The Laughable Ageism Myths That Women Face

Discrimination against older workers, especially older women, is widespread, illegal, costly and just wrong.?

Employment Ageism is embedded and persistent because it’s built on biased and untrue myths. There are four myths that result in the over 40s, particularly women, suffering discrimination. Unfortunately, even many over 40s believe these myths, often destroying their self-belief.

What are the false stereotypes that Employers believe?

Myth 1 – Older workers take more sick days because they are less healthy

No, we are actually healthier and more reliable than younger workers. Just 25% of the over 50 took sick days in the past year, versus 50% of the 20 to 29 (Australian and UK research). The Mature take their jobs more seriously as they need to hold onto them for longer, especially with the raised retirement age and COVID.

Younger people are more likely to fake illness with the most minor ailments – and often the real reason is hangovers and lack of sleep. Less of a problem with us oldies! Many also believe that sick days are an entitlement, sort of like extra holidays. Also, according to a French study, under 35s have the highest stress, the most depression and are the worst sleepers.

But, no matter why they take more sickies, what matters is that the Mature turn up for work way more often!.

Ageism Myth 2 – We are Technophobes and Resist Change

First, let’s acknowledge two obvious facts…

• Technology is now a core component of most jobs
• Some Tech is second nature to Millennials, think Smartphones and TikTok

But neither fact means the mature cannot be equally skilled! In reality, the mature are the fastest-growing users of IT. Who gave us this technophobic label? Millennials, and particularly the many male millennials when it comes to mature women.

Like everybody unfamiliar with new software, we are trainable (see Myth 4). Talent is wasted because we are often given less training than the young – presumably because employers believe this Myth and see it as a waste of time. Or that we’ll be retiring soon - complete rubbish (see Myth 3).

The Mature, particularly women, are adaptive to change – the huge changes we have experienced in our longer lives has made us resilient and better able to cope. Experience counts a lot when learning new tech – it’s the “this looks like that, and we solved that by doing…” approach to learning. Not to mention many of us have brought up children - a major change that has made us more adaptable and resilient.

One final point: The young are great users of smartphones and some Social Networks, but rarely know much more than that. I’ve mentored hundreds over the last 15 years and know how shallow their tech knowledge is around the all-important office tools (think Excel and Database/Project Management software).

Employment Ageism Myth 3 – Our Wages are higher

Let’s start with the bleeding obvious: Workers need to be paid based on their ability to do a specific job. Their experience and qualifications must be considered when setting pay - age is irrelevant.

The claim that the Mature are often paid more than the young in the same position is unsupported in the research once experience and qualifications are considered. Experience + skills = productivity. Age impact? Zero.

But here’s the real killer when it comes to relative productivity, again based on indisputable statistics…

The over 55s are five times less likely to change jobs than the young. As you know, replacing someone costs between 4 and 18 months of their salary. When their stability is factored into productivity calculations, then the Mature are a bargain!

Ageism Myth 4 – Mature workers are less Intelligent, Innovative and Creative

Again, just wrong. A study of all OECD nations concluded that verbal skills, communication and intelligence remain unchanged as a person ages. Why does this Myth persist? Probably because our short term memory often declines with age – so it takes a few seconds longer to recall some facts. This makes us appear less intelligent as we are not as snappy in meetings. Does it damage our productivity? Infinitesimally.

According to the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, all the biases we hold against the Mature are unconscious and unintentional.

However, deliberate or not, these biases damage millions of Australians – only HR and Management can stop it.

For the ‘7 Ageism Myths that Job Seekers Believe’, click here