How to stop wasting womens talents: overcome our xation with...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/23/wastin...

How to stop wasting womens talents:

overcome our xation with youth
Margaret Hodge
For women trying to balance family with work, a career is a marathon not a sprint. In a
world that sees no value in maturity or experience, its an uphill battle
Tuesday 23 August 2016 17.00BST

was 65 when I became chair of a powerful House of Commons committee, arguably a

peak in my political career. I continue to do my job as the MP for Barking in my 70s,
and I have just taken on honorary academic positions at two leading universities.

Other women are doing even better. Look at Theresa May and Angela Merkel, both
women enjoying top jobs in politics at around 60. Or Hillary Clinton, who, if she
succeeds Barack Obama as president of the United States, will take the oath of oce
aged 69. Nancy Pelosi is the leader of the US Democrats in the House of Representatives
at the age of 76.
Similar stories can be told about women pursuing other careers. Daphne Selfe, at the age
of 88, is the worlds oldest supermodel. She gave up modelling in 1954 when she
married and had her children, but she returned to the job after her husband died, in
1997, and now regularly appears in Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harpers Bazaar. Think of
successful actors such as Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith or Mary Berry,
whose Great British Bake O starts this week.
And, of course, there are the men. We still enjoy the performances of Leonard Cohen and
the Rolling Stones. We tolerate the Today presenter John Humphrys. And we marvel at
David Attenborough, now aged 90.
My own experience, and those of others, demonstrates to me that life particularly
working life is a marathon, not a sprint. That is really important, especially for women.
It is we who tend to bear the brunt of the responsibilities of caring for children or elderly
relatives. Even though fathers are more hands-on today, who buys the shoes and makes
the dental appointments? And as the Institute for Fiscal Studies report this week shows,
the gender pay gap balloons after women have children.
Many of us choose to be mothers or carers, but we also want to succeed in our jobs. Yet
in a society that promotes the cult of youth, that is hard. In so many elds of work,
people are always on the lookout for the next generation of talent, the emerging
youthful stars, the new and ever younger people whom they want to place on the top of
a pedestal.

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How to stop wasting womens talents: overcome our xation with...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/23/wastin...

So people who want to succeed in their paid jobs feel that they cant take time out for
other things. The obsessionwith youth means too many believe that if they havent
made it in their career by the time they are 35, they have failed.
Nothing could be further from the truth. At a time when we are living longer than ever,
we are being written o earlier. Of course we should promote young air and new ideas
but we should also value experience and delight in talent and innovation at all ages.
The cult of youth must be matched bya celebration of the continuing energy and
contribution of others. Mhairi Black, the SNP MP who gave a barnstorming maiden
speech last year when she was only 20, has as much to oer as Marie Rimmer, the
Labour MP for StHelens South and Whiston, who joined parliament in the same year at
the age of 69 after a successful career inlocal government.
And we should stop putting pressure on people to race to the top before a hint of a grey
hair appears on their heads. This pressure makes young people feel they must decide on
their career choicestoo quickly, and then stick to them. At a time when people are likely
to work for longer, they are being compelled to decide their future jobs at an ever
younger age, and in doing so they are narrowing their options and limiting their
opportunities.
For women, the societal pressures are particularly tough. The time when we tend to
have our children coincides with the point when society tells us we should be climbing
towards the top of the career ladder. What should be the very best years of our lives
rapidly become the hardest as we struggle to marry two important ambitions and feel
guilt about not fullling either role properly. Yet if life is a marathon, why cant you coast
in your paid job for a few years, while your children are young, and return to the
competitive fray when they become more independent? Those few years out of the race
do not diminish your ability to contribute or succeed later, when you are a little older.
I chose not to try for a seat in parliament until I was 50, when the youngest of my four
children was 13. I certainly got to parliament later than my contemporaries, such as Jack
Straw and David Blunkett. And when my husband fell ill with cancer I took a years
compassionate leave from my job as arts minister. Coming back after that year was hard
because I had lost Henry, but resettling into work helped me through that period of grief.
Indeed, I feel that both the time spent parenting and the time spent caring inuenced
and improved my approach to my job. I was more focused, more balanced and more
appreciative of others.
I dont want to be critical of women who drive forward their careers at the same time as
caring for children or relatives. We need to do all we can in terms of childcare and
exible working to make that possible. And there are many who dont have children, for
whom developing their careers is the primary focus. But choice matters. Those who
choose to spend some years more focused on their children or elderly relatives should
not be shut out of advancement in their careers a little later, simply because of societys
xation with youth.
Enabling women and men to progress outside these parameters must not become an
excuse for sidelining the battle against continuing gender discrimination in the labour
market.

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How to stop wasting womens talents: overcome our xation with...

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And if we respond to looking older by subjecting our bodies to facelifts and Botox in the
hope that we can then present our youthfulness to the world, we are avoiding the
problem. The fact is that healthier lifestyles and medical advances mean that we can
maintain physical energy and mental alertness for longer. We have just got to stop
linking an ageing appearance to a loss of physical and mental capability.
The journey I have been on will be dierent for others, as I am not involved in manual
work. But recognising the dierences should not justify ignoring the need to challenge
entrenched attitudes, and to enable people to take a long view of their years in work.
As the world of work is transformed by new technology for example, the people who
currently wear themselves out stacking shelves will in the future most probably be
monitoring robots doing that heavy lifting it will become possible for people to do
those manual jobs for longer.
Our approach to this thorny issue is full of contradictions. We want people to work for
longer, yet we write them oat an increasingly young age. We want women to be equal
yet we continue to implement policies that stop that. We want to encourage new ideas
but we dismiss many of those who have them.
I know I have been very lucky. I shall be publishing my rst book on my time as chair of
the public accounts committee next month, just after my 72nd birthday. I am planning a
second book, on immigration. But I want my luck to become the norm, so that what I
managed to achieve becomes available to others. If life is a marathon, then none of us
should have to damage our lives today because we are made to think there is no
tomorrow.
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Topics
Gender Equal pay Work & careers Work-life balance Women
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