A thought-provoking piece of literature crossed my desk a few days ago: the alumni magazine from my daughter’s old school. Contained within it were a number of reunion photos from various year groups and being of that age, the class of ‘68 particularly grabbed my attention. As sixth formers then, this group of about a dozen survivors would be coming up to about age 60 now.
The picture was revelatory. Three of the women were well-dressed, impressively groomed and appeared effortlessly attractive in an ageless-contemporary sort of a way. At the other end of the spectrum, three others looked ancient, frumpy and worn out. Asked to guess their age, it probably would have come in as mid-seventies. The group in the middle looked badly dressed, bland, and tired.
Having just re-read Annie Proulx’s short story, “What kind of furniture would Jesus pick?” I was left wondering, based on this photo, “What kind of older woman would an employer pick?” I didn’t need to wonder too long.
Certainly it’s food for thought in the struggle for older worker employment. Particularly as the class of ‘78 didn’t look much better.
