2023 is shaping up to be the Year of the 50+ Woman

When Michelle Yeoh made history at the Oscars last month, she offered a clarion call for women of her generation while taking a shot at a certain CNN personality.?

"Ladies, do not let anyone ever tell you you are past your prime,” said Yeoh, 60, as she accepted the Academy Award for best actress — becoming the first Asian woman ever to win the prestigious award for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

The remarks were notable given the victories at the Oscars by Yeoh and 64-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis, who took the supporting actress Oscar for the same film.

But they resonated much further than Hollywood, particularly in the context of CNN host Don Lemon’s highly publicised remarks about GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley not being in her “prime” at the age of 51.?

Lemon, 57, angered his co-workers, infuriated his boss and sparked a national conversation about the ageism women face with his remarkable comments.?

“I would just like to let Don know that I have a lot more coming,” Sen. Joni Ernst, 52, said, adding, “Don’t let the silver hair fool you.”

“I don’t care if you are 18 or 80 — every woman contributes, whether it’s in her own home, whether it is in a small business, as a small business owner, or, for heaven’s sake, maybe as president of the United States,” Ernst said?during an?interview recently.

According to a 2021 survey conducted by executive coach?Bonnie Marcus and Out-Wit Inc., 80 percent of all women surveyed said they have experienced some form of gender-based ageism.?Among women between the ages of 59 and 64, the survey found that number reached 88 percent.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold the highest office in the House, has also noted the double standard in politics for men and women.

“Age is a relative thing, but I will also say this: Many times, women go to Congress after they’ve started their families and the rest, so they have a late start,” said Pelosi during remarks at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics earlier this month.

“So, my running in my 40s was the equivalent of men running in their 30s, really, because — it wasn’t the equivalent — but by the time I got to be a senior on a committee, I would be in my 50s. They’d be in their 40s.

For men, ageing seems to be?something that is celebrated, with terms like “silver fox” becoming commonplace. Conversely, a quick online search for phrases to describe “older woman” brings up “granny” and “old dame,” among others.

Experts say much of the ageism older women face can be traced back to the physiological changes women go through as they age, the peri-menopause and menopause.?

In 2022, veteran Canadian journalist Lisa LaFlamme’s contract at CTV News was not renewed by its parent company Bell Media. Reports later surfaced that the head of CTV News had raised questions about LaFlamme’s hair, which had gone?grey?during the pandemic.

“Look at most television news stations,” said veteran U.S. broadcast journalist Elizabeth Vargas, 60. “You’ll see a man in his 60s or even 70s paired with a woman in her thirties.”

“As a society, we put a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way, to act a certain way, to dress a certain way and particularly in television news, men are allowed to go grey and wrinkly and they have gravitas, and women are often showed the exit,” Vargas said.??

“I really wish as a society that we would value and honour women’s experience and women’s aging the same way we do as men, because right now, it is definitely an uneven and unfair playing field,” Vargas said.?