HerMoney Podcast Episode 257: How Women Over 50 Can Reclaim Workplace Confidence And Power

If hermoney podcast episode 257 is on your radar, this short guide cuts through the noise. Here is what is worth knowing, and how to put it to work today.

Key Takeaways

• Find your true power and confidence in the workplace right now, no matter how old you are.
• For a long while, the “The Future Is Female” seemed to not just be a prediction , it seemed to be true.
• Over the last decade, as workplace participation for men aged 55 and over declined, workplace participation for women over 55 rose, accordin...

Stop limiting your beliefs. Find your true power and confidence in the workplace right now, no matter how old you are.

For a long while, the “The Future Is Female” seemed to not just be a prediction , it seemed to be true. Over the last decade, as workplace participation for men aged 55 and over declined, workplace participation for women over 55 rose, according to an analysis from The Conference Board.  

But today we see a different picture. We lost far more women than men from the workforce this past year with COVID , millions of women were forced out of jobs they loved due to a layoff, or to care for family members. Older women , women over 50 , were particularly impacted.  

So, what happens now? We hope those women will find their place once again.  But it’s also key to acknowledge that older women frequently feel marginalized. We face ageism in ways men don’t. And for women over 50, work is frequently as much about a sense of purpose and continued professional growth as it is the paycheck , and we have more to bring to the table than ever before in our careers. So what can we do? 

Bonnie dives right in to how women over 50 face even greater hurdles to prove themselves despite talent and experiential wisdom. This is something we’ve always heard anecdotally from every woman we know, but why does it happen , and why, in 2021, does it keep happening? 

Bonnie breaks down some of the most common ageist assumptions in the workplace, and highlights how they’re damaging, and how we can advance our careers while defying those ageist assumptions. 

“In the corporate environment, the pressure to be young, the pressure to look young, especially for women, is really much more prevalent,” Bonnie says. “We face gendered ageism, certainly, in society, in our private lives, but we are penalized in the workplace and disregarded. That, I think, is the big difference.” 

Bonnie shares that numerous women pull back from performing any activities in the workplace that may draw attention to themselves, because of age discrimination. They believe that if they remain “off the radar,” that’s somehow better for them. She shares how we can move away from this way of thinking. 

She also discusses something she refers to as “the myth of meritocracy,” and how it has derailed numerous hard-working ambitious women across the age spectrum. She dives into what that looks like, and she and Jean tackle a list of things that we may be doing (or beliefs that we may have) that are self-limiting, perhaps without realizing it. 

Bonnie also shares with us the 7 things professional women 50 and beyond need to do to show their value and stay in the game and hone in on their workplace confidence, all of which are applicable to all women who are in the workforce today , or who want to be.

They are: 

Identify your own ageist assumptions and fears.

Declare your ambition.

Cultivate a growth mindset.

Build and nurture a strong network.

Advocate for yourself and others.

Raise your hand. Share your opinions and ideas.

Be visible.

Then, in Mailbag, Jean and Kathryn tackle a question on paying off student loans vs. saving in an emergency fund, and a question on retirement account prioritization (Roth IRA, HSA, or a backdoor Roth contribution). Lastly, in Thrive, your $1,400 that’s coming, and all your new stimulus FAQ, answered. 

• 6 Things You’re Unintentionally Doing (Or Saying) In The Workplace That Could Be Holding You Back In Your Career
• What My Dream Retirement Looks Like: A Career I Love
• Everything You Need To Know To Build A Freelancing Career Now

Transcript

Bonnie Marcus: (00:01) In the corporate environment, the pressure to be young, the pressure to look young, especially for women, is really much more prevalent. We face gendered ageism certainly in society, in our private lives, certainly. But we are penalized in the workplace and disregarded, so that I think is the big difference.

Jean Chatzky: (00:29) HerMoney is brought to you by Fidelity Investments. Celebrate Women’s History Month with Fidelity. Join us for marquee virtual events and get resources for a healthier financial future. Learn more at Fidelity.com/HerMoney.

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Jean Chatzky: (00:47) Hey everyone. I’m Jean Chatzky. Thank you so much for joining me today on HerMoney. We are recording this episode the day after International Women’s Day, and you’re likely listening during Women’s History Month. For a long while the phrase, the future is female seemed not to just be a prediction. It seemed to be true. Over the last decade, as workplace participation for men 55 and over declined, workplace participation for women 55 and over rose, according to an analysis from The Conference Board. But today, we see a different picture. We’ve lost far more women than men from the workforce this past year due to COVID. Millions of women have been forced out of jobs they love due to a layoff or to care for family members. Older women were particularly impacted. So what happens now? Well, of course we hope those women who were displaced will find their places once again. But it’s also key to acknowledge that, as our guest today will remind us, for women over 50, work is frequently as much about a sense of purpose and connected professional growth as it is the paycheck. Yet, all too frequently, we feel marginalized. We face ageism in ways that men don’t. And we’re frequently not as confident as we used to be. The most troubling part of all of this is that it happens at a time when we have more to offer than ever before in our careers. So what can we do? Bonnie Marcus is a former CEO and host of the podcast, Badass Women at Any Age. She is the author of the previous bestseller, The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. And her new book is not done yet. How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Their Workplace Power. Bonnie, welcome.

Bonnie Marcus: (02:45) Oh, thanks for having me on the show, Jean.

Jean Chatzky: (02:48) Tell me a little bit about what inspired you to write this particular book?

Bonnie Marcus: (02:52) Well, I am an executive coach. About four years ago, I had a client, a female attorney, 58 at the time, who was working for a large tech firm in Silicon Valley. And she had a excellent track record. She was a valuable member of the legal team at this organization. But she started to notice that she wasn’t invited to key meetings anymore. And her opinion, nobody asked her opinion anymore. And her workload started to get redistributed. And I went through this painful experience with her. It certainly wasn’t about her talent. It wasn’t about her performance in any way. She was the oldest member in her department and one of the oldest in her company. So I started to do research about gendered ageism and found that this is a real thing, although not numerous people are talking about it. It’s kind of under the radar. And I also started to do interviews with women who fall into this age demographic and are in corporate America. And they were sharing their stories of being marginalized and diminished, and sometimes really pushed out the door. Subjected to horrific ageist comments. Demeaning comments, about their age. And I became really passionate about this topic and wanted to write a book that would not only bring awareness to gendered ageism in the workplace, but would give women a voice to be able to defy their own ageist assumptions and deal with society and the workplace bias.

Jean Chatzky: (04:53) You know, it’s interesting to me, two things that you brought up in that introduction. One is that we have ageist assumptions of our own as women, that they’re not all coming from men. Can you dig into that a little?

Bonnie Marcus: (05:08) Yeah. First of all, ageist assumptions are so ingrained in our society that we don’t even realize how numerous ageist assumptions we hold ourselves. And I realized, certainly when I was writing this book, how numerous ageist assumptions of my own I carry. But what is really key to note is that we need to take a deep dive and reflect, and understand what the ageist assumptions we have, because they have the potential to sabotage our success. They have a potential to hold us back from really showing up in the workplace with our authentic power and value. So, you know, for instance, if we feel that we are too old to compete, we may not raise our hand and share our opinions. We may not volunteer for special projects. We may hold ourselves back and become invisible ourselves. We might feel that we need to look young and attractive to be able to succeed. And a lot of the women that I interviewed in this book felt compelled to have eye lift surgery, to have filler and Botox to maintain their status. I mean, we’re not even talking about getting ahead. They feel the pressure all the time to look young and they see younger women getting more attention in the workplace. We may feel that we are too old to compete and therefore we don’t compete. We may actually have some fear around aging, some fear that we are actually going to lose our cognitive abilities. When in fact research shows that our brain may function a little differently, but it actually positions us better to handle some of the issues that we face in the workplace. So our mindset about aging is really, really key. There’s research that was done recently by Yale that shows that if we have a positive mindset about aging, we actually live seven and a half years longer.

Jean Chatzky: (07:35) But I am listening to you describe these assumptions that numerous of us hold in thinking. Yeah, I hope that myself. You know, I’ve had Botox. Are you suggesting that we get rid of these? How do we deal with them?

Bonnie Marcus: (07:51) Well, I’m not suggesting that we can ever get rid of any of our limiting beliefs. You know, there’s probably a whole slew of them. I’m not good enough. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not smart enough. But what we do need to do is understand that they have the potential to undermine our success. And when we understand that, to learn through practice and repeated practice, to give them less attention. So you never get rid of that negative chatter necessarily in your head, but you can learn to focus more on some of the positive affirmations about owning your history, owning your talent, the wisdom, the lessons that you’ve learned over the years.

Jean Chatzky: (08:41) You also talk in the book about the myth of meritocracy and how it’s derailed numerous hardworking, ambitious women across the age spectrum. Can you tell us what you mean by that?

Bonnie Marcus: (08:52) When I was fairly young in my career, I was passed over for a promotion even though I was a top performer. But when it came to the promotion, they gave it to somebody else. I was totally blindsided. But it was such a excellent lesson at that point in my career because I realized that there were a lot of things I was not doing. I had no idea what it would really take to get ahead. What are the unwritten rules? I didn’t have a strong relationship with my manager who was new. Just came into the organization. I didn’t know how the decision would be made. So I didn’t have the allies and champions that I would need to advocate for myself, perhaps. So I mean the bottom line is, I didn’t understand that it takes more than hard work and excellent perf

Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on hermoney podcast episode 257 goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at savingswitch.com.