[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/27\/ageism-and-gender-in-the-workplace-the-myth-of-the-late-bloomer\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/27\/ageism-and-gender-in-the-workplace-the-myth-of-the-late-bloomer\/","headline":"Ageism and gender in the workplace: The myth of the late bloomer","name":"Ageism and gender in the workplace: The myth of the late bloomer","description":"September 2021 reveals that nearly 70 percent of women over 40 who are still looking for new jobs have been out of work for at least six months.","datePublished":"2022-01-27","dateModified":"2023-03-23","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/cali-green\/#Person","name":"Cali Green","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/cali-green\/","identifier":434,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d39cd4c54a96bcfd607951623158535f454a94f5bf4ea9c31bb01130d99f32e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d39cd4c54a96bcfd607951623158535f454a94f5bf4ea9c31bb01130d99f32e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/ageism-and-gender-.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/ageism-and-gender-.png","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/27\/ageism-and-gender-in-the-workplace-the-myth-of-the-late-bloomer\/","about":["COVID-19 and Business",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/purpose\/diversity\/","name":"Diversity and Inclusion","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Diversity,_equity,_and_inclusion"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/employee-engagement\/","name":"Employee Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Employee_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q14937678"]},"Employee Experience & Engagement",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/purpose\/gender-equality\/","name":"Gender Equality","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gender_equality","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q113453"]},"Inclusion & Diversity",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/purpose\/","name":"Purpose","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Purpose"]}],"wordCount":1267,"keywords":["Diversity and Inclusion","Gender Diversity","Gender Equality"],"articleBody":"While unemployment rates have improved since the beginning of the pandemic, an AARP study from September 2021 revealed a sobering reality: nearly 70 percent of women over 40 who were still looking for new jobs had been out of work for at least six months.That’s an astonishing number of women left to rely upon unemployment payments and stimulus checks which barely put their \u201cends\u201d in the same room \u2013 let alone help make them meet.\u00a0Unsurprisingly, that number impacts BIPOC women over 40 significantly more\u2014job losses for Black, Latinx, and Asian women totaled 57 percent, compared to 13 percent for white women.As women 40+ seek to salvage or shift career paths, many find themselves grappling with a falsehood that needs to be dispelled \u2014 a deception that has created communal anxiety among women for decades: The myth of the Late Bloomer.Many of us over 30 have heard some variation of this fallacy for much of our adulthood. Most commonly, we’re told that if a woman reaches a certain age without having a socially acceptable level of achievement, she becomes less desirable \u2013 and less employable.If she’s over 30 and still seeking what brings her joy, she\u2019s done something wrong.If she didn\u2019t make the cut for a \u201c30 Under 30\u201d accolade, she just hasn\u2019t aimed high enough yet. If she makes a drastic change decades into her career trajectory, those prior years were apparently wasted time.To start, the idea that anyone should have life entirely figured out by age 30 is fairly ridiculous. Feel free to confirm this with any woman over 30.This content is hosted by a third party ( player.simplecast.com ).To view the content, either update your cookie preferences or view it in a new browser window.Cookie PreferencesNew WindowOver 40? You’re invisible: The myth of the late bloomerSadly, businesses and employers very often reinforce this notion. As the Washington Post reported in October 2021: \u201cin the age of covid, older female workers have become even more vulnerable to job losses and age discrimination.\u201dBack in 2017 \u2014 well before a global health crisis changed the world landscape \u2014 writer Sally Koslow penned an opinion piece for The New York Times titled \u201cHire Women Your Mom\u2019s Age.\u201d Among her most salient points: working later in life is where many women find their calling. Unfortunately, that\u2019s also the time when employers are often seeking younger talent.And in the 2021 Fortune piece \u201cAge discrimination is a problem. Botox isn\u2019t the solution,\u201d Susan Weinstock, Vice President of financial resilience programming at AARP, shared: \u201cRight now we have more job openings than people to fill them and yet people are feeling age discrimination at the same time.\u201dTL;DR: Jobs are out there unless you\u2019ve activated your over 40 invisibility cloak.This content is hosted by a third party ( twitter.com ).To view the content, either update your cookie preferences or view it in a new browser window.Cookie PreferencesNew WindowThis lack of visibility has forced legions of women who are 40+ to pivot careers (because they\u2019re overqualified for entry-level positions in their field) or to seek contract work and entrepreneurship (because employers can\u2019t or won\u2019t pay the salaries commensurate with their experience).During this kind of tumultuous shift, a feeling that can be internalized is that of identifying as a \u201clate bloomer.\u201d Someone who didn\u2019t fully realize their potential until after most other peers. I\u2019d like to say for the record: there is no such thing.When it comes to how we feed, shelter, clothe, educate, and otherwise provide for ourselves and our families, the phrase \u201clate bloomer\u201d does a great disservice to all the work we\u2019ve done in our lives \u2014 and on ourselves \u2014 up to that point.It negates the persistence required to consistently search for spaces where we feel empowered to pursue happiness. It erases all the years we spent learning, building, and growing.Surely, we\u2019ve been blooming in our lives for all those years prior.How are we suddenly late?Worst of all, it implies that we \u2014 Black women in particular \u2014 are not perennial: \u201clasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.\u201dIf that is not the very definition of our existence, I don\u2019t know what is.      Difficult women: Exhausted by bias, a revolution rises                Tired of being written out of their own narrative, difficult women get comfortable holding the reins of power.      If planted in the wrong place, you should definitely moveAva DuVernay has famously shared that she didn\u2019t pick up a camera until age 32. Her first milestone film, Selma, premiered when she was 42. The announcement that she would direct A Wrinkle in Time \u2014 making her the first Black woman director to helm a $100M film \u2014 came when she was 44. And now, at 49, DuVernay has one of the most successful (and enviable) track records for any director in her industry.In 2018, she told Refinery29 \u201cWhen people tell [my story], it\u2019s about race and gender \u2014 \u2018Black woman director\u2019 \u2014 but my story\u2019s also really about age.\u201dAfter making a name for herself in public relations, she chose to pursue her greatest fulfillment: storytelling and filmmaking. And she did so without regard for whether she was \u201ctoo old\u201d to do so (and also without having attended film school).So please take note, women over 30: there is truly no such thing as a Late Bloomer when it comes to living your fullest, most authentic, and joy-filled life.The years you spend on the journey to where you belong are not wasted. We should all be so fortunate as to live multiple versions of who we are in one lifetime.      Women’s Equality Day: No glass ceiling in sight from the edge                It's Women's Equality Day, but it'll be 135.6 years before women and men reach parity on a range of factors, versus the 99.5 years cited in 2020.      DuVernay\u2019s advice: \u201cWhatever path you\u2019re on right now is not necessarily the path you have to stay on. You can also pivot, and you can also move, and age doesn\u2019t make a difference. It\u2019s about putting one step in front of another\u2026 forward movement to where you wanna be.\u201dI’m aware that during a time when so many circumstances remain outside of our control, putting one step in front of the other to achieve that forward movement can feel daunting, but it\u2019s necessary.I’m a woman who\u2019s chosen to make an art of the pivot \u2014 I embrace that my career path is relatively non-traditional. I\u2019ve lived my dreams in each moment I had them. At every step, I learned what I love and what I don\u2019t. And when I didn\u2019t love something, I simply continued to pivot.\u00a0It\u2019s among the reasons I also denounce the phrase \u201cbloom where you are planted.\u201dIf you’re \u201cplanted\u201d in the wrong place you should definitely move. As a wise meme once said: \u201cYou are not a tree.\u201dRegardless of your chronological age, you can choose to reject the Late Bloomer myth, especially when employment options for women 40+ are either nonexistent or nowhere near what we deserve. Yes, it can be terrifying to realize that an industry in which you invested multiple years no longer wants to invest in you.And so we pivot \u2014 even as the pandemic continues to throw our worlds off balance, we can take steps to navigate toward the versions of ourselves we want to be right now.No late fees apply.  Purpose powers the future of business.Learn more HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2022","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"27","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/01\/\/27\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Ageism and gender in the workplace: The myth of the late bloomer","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/27\/ageism-and-gender-in-the-workplace-the-myth-of-the-late-bloomer\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]