Welcome to Own Your Ambition, a weekly newsletter with valuable tips and inspiration for professional women to succeed at every stage of their career.
As a former CEO and now executive coach, I help women overcome their challenges, own their value, and stand in their power. I provide practical and strategic advice and inspiration from my own experience and industry experts as well as information on current gender issues in the workplace and beyond.
This article gives you actionable steps to own your power and position yourself to overcome gendered ageism at work.
It’s a fact. Women in the workplace face many challenges at every stage of their career due to gendered ageism, the intersection of gender bias and ageism. We know this. We experience it every day, and at times it seems almost impossible to overcome the systemic bias.
We lack equal pay from day one. We don’t have the same opportunities as our male counterparts for advancement and sponsorship, for special assignments to help us gain the credibility and visibility we need.
When we first enter the workforce we’re considered too young to have worthwhile ideas and opinions. We’re not invited to key meetings and overlooked for our lack of experience. If we raise our hand, no one calls on us. We’re easily dismissed as irrelevant.
Biased policies and workplace practices penalize us for motherhood and dole out flexibility options that have potential consequences to our leadership potential and income. And just when we seem to be making our mark around 40+, the ‘she’s getting older’ bias kicks in, our work comes under increased scrutiny and our future is questioned.
Panic sets in as we fight the battle at 50 and beyond to appear young in order to hold on to our jobs. Once we show visible signs of aging, we’re perceived as less competent with every new wrinkle. Passed over for promotions and opportunities despite decades of significant contribution, we struggle to be seen as credible….even to be seen, for that matter, and our wisdom and experience are often diminished.
It never seems like we’re the right age to be successful.
Ok. I get it. You feel like a victim of a system you don’t have the power to fix. Frustrated and over-burdened with work and family obligations, quitting seems like the best option, but then what?
Hold on. Don’t give up!
What if you changed your mindset?
What if you focused instead on what you CAN control?
What if you changed your mantra to be ‘Wherever I am in my career, I AM the right age’?
How do you do that, you ask?
1. Negotiate your salary for your first job offer, knowing that this salary will be the basis of all future salary offers. OK. Hindsight is 20/20 but even now as you’re out in the job market or negotiating a raise or promotion, remember you don’t need to accept the first offer. Explore whether there is room to increase the base salary or bonus, stock options, benefits such as vacation time, paid leave. Do your homework and be creative. Prepare a business case based on your value to the organization. And don’t be afraid to ask.
2. Declare your ambition. Let key stakeholders know your career goals and what you need in terms of resources and support. Ask for their input. Declaring your ambition puts a stake in the ground that you’re serious and intentional about your career. This is a great way to combat gendered ageist assumptions, such as you no longer have ambition after becoming a mother or you want to slow down after 50. These assumptions left unchallenged can sabotage your advancement.
3. Regularly ask for feedback to make sure you’re on track to reach your goals. Have regular meetings with your manager to check in, not only on how they think you’re doing, but to inform them on what you’ve been working on, your progress, challenges, and your achievements. Ask trusted colleagues and key stakeholders for their input. Establish an ongoing written record of your results.
5. Network, network, network with intention across the organization, across your industry and across generations. Build strong relationships with people who have influence over your career. Be strategic about who you include. You want to build a web of influence across the organization. Don’t wait until you need a job to actively network!
4. Build and nurture relationships with mentors, sponsors, allies and champions. A sponsor is the most powerful advocate for you and can clear the way for you to win promotions and get special assignments to give you visibility. Mentors give sound advice from their background and experience, and allies and champions advocate for you when you’re not in the room. Find your allies and make meaningful connections.
6. Get to know the culture and the existing bias in your workplace in order to be proactive and avoid landmines. Who supports you? Who won’t? Build relationships and credibility with the people who can drown out any naysayers. This is where champions and allies come in handy. Know what it takes to get ahead as a woman in your company, in your department and make a plan. Keep your eyes and ears open.
7. Own your value and practice articulating that value to stakeholders. Your value proposition is how you contribute to positive business outcomes. What is it you bring to the table that will help your organization move forward to reach their objectives? This is the foundation of authentic and powerful self-promotion and networking. Let others know how you can help them achieve their goals by how you do the work. It’s a win-win. You help them and you gain credibility. Know whatever your age, wherever you are in your career, you are an asset to your company.
8. Call out the micro-aggressions about your age and gender directly or through your manager or HR rep. Forty four percent of women according to a recent survey by Deloitte state they have experienced harassment, microaggressions or both in the workplace, yet only about one fifth of the women who experience this behavior report it. Speak up. Use the power of your voice. Don’t let anyone marginalize or disrespect you because of your age and gender.
9. Stay curious and open to learning new skills. My last newsletter addressed the need for you to learn new skills like generative AI, but there are many opportunities to upskill either through your company or from podcasts, webinars, lectures, online workshops, and how-to books. What are the upcoming trends in your industry? Stay ahead of the curve and do the research. Share with your colleagues to gain credibility and help you stand out as a leader. The status quo doesn’t work if you want to stay marketable.
Remember: You have the power to make every age the right age for your career.
Own it!
Live it!
For more strategies and tips on how to best navigate the workplace as an ambitious woman, please consider my book, The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead.
#9 is my favorite. Be curious. I say it over and over again.
There is so much here that is absolutely right in a corporate setting. In the beginning where you lay out the timeline of what works against women —you say 40-50 is where ageism kicks in but you missed another big hurdle for a large percentage of women. Whether or not they had child care responsibilities, this is the age they might face elder-care responsibilities and often those are harder than expected.
As for negotiating salary early in your career, it depends on your role. Teachers and union jobs don’t allow that kind of wiggle room. Freelancers or creatives are a different category all together.