Abstract
This developmental paper revisits our previous study (Ensari and Tahmaz, 2019) that examined whether immigrant women face a “glass” or “iron” door during recruitment. Feedback on that study highlighted an important limitation: heterogeneity in participants’ educational attainment. The current study addresses this critique by focusing exclusively on highly educated immigrant women (Level 7 and above: Master’s, Postgraduate Diploma, PhD). By controlling the education level as a key characteristic, the research isolates structural and intersectional career barriers that persist despite advanced qualifications. Based on semi-structured interviews with 20 highly educated immigrant women, the study investigates whether obstacles extend beyond recruitment and manifest as long-term overqualification, stalled promotion, and exclusion from leadership roles. The concept of the Iron Ceiling is introduced to capture the durability and structural nature of these barriers.