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Topic: Have You Ever Faced Age Discrimination?
| Author | Message |
| SpinDr810 | Posted – 8/27/2007 12:10:18 PM | show profile I'm just wondering if anyone has ever faced this problem, as I have. When I first meet clients, I can tell by their first glance that they wonder how a young woman is going to help them achieve their goals. The point is, I do my job well. Clearly my company thinks so or they wouldn't have put me in my ranking position. Just frustrating... |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/27/2007 12:48:29 PM | show profile Yes. I look incredibly young, and I often get that "shouldn't you be getting my coffee and running errands instead?" look from people. I've seen faces fall when I walk into interviews. It's frustrating. I whacked my hair off a few years ago in a short, sophisticated style to try to appear older, and I dress conservatively. I wish my talents would speak for themselves instead of my youngish looks drowning them out. |
| DHernandez | Posted – 8/27/2007 1:07:04 PM | show profile It sounds like you two have appearance discrimination, not so much age discrimination. I've been there, trying to look older when I had a management job at age 19, but believe me the tables turn as you get older and don't have the wrinkles, gray hair or sagging body parts of women your age. And here I was all ready to post a smart-aleck answer, such as not being able to get the senior discount at the movies. Real age discrimination, of course, is losing your job at 50 *because* you're 50, getting rejected for loans or housing because of your age, and other deeply serious systemic societal inequities. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/27/2007 1:14:14 PM | show profile But Belinda, it is essentially age discrimination if they discount you because of your age or perceived age, no? Despite your qualifications? |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 8/27/2007 1:43:29 PM | show profile I watched my dad go through age discrimination in the workplace when he was 52. It was frustrating. I mean, I feel people in their 50s are at the top of their games. They have experience that can't be matched by a hot-shot with an MBA and a year's experience as an intern. I think it's so unfair how people over 50 are being devalued by employers. |
| questoo1 | Posted – 8/27/2007 1:48:26 PM | show profile If they use whatever product/service etc.. you are pitching them on or assisting them with is it in fact discrimination? I would think its only discrimination if they don't use you for the reasons you stated |
| SpinDr810 | Posted – 8/27/2007 2:00:50 PM | show profile Maybe Discrimination isn't the right word---but the judgement people receive based on looks alone are amazing. |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 8/27/2007 2:00:56 PM | show profile Since my late 20s, I've looked about 10 years younger than my true age (I was proofed into my mid-30s), and I like it. I have found that some people tended to underestimate me, and I've used that to my advantage. |
| df | Posted – 8/27/2007 2:57:38 PM | show profile apperance discrimination is different for men and women Keltoi - no offense, but i think I remember from a different post that you are a man. Those rules discussed here don't apply to men. I can only share the frustration of all the young or younger looking women here. I have looked younger forever - and I have to fight against preconceived notions of prospective clients all the time. a young attractive female without an older male sidekick is almost never being chosen to represent anyone (unless you are pat of a bigger institution, so that your clients hope there's someone supervising you lol). Your competence is questioned simply on the basis that you look young, attractive and you are a female. And getting older doesn't help because as a female you go almost directly from too young and too attractive to to old and not on top of your game anymore. I have a often pondered to get a rent man just for showing up with me and posing as my boss. |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 8/27/2007 3:10:43 PM | show profile df, I agree it might be tougher for a young-looking woman to be taken seriously than a young-looking man, but any smart businessman or woman should be able to get past appearances and judge on what you bring to the table. I'm sure it differs depending on industry, but I would think that in the media biz, which, in my experience, has plenty of women in high places, being a young-looking woman would not be nearly as challenging as in, say, finance or trucking. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/27/2007 3:13:53 PM | show profile Onlt when i look in a mirror! |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/27/2007 3:25:04 PM | show profile Keltoi, I'd say it depends on what part of the media biz you're in. Women's youthful, attractive appearance could be an asset in entertainment TV or such, but with business/finance journalism, in-house corporate communications, etc., it's not an asset at all, I'd say. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/27/2007 3:26:31 PM | show profile oh, and Keltoi- the point about women in high places- I've found older women to sneer at me maybe even more so than older men in job interviews, etc. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 8/27/2007 3:29:36 PM | show profile I kind of agree with keltoi - as a youngish looking female I have totally used that to my advantage in the news biz. I had a source I had to work with a lot who I don't think took me too seriously and he always wound up telling me more than he should because I don't think he expected to get those hard-ball questions from a nice sweet little girl like me. It can be frustrating but, like everything else, you have to learn to use what you've got to your advantage. |
| SpinDr810 | Posted – 8/27/2007 4:31:42 PM | show profile Some good input here. And like many of you have said, I have learned to use my young looks to my advantage. The client's initial opinion always fades once they see that I'm skilled in my profession. I suppose I should be thankful that I look young and am good at my job! lol |
| voracious reader | Posted – 8/27/2007 4:46:16 PM | show profile Just had this exact conversation yesterday with my 23 year old daughter who looks, at most, 17! When she went on an estimate, she's in sales, the client asked her how long she was in "the business." She said, "Since I finished college," and left it at that. I told her that that was a GREAT answer! The problem in our family is that my mother, my daughter and I all look years younger than our actual age, without trying!!! I'm sure this is the kind of problem that a lot of people wouldn't mind having, but nonetheless, it is a problem. I'll tell you another kind of discrimination. My youngest son is 6' 1" and weighs 146 lbs., not unlike his father when I married him. My husband is now, after almost thirty years of marriage all of 185 lbs. at 6' 2". I wish I got a dollar for each time someone said to my youngest son, "Doesn't your mother feed you?" Now would you ever hear a person tell a fat child, "Tell your mom to STOP feeding you?" |
| catlondon | Posted – 8/27/2007 5:13:41 PM | show profile Um, yeah, I can imagine a person telling a child "Tell your mother to stop feeding you!" I have a friend who has been obese since her early teens and the number of thoughtless and downright cruel things people say to her, including in a professional setting, is mind-boggling. |
