BRIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIR. The screeching yanks me awake and I grab the phone sure that there’s bad news about the kidnapping. Hearing no federal agents fails to calm me as I race to the crib where thank the universe my baby is sleeping safe from the child-snatching Nazis that I had once again dreamed about.
But now, my cribside presence and the screeching from what turns out to be the alarm clock has roused the baby and I’m late gearing up for another marathon day of work with three hours of sleep.
Working mothers know all about this zombie netherworld state, the inability to tell one real alarm from an imagined one. The struggle to keep our children safe and happy while working double-time at the job to prove to ourselves and our colleagues and especially our bosses that we can still cut it. Meanwhile, you somehow find time to wave hello to the love of your life, What’s-His-Name?
We can complain to the wind about how most developed countries actually pay mothers of infants to stay home, complete with state-sponsored healthcare. To be honest, those early years where when I struggled the most on the job to redefine my work-life balance.
My zombie days are long gone and I feel like I’m in the most productive period of my working life, still young enough to have the energy but full of the experience to back it all up. I work smarter, and I can work longer, guilt free. This feels like my greatest Productive Zone.
But my friend the corporate success advised me, “Never talk about your kids being in college with clients, it makes you sound old.”
To me It’s clear that parents especially mothers with older children are more adept than Survivor Man at handling whatever the universe throws at them, having raised kids and tended to all their Halloween costumes and SAT-testing needs while running a household and getting to work with matching shoes every day.
Am I the only one celebrating the Productive Zone? In addition to the war stories you hear, a recent column in Forbes, the serious business publication, says flat out that women over 50 face serious discrimination in the workplace.
The column by executive recruiter Ellen Weinreb in Forbes finds the facts behind the depressing anecdotal evidence that a wealth of human potential is being wasted.
She cites researcher Joanna Lahey of Texas A&M University, who found women over 50 are 44 percent more likely to face discrimination in hiring.
Lahey has done multiple studies on age discrimination and says, “When companies say that experience is a hindrance, they often mean age is a hindrance.”
Her 2006 study shows that employers, presented with two sets of female candidates with the same experience, are less likely to request interviews from women older than 50.
Weinreb’s Forbes column explores possible reasons and remedies for the bias – make yourself ageless on your resume – but in the end it just seems sad. No wonder so many U.S. companies are struggling when male executives think with their biological imperative instead of their heads.
So here’s to all the human talent out there of any age. And good luck on the job.
