not do is put them up around others, but work to push the boundaries as far as we can, for ourselves and others.

Delight in testing the limits, demonstrating belief in the as yet unseen potential in each person and seeing how far they can get given half a chance will help remove the glass ceilings so many of us place around ourselves and others.

But the ‘distribution’ of this self-belief, or lack of it, is not evenly spread across gender.

I’d suggest more women than men don’t value themselves as they should – because the societal (and often personal relations) mirror in which they perceive themselves is culturally skewed to valuing ‘masculine’ achievement and attributes.

I have taught, and tried to support, hundreds of women (and a few men) with low esteem who have returned to education. Hardly ever is their lack of self-value justified in any way, but sadly until then no-one has told them they really do have ‘value’.

As Pedro rightly says, this is a fundamental empowerment issue. But whilst it’s certainly true that others won’t (generally) value us if we don’t value ourselves, it’s not always true that we can feel empowered to value ourselves as we should, when others don’t; and this I’d suggest applies amongst other things to more women than men.

But when it is all said and done, we all have a choice in how we see ourselves. If we believe our assessment to be accurate, then it is our responsibility to either educate those we engage with or seek out environments that value what we bring to the table. If neither response seems viable then we must cultivate patience trusting that time heals all wounds. But regardless, we must start by knowing ourselves and our value. How can we expect others to see in us what we cannot see in ourselves?