In praise of older women

Writing in today’s Daily Mail, Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman argues that mothers’ rights are making younger women unemployable.  She maintains that maternity leave (often multiple times) followed by requests for flexible working are creating huge problems amongst her workforce which she summarises as 90% female – of which 98% are women of childbearing age.

I will ignore the question of why 98% of her female workforce is under what must be around 50 or so (I don’t think I would want to hear whatever justification she chose to come up with). But therein lies the source of her problem – and the solution.  Not just replacing younger women with older women who no longer have childcare responsibilities, but ensuring there is a balance of ages.

Employers – Alexandra included – and society as a whole need to understand that today careers are made up of many different stages throughout which employees have different wants and needs and different levels to which they are able to commit to the organisation. Employers ignoring this do so at their peril and, yes, they will suffer the consequences.  Short-sightedness will lead to the demonisation of young women as it has already of older workers. All that will be left will be younger working men.  Back full circle to where we were a very long time ago.

All this on the same day as the Mail publishes another piece by Linda Kelsey on how being over 50 today is no longer old… Is it me or do we need some joined up thinking?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1226157/Vogue-editor-Alexandra-Shulman-asks-boss-hire-woman.html

Case studies needed

We are often approached by journalists who need real life case studies of people in their prime (i.e. 50s and 60s) to interview for newspaper or magazine articles they are writing. Just at the moment we have a request for women who are currently planning a retirement dream – the interview will focus on financial planning aspects and will be published in a new financial services magazine coming out early in 2010. The closing date for potential interviewees for this is September 18^th. 

However, on an ongoing basis, we are always happy to hear from anyone in this age group who feels they have an interesting story to tell, particularly in relation to a special achievement in later life or perhaps starting a business or taking a change of direction. We can feature you on the Prime Examples section of our website (www.inmyprime.info) and of course, could then contact you if we were approached by a journalist looking for case studies such as yours. For those of you who do have a business it can be a great publicity opportunity and, this aside, your story can be a huge source of inspiration and a role model to other people who are rethinking their lives.

Please get in touch!

Email enquiries@inmyprime.info

Too young to represent

The election last week of 27 year old Chloe Smith in the Norwich North by-election led to a flurry of media comment that she was “too young” for the job – a reminder once again of the injustice of ageism. Politics aside, the question of whether she is “too inexperienced”, “too ambitious” or even “too naive” might be valid. But what’s age per se got to do with it?  

Judgement of her performance as it becomes apparent also should be made in terms of benchmarks such as these rather than simply the number of years she has been on this planet. Anyway, she can’t make a much worse job of it than many of her older colleagues whose advanced years might imply they should be be wise, far-sighted and beyond reproach. 

As they have made all too apparent recently, they’re not.

Maybe there’s no “I” in team….

My daughter suggested this blog topic to me.

As I pass away the hours researching for in my prime, my mind is occasionally apt to take a five minute break. During one of these breaks I designed a small poster which is now pinned on my office wall.

My daughter, a doctor working in general practice, on seeing this commented that it would be ideal advice for the many archetypal women in their forties, fifties and sixties who come to see her. These overstressed and overstretched women with their tanks running on empty come to her for some attempt at respite from their depression and mental and physical exhaustion. If it is not children or grandchildren they are caring for it is elderly parents who demand their attention and these while they are trying to juggle a job, the house, being a good partner etc etc.

The advice which is given, “give yourself some space”, “take some time out for yourself” is met with “I haven’t time for that, I’ve so much to do”. And so the vicious circle continues. Nevertheless the advice remains valid and vital.

What does the poster say?

Maybe there’s no “I” in team – but there is “I” twice, together with “my” and “me” in “in my prime”.

What kind of older woman?

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.

Over 50 but not overly happy

“Over 50″ represents a huge spectrum – from wealthy and carefree at one end to lonely and impoverished at the other. Most of the bad news tends to be about the old, sick and helpless. But it’s by no means an automatic bed of roses for all of those who are younger and probably better off.

A report this week reveals that more middle-aged women (45- 54)  have depression or anxiety than ever before – up a fifth from 1993. And according to the survey, conducted by the NHS Information Centre, female pensioners are more than twice as likely to have mental problems than men

Experts believe the stresses of balancing home and work, caring for sick relatives, or feelings of loneliness after children leave home, can all contribute to the ‘crisis’.  On top of this, those who grew up in the Sixties are more likely than previous generations to feel they haven’t made enough of their life and to be unhappy with their looks.

Women are finding it increasingly difficult to balance home and work – and many are being put under stress because they have to care for parents with dementia. We also live in a society in which the relentless bombardment of youth can make even the most sophisticated woman feel depressed. Finally, this is the age when people question what they have achieved. But standards have never been higher for women who can be more unhappy than previous generations, not because they are worse off, but because their expectations are higher.

So there you go. Understandable. Perhaps inevitable. And hopefully for many, treatable. But we do need to keep it in mind when making broad brush statements about the over 50s. Who exactly are we talking about?

The baby bounce – mothers drop the ball on pensions savings

• Pensions gender gap has narrowed to 9% compared to 13% in 2007 – but women are still not saving enough
• Only 46% of women who could and should be are saving adequately compared to 55% of men
• 2.2 million women with dependent children had to stop or reduce contributions into their pension when they had children
• 6.2 million women believe their partner’s income will help to keep them comfortable in retirement
• 81% of divorcees do not discuss pensions as part of the divorce settlement
• 60% of women are not likely to save more for the long term at some point over the next 12 months

Click here for more >>

(Source: Scottish Widows)

To sleep, perchance to dream

Often we accept that insomnia, particularly in women, is an unfortunate but untreatable downside of growing older. As all sufferers and their families, friends and colleagues will know, insomnia places a significant burden on daily life and emotional wellbeing although a recent survey shows that 60% of people with insomnia have not visited their GP for treatment, as they think their problem is “too trivial”. The same people struggle through life with lack of sleep for almost 12 years.

For the first time in the UK, a new prescription-only melatonin is now available to treat primary insomnia in patients over 55 years of age. The new treatment, Circadin, mimics the body’s own natural release of melatonin to improve quality of sleep, daytime alertness, and quality of life. Obviously you will need to consult your GP about the treatment (and perhaps draw their attention to it) but in the meantime you may find it helpful to visit www.sleepadvice.co.uk where useful information about sleep and insomnia for patients – including a sleep diary – is available to download. And as ever, do give us your feedback if you find the treatment useful – we are always keen to pass on real life recommendations.