Glad to see ageism getting greater awareness - it’s an unconscious bias most of us grew up with, and starting with addressing it in ourselves is important!
Some other folks leading in this space along with Janine V: Sheila Callaham (Age Equity Alliance), Stella Fosse, Ashton Applewhite, Eleanor Mills, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
Lovely observation, Bob, with the self-talk. I know I hear it and have a chuckle because of the light-hearted comment, but you are correct. It does not help, does it?
Your article also makes me wonder. Can we pull out a bit and look at the bigger picture? Is Agism not just a symptom of people not looking at each other as individuals and treating them with respect? If we are organizing around each symptom, we are a fractured group, all with the same end goal, and pursuing it from different angles. Is that more beneficial or less beneficial than a larger group aiming for the big goal, with the end result of easing all the symptoms?
It amazes me that companies advertise for a role that requires experience (e.g. Agile Coach) and then discount those of us who are visibly older. (They also want to pay "junior" level rates, but that's a separate issue.)
I think this is a great topic, Bob! I see a lot of Linkedin posts and other sources posting articles about this topic at a surface level. Titles like "I hired someone over 50 and it was a great decision." These articles are always in the same tone as the "7 ways to level up of your workplace dress code" type articles that often fill our feeds.
What gets left out is that workplace discrimination of individuals over 40 years old is a protected class under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act. This class of people is no less or more important than any of the other protected classes in the Act. If Linkedin had posts calling out any of the other classes in a similar fashion, the authors would have an invitation to an unpleasant talk with their HR department immediately. Ageism doesn't seem to yet carry the same awareness or consequences.
Glad to see ageism getting greater awareness - it’s an unconscious bias most of us grew up with, and starting with addressing it in ourselves is important!
Some other folks leading in this space along with Janine V: Sheila Callaham (Age Equity Alliance), Stella Fosse, Ashton Applewhite, Eleanor Mills, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
Lovely observation, Bob, with the self-talk. I know I hear it and have a chuckle because of the light-hearted comment, but you are correct. It does not help, does it?
Your article also makes me wonder. Can we pull out a bit and look at the bigger picture? Is Agism not just a symptom of people not looking at each other as individuals and treating them with respect? If we are organizing around each symptom, we are a fractured group, all with the same end goal, and pursuing it from different angles. Is that more beneficial or less beneficial than a larger group aiming for the big goal, with the end result of easing all the symptoms?
I worry about this even though I just hit 40 this year. Will this culture will affect me when I hit 50.
It amazes me that companies advertise for a role that requires experience (e.g. Agile Coach) and then discount those of us who are visibly older. (They also want to pay "junior" level rates, but that's a separate issue.)
I think this is a great topic, Bob! I see a lot of Linkedin posts and other sources posting articles about this topic at a surface level. Titles like "I hired someone over 50 and it was a great decision." These articles are always in the same tone as the "7 ways to level up of your workplace dress code" type articles that often fill our feeds.
What gets left out is that workplace discrimination of individuals over 40 years old is a protected class under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act. This class of people is no less or more important than any of the other protected classes in the Act. If Linkedin had posts calling out any of the other classes in a similar fashion, the authors would have an invitation to an unpleasant talk with their HR department immediately. Ageism doesn't seem to yet carry the same awareness or consequences.