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)

I’m a teacher, nearly 50 and in my department I could be everyone’s mother! I stepped down from management last year and have also gone part time. I don’t think I’ve experienced ageism but my goodness do I feel ancient!

When I add up everyone’s teaching years in my department I still have more than them all combined! However, I think I’m seen as a ‘wise old bird’ so I get given extra challenging things to do which is fine as I know I can do whatever it is well.

Working with teens means I have to keep a young attitude. In addition, I have a DD who I had when I was 40 so I’m conscious to keep a young approach for her sake.

When I began teaching (in the 90s) there were lots of older teachers (50+) and they were all regarded as useful, experienced and valued. I’m not so sure this is the case now.

My team is almost exclusively made up of women in their 40s. I'm their manager and I'm 36. It's a really lovely and supportive environment (it's quite a high stress role) and we haven't had any staff turnover in 18mo which is almost unheard of.

The industry I work in was traditionally carried out by surveyors but has moved into a separate specialism which increasingly is being done by women - we're probably at around a 45/55% split now. This also means that as they've been gaining experience, more and more leadership roles are being filled by women which is fantastic to see.

I’m nearly 40 and in the oldest third of our team of 24 😬 My line manager is 13 years younger than me (and an annoying cow to boot) 😂

I work for a local authority. That's where us fabulous older women are! I did worry about facing age discrimination but I needn't have. I can think of plenty of other places where I've worked and there weren't many older women.

Retail here and I’m the second oldest at the ripe old age of 31 also there’s probably only 3 of us at most that have children!

Interesting. I work in a male dominated industry (civil engineering) and I’d say if women stay to their mid 40’s they tend to be there for the long haul and at that age are senior enough to be valued for their technical expertise, or are in key “admin” support roles that literally hold the business together. Definitely no jokes about use of technology etc, if anything I joke about running the “IT help desk” for everyone else! We tend to loose women earlier in their career, maybe late 20’s / early 30’s when they digress into totally different professions.

I'm 49 and about average for my dept, but the only woman. We are an older dept and quite a narrow age range - some of the other departments are much more 20s and 30s. I've noticed more sexism and racism than ageism over the years. Quite a few people retire early, because it's well-paid and they can afford to.

I work in the public sector and most of the women are 50 or older. They are very good at equality of opportunity there. I'd recommend it.

I'm mid-50s and haven't experienced ageism at work, mainly because most of the staff are a similar age. I'm by no means the oldest. There are a few new people coming on board soon, all of whom are under 30. It'll be interesting to see if the dynamic changes. I hope not.

I'm late 30's.
My public sector workplace has a full spread of ages of both sexes, from 19 year old Maisie and 22 year old Ben to 67 year old Sandra, 65 year old Pete.

There's no ageism or sexism in the team.

However, it is noticeable that almost all the junior management are women, 40+ and either childless or promoted once their children had grown, and management grades paying over £35k are almost exclusively male, and younger on average than their junior manager colleagues.

This is the glass ceiling I suppose.

I work in the NHS.
I'm in my late 30's and am one of the tou ger ones at the work.

We have lots of female staff in their 40-60's.

I am 46 and also the second oldest woman at work. I have started to feel invisible really. In some meetings I just can’t get a word in so I sometimes give up (other times I shout louder!).

46 and regularly "complimented" by my 35 year old male boss on how well I look for my age, how youthful I am, how he can't believe I'm the age I am, how my kids are younger than his etc. Annoying.
Working with women my age would be, in my imagination, like getting in to a warm, deep bath, so relaxing.

I am senior management in a hotel, women don’t tend to get promoted to the very top and I don’t know anyone over the age of 48 in my industry. So there’s ageism and sexism across the board IMO

I'm one of the oldest in my team at 48 and have heard the younger members of the team mentioning they'd prefer younger colleagues, one colleague said to me jokingly once "that it will take my brain ages to digest this"....told her she was a cheeky cow! I try and take it as banter as we do get on but sometimes these type of comments piss me off.

I am 41 and the third oldest (second oldest) woman on my team. I work in IT

Sorry meant to say and no issues in my team. We're all test analysts and most of us have qualifications. We all get the chance to lead on projects

I am the oldest woman at my work and usually in any meeting.
For a good ten years, I was the youngest.
It comes a shock to me every time I realise I no longer am.

I’m 50 and the oldest woman in my department, although there are a couple of 49 year olds too. There are 3 men older than me, one of whom is very senior. One of the 40 something women is also very senior.

There isn’t any ageism though, we are all encouraged to develop our careers. I work in manufacturing.

I get that shock @Scarby9. I must seem ancient to most of my colleagues. I remember when I started working and thinking my older colleagues must know everything and would take their word as gospel. Bet they were all like me now, feeling like they were fumbling along.

My immediate colleagues are mostly younger (I'm mid-40s) but there are a few who are at least 10 years older and I am glad we have their experience to draw on. I'm civil service and in my dept the Exec are half women and all at least 40. We have good menopause support and workplace adjustments if required.

My previous workplace was a good mixture of ages too. I don't recall much ageism because we all got on well and everyone pulled their weight.

I am 45 and there is only 2 women younger than me, there are 13 women and 8 men and only 6 men younger than me. I am in the younger half. This thread has made my night.

I am 39, and there are 3 people older than me. Most are in their 20s. This isn't ageism. I work as a nurse on a ward, and people generally move to more family-friendly, less stressful, less physically demanding jobs, often in the community or somewhere without the crazy shift pattern we have after a few years.

I'm early 60s & have never experienced ageism... I enjoy working with a range of different aged people & feel we all have different strengths and experiences to share ... although one younger colleague did say 'I like working with you as you are a bit of a mother figure' - not sure if that's a compliment or not .