a closed shop
a closed shop
A field of business or competition in which only people adhering to certain criteria are allowed to join or participate. A reference to factories that only allowed people belonging to a particular union to work there. Despite the recent advances of gender and race equality, this industry remains a closed shop for wealthy white men. Up until relatively recently, journalism was a closed shop, open only to those with a very specific educational background. With the advent of the Internet, though, anyone can be, or at least call themselves, a journalist.