I am 45 and the second oldest woman at my work

[TodClarty]

What about you?

I'm on the receiving end of ageism for the first time. I read about women just leaving the workplace as they get older cos they arent valued and dont fit.

(My place is an office based work where age shouldn't matter)

@MarshaBradyo

It’s interesting to hear which sectors are better for this, if people feel like saying

I’m in Finance

One of the best things about working in the NHS is that is essentially run by women in their 50s and early 60s. Same goes for other partner organisations within the health and social care system.

It always makes me smile wryly when there are threads on here about what to get 60yr old MIL etc and people say things like subscription to People's Friend. The trust I work for has just been steered through Covid by late 50s/early 60s female Chair, CEO, COO, CFO, Director of People, Director of Nursing as well as in a whole raft of other incredibly senior roles.

Early 40s - my employer is quite good at age-blind hiring, so people on my level vary from 29-60, and our manager is about 50. Manager and I are the only people on team with kids (she has a teenager, me a junior and secondary schooler)

I realised after going back to work post first child in last job that I was officially a 'boring old person' at a very young company!

Embrace it? I’m 45 and have 20 years left to work. I make jokes about getting older and teaching Nanna how to use the Apps.

So many of my peers had children in late 30’s or early 40’s that they too will work to 65. It will become the norm before long.

I am however determined to strive for promotion and success.

Interesting.

I'm 45 and the oldest woman in my team, although there are a number of older women in other teams in my law firm. You are right though - the 40+ woman demographic is fairly thin on the ground.

We have a huge range of ages. One of our exec team is 56, the others older than 40.

In my most recent role there was one woman in her 50s in a team of women mostly 20/40, and her performance was poor, and she did become targeted.

I suspect a big issue that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the menopause. It’s a hugely stressful time for some women, and can really impact on their performance.

Even when it is not directly mentioned, as I get older I am more overlooked when opportunities come up. Worst managers for this were the ones just pre retirement, funnily enough.

I work in Local Government, and we employ through from school leavers on an apprenticeship through to retirement.

I'm 47, and my specific team ranges from early 20's to early 60's but it is a very positive culture where everyone can make a contribution.

I've got 20 years left until retirement. I'd hate to think that I was no longer relevant in the workplace.

@CrushedPistachios

In my most recent role there was one woman in her 50s in a team of women mostly 20/40, and her performance was poor, and she did become targeted.

I suspect a big issue that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the menopause. It’s a hugely stressful time for some women, and can really impact on their performance.

Yes!! We put provisions into place for a woman in one of my teams because she was struggling with her concentration, insomnia, anxiety etc, due to menopause.

Women over 40 in my organisation are dotted around at all grades. I'm in the civil service. No one even mentions age most of the time. I feel very lucky after reading some of the posts on here.

On my team is a lovely woman who is over 70 and showing no sign of retiring. She's still doing better than some of the younger people to be honest as she knows the job inside out.

So nhs, social housing, civil service and schools have been mentioned as being good places for older women.

Actually that makes sense as I can see large public sector places having robust hr and recruitment processes to stamp out any bias.

I'm in marketing, which someone else has mentioned as having a shelf life. In fact I've just remembered going to a webinar and the 30 something presenter proudly told us she would never hire anyone over 25 - to keep her marketing firm trendy. What a dick.

I have been the oldest female there since I joined at 39, 9 years ago (also most senior female ). Is a tech start up, 20 people when I joined, now 100.

It's been fine.

The menopause drove me out of my career at 52 and I suspect I'm far from alone in that too.

Trying to juggle a difficult demanding job whilst contending with severe symptoms just wasn't possible. HRT has fixed that but I enjoyed not working so much I never wanted to go back. So I didn't.

I'm very lucky though that retiring at 52 was an option.

I don't consider a school a good place to work as an older woman, unless in a senior post. Unfortunately I can't get to a senior post as I'm invisible.

I started a new job a few months ago at 58 and I think I am one of the oldest people there not just the oldest woman. I think many long term staff retire on the early side. However haven't noticed any ageism yet. Civil service for the record

Actually that makes sense as I can see large public sector places having robust hr and recruitment processes to stamp out any bias.

Although the cynic in me also wonders whether men with c-suite or very senior management potential are more likely to value themselves higher than public sector salaries/career paths and therefore tend towards the private sector? Why earn £220k as CEO of an NHS trust when you could earn multiples of that as CEO for a comparably sized private sector business?

Ether way though, I'm very pleased to be surrounded by such amazing women in the NHS!

Wow I’m late 30s and still one of the younger ones - I’m in a very ageing profession!

@TodClarty

What about you?

I'm on the receiving end of ageism for the first time. I read about women just leaving the workplace as they get older cos they arent valued and dont fit.

(My place is an office based work where age shouldn't matter)

The opposite tbh. I'm similar age and have found that most of my directorate are much older, so when someone mentions younger staff, they really under about 57,as majority as in 90% are currently above. And sadly the lack of IT skills and the limitations this causes are very apparent. Whilst the other directorates such as marketing, are most definitely what would be viewed as nature trendy and noone much over 35, which interestingly is the smallest department in the organisation. They recently recruited and again those appointed were all again over 57. I've no issues with the above, except this age group have a tendency to wish to reduce hours and majority do not intend to be here more than a few years, most are sitting it out until their husbands take their pensions in a couple of years. That's not, imo, good for the organisation either.

Most of my team are in their 40s and 50s. We only have one team member under 40 (not sure how old she is - late 20s or early 30s) unless you count one very part time guy who left to be self employed and still does ten hours a month with us - he's also about 30.
We're about a 2/3 female team. Health care where this os a common ratio.
There honestly doesn't seem to be any ageism - I retrained in my early 40s and worked at entry level while doing so, and was offered the position I have now in the same team a full year in advance of qualifying, and without even applying... Started in my fully qualified role a few weeks after my 45th birthday. Our oldest team member atm is a woman who turns 60 this year and who I know from a conversation not long ago intends to stay until she retires, though she's chosen to go down to 30 hours because she can and to get a better balance - fair enough!

No, I'm pleasantly suprised by the number of female staff of all ages given I work in a traditionally male industry, including female directors over 50.

Academia seems better for older women too? And maybe the operational roles in universities?

I wonder if HR is a good profession for my demographic?. I can see them valuing experience and maturity!

I teach, am 51 and haven't experienced any ageism that I've noticed.

I need to work and will not be sidelined or shoved out for anyone.

Hmm I'm 37 at finally don't feel like the 'youngster' anymore which I am enjoying! There are some much younger people at the same level as me but most are older or of a similar age. I intend to progress and most of the woman more senior than me are older so its an organisation that values experience over youth I feel.

But I do feel absolutley ancient when compared to the office apprentices!

I was recruiting for a pa role - 3 of us on the panel and the lady who’d be line manager (age 49) didn’t want the lady who was older than her (late 50s) as she felt threatened. Me and the other panel member (both 30s) had to fight for her because she was experienced and genuinely great. She’s now been employed for 1.5 years and has been a total asset to the office but I still feel sad how she was judged due to her age by one staff member.