Age Discrimination – Never-right-age-bias

From a LI post by herCAREER: “One study participant stated: ‘While men become sources of wisdom with age, older women are considered outdated, cantankerous, or shrill.’ Another (34) said, ‘I am often told that I lack experience and therefore cannot know what to do.’ For women in their late forties, it was said that they could not be hired because they had ‘too many family obligations’ and their menopause was imminent. And a candidate over 50 allegedly appeared ‘not lively enough’. The job then went to a similarly aged man.”

Age discrimination exists in all genders, according to Tijen Onaran on LI. However, these examples show how ageism and sexism can interact.

Michaela Ernst, MBA from SHEconomy, sees in these attributions a “curriculum vitae of inadequacies, tied to the biological clock”. She contrasts the “typical women’s life” with a “typical men’s life”, which actually doesn’t look much better – often with educational deficits, midlife crises, menopause equivalents…

“Despite this professional ineptitude parity between men and women, the career prospects for men currently (still) look better. The reasons for this are well known: they have a historical advantage in networking and upward striving. Once they have their goal in sight, they are also not easily unsettled like women (…). This is partly due to an upbringing that still tends to devalue demanding, somewhat louder girls (…). On the other hand, it’s due to corporate cultures that promote aggressively assertive behavior much more than those that rely on exchange and teamwork.”