Episode 11: Women of a Certain Age

December 13, 2012

What happens to your career as you get older? We know the few female CEOs out there are mostly in their 50s and above (with the exception of the wildly famous and fertile Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer). But for many women life at work takes on a different dimension as you age and deal with other people's perceptions of what 'older' means. So what do you do about it if you still love your career and want to stay in the game? Tune in to hear Leah Eichler, editor of Femme-o-nomics and r/ally, energy industry executive Gail McMinn and Financial Times columnist Mrs. Moneypenny discuss women, employment and age, and why it's never too late to change careers. 

You can read Leah Eichler's Femme-onomics and Globe and Mail column on women and age at work here, and take a peek at Mrs. Moneypenny's book on women's careers here.

Comments

[Ashley Welde]

Age discrimination is an issue that affects men as well as women, so there are opportunities to join forces. This type of discrimination is particularly challenging in the tech industry. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/bay-area-technology-professionals-cant-get-hired-as-industry-moves-on.html?pagewanted=all
I don't remember you mentioning this in the podcast, but another issue for older workers is salaries...after working in a field for 30 years, you demand a higher salary, and an employer might figure they could hire a younger person for less money. It's a challenging issue because it is so subtle, and it's hard to prove discrimination. Thanks for a thoughtful piece!

[Ashley Milne-Tyte]

Thanks for the post, Ashley, and I look forward to reading the NYT article.