Let's Hear It For Women Over 45!
Luckily for me, I belong to one of the few professions in which youth and beauty are not assets. I am a physician. My gray hairs make me (look) wise and compassionate. Like your grandmother. And who doesn't trust their grandmother? But, unless you are a doctor, a lawyer, a college professor or a member of the clergy, you, as a woman are expected to be youthful (regardless of your age and regardless of the cost) and beautiful in order to get jobs, promotions and respect. Women in Hollywood are considered over the hill at 30 unless they start growth hormone young and get plastic surgery. Women in politics are critiqued on their cleavage, their ankles, the clothes, their hair. Women over 45 are more likely to die than to get married.
Meanwhile, women over 45 raise kids and grandkids while holding down full time jobs. That should make them double citizens---they are taking care of the economy now and in the future. But do they get respect for all they do? Hell, no. They get passed over for promotion on the grounds that they are not serious workers, their (not society's, their) kids come first (as if children are a luxury), you can't count upon them. They get paid a fraction (about 3/4 at the moment) of what men get paid for similar work. They make their employers lots of profit for a very minimal investment. They are less likely to walk away from their jobs because they have kids at home to feed. They are less likely to talk back---
Well, sorry to say this, corporate America, but the women over 45 are talking back now. We are pissed that we do not get a seat at the table. We are pissed that we are full time mothers and workers who can not get maternity leave or birth control. We are pissed that our daughters are now going through the same hazing that we endured---get skinny, dye your hair, wear crippling shoes or no one (man, employer, school) will want you. We are pissed because those who do most of the childrearing in this country get the least say---meaning that the needs of children are being ignored. We are pissed because those who do most of the in home elder care in this country get the least say--meaning that frail elderly are being ignored. Women, children, the elderly---that adds up to a sizable majority.
Women over 45 were Hillary Clinton's biggest supporters in the Nevada caucuses.
Now, you can try to talk us out of it. You can tell us to stop being selfish ("Got ever wanting a female president."
You can tell us to stop thinking with our uteri ("Hysterical women!" You can tell us that we do not understand the real world needs of the world real (because raising kids and working in a factory are not 'real world' experience.) You can even call us elitist, if you like. Come on. Your words won't hurt. We've been called worse. Witch, bitch, fat, ugly, even the c-word.
You can tell us that our vote is not a representative vote. If only a different demographic had bothered to show up, then the outcome would have been different. Women over 45 were only there because they could not get dates. The votes of a bunch of hysterical uterus worshiping menopausal females should not guide the party or the country---
Well, I have three words for you.
Clinton/Castro 2016.
= new reply since forum marked as read
1 would give you a big LIKE. Ill be 58 and I guess we have to hold the world together.
