A Woman Online Revealed How She Was Fired And Replaced By A Much Younger Employee, Debate Ensued
Many developed countries are facing the problem of their populations aging. Because of the low fertility rates and the life expectancy becoming longer due to medical advancements, older people are becoming a bigger part of the population. Which means less people in the workforce and more pressure on the younger people to guarantee social security for the people who have reached their retirement age.
The aging population is related to another problem which is that people who are near their retirement age are often fired to be replaced by younger people although they still have several years until they can properly retire. Even though this problem is relevant for both sexes, it is especially evident among older women.
Twitter users are discussing this issue recently after a woman shared her story of how she was forced to leave her workplace because she wasn’t wanted there because of her age. It’s almost like she has expired as a professional and as a human being. Others started sharing their own stories and expressed their opinions on the matter.
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A woman on Twitter shared how devastated she feels after being fired from her job just to be replaced by a woman 40 years younger
Image credits: eflon (not the actual photo)
Women already have to deal with all kinds of discrimination in the workplace and it doesn’t get easier when they get older. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that by 2050, a fourth of people in the Asia-Pacific region will be older than 60 and most of them will be women.
Even though we know what to expect in the years to come, many countries aren’t prepared to adapt to the new demographic situation. To help the economy, sometimes countries may raise the retirement age, but it actually makes it even harder to have a fulfilling life because few employers want to hire older people.
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Elektra is 62 years old and she felt that the company had been trying to get rid of her for the last 3 years
Image credits: elektra6618
Image credits: AymannJames
According to the Urban Institute, unemployed women who are between the ages of 50-61 are 18 percent less likely to be hired in comparison to women between the ages of 25-34. Women who are 62 or older are 50 percent less likely to be accepted in a new job than the 25-34 age group.
Which is very concerning because according to the WHO data, the average life expectancy in the US for women is almost 81 years old, so they very much can and in many cases need to work. What is more, in the US, if a person was born in 1960 or later, they can retire only at 67 years old, so until then, they should have the opportunity to work.
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Elektra described the reason for being replaced as just aging out because she still was good at what she was doing
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Image credits: elektra6618
It is easy to dehumanize the numbers that various data provides, but they still represent real people. And they are actually sharing their experiences publicly, we just have to listen and not ignore them.
One of those stories that drew a bit of attention is of Twitter user Elektra who started by stating that she needed a hug. At 62 years old, she lost her job and was obviously replaced by a younger worker. In the original tweet, she mentioned she was 25, but later corrected herself saying that she was actually 22 years old.
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The tweet went quite viral and many people were also sharing their own experiences
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Elektra felt that the company wanted her replaced even earlier, three years, actually. She felt humiliated and hurt. She doesn’t mention what gave away what the company did, but usually older women start getting less work, they stop being invited to important events and their opinion is valued less and less, despite being excellent professionals.
It’s weird how aging men are more often associated with wisdom, experience and bigger professional value but aging women have to hear how their grey hair is showing so they should dye it and that they should also use anti-wrinkle creams.
Apparently it can happen to men too; companies just want to have a young staff
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While realizing that losing a job is really a big misfortune, other women were encouraging Elektra to not give up because she still has a lot to offer
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It is hard to not see the distinction between women and men, but we have to admit that older people in general are more often ignored because there is a distorted conception of who they are as people and professionals. Companies may think that they are hard to please and that they are not that good with technology, which is not always the case.
What is more, older people have different experience and knowledge than the younger generation so their contribution to the company would not be less valuable just because they were born earlier than others. Teams in companies may actually really benefit from having both older and younger people as they could teach each other the things others are not so great in.
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As the population is rapidly aging, more older people are unemployed and companies pushing them from the job market won’t benefit anyone
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In response to Elektra’s story, other women shared their own experiences. They didn’t even need to look up statistics and diagrams to know that women above the age of 50 will most definitely be not the first choice if a recruiter has another job application from a younger person.
Women showed support to one another and encouraged each other to not give up. Losing a job because you clearly realize that you were simply replaced because of your age can really damage a person’s self-confidence, so Twitter users assured Elektra that there is nothing wrong with her.
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It’s even harder when those older people are single and alone so they can’t even depend on someone to support them
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The problem more likely lies in the companies that are not willing to give a chance to people that just match the requirements they need for a certain job. Some positions require fast learning, which young people are good at, other positions require knowledge and experience, which are more often possessed by older people. Professionals of all ages have qualities that are beneficial in a workplace, so focusing on just one age group doesn’t help anyone.
Maybe you disagree? We would like to know if you think the problem actually exists or if there are real reasons why older women are not desirable employees. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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'go full-time to college'? Who's going to pay the tuition?? What a load of bull-carp is that?? "Take a class" they say. 'Learn a new hobby" they say. Who's going to pay for the class, the equipment for the new hobby? Being forced out of your job into retirement early isn't fair, it isn't right, and there usually isn't any way to fight it. It sucks. There aren't pensions. Social security was only supposed to be one leg of the 3-legged stool of retirement support. And god-forbid if you are a single mom who was barely scraping by and weren't able to save much of anything for that second leg. Am I bitter? Yes. Am I angry? Yes. Do I miss the drive into work? Not one second.
Some states offer low or zero tuition, mostly at community colleges, to people over a certain advanced age (the number differs, but they’re all over 65), so that’s probably what she’s doing.
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While I understand and agree with OP that older women are aged-out of the workforce, as a 36 yr old woman who works with a colleague in her 50's, and the business owner in her 70's, and I also live with my best friend who's a 73yr old man, I have to point out the downside of working/living alongside older folks. Mostly, they have absolutely NO desire to learn anything new, including the new technology and software essential for their jobs. Colleague in her 60's couldn't use powerpoint, refused to learn, complained the company didn't give her training in it, then demanded I stop doing my work to do her work for her. Business owner refuses to upgrade 40yr old accounting software because it's the only one she knows, despite the fact this program triples our workload than modern software. My roommate is a retired architectural drafter who wants to work again, but he REFUSES to learn CAD, and all architect jobs require CAD now. Just offering younger perspective of why we get grumpy too.
Our purchasing agent at work is in his mid 60's and practically threw a temper-tantrum when our boss pitched the fax machine into the dumpster a few years ago. We practically had to force him to use vendors online portals to order things, and we got more forceful when we found out we were being charged more for NOT using them. Our in-house accountant retired after two years of needing his hand held through even the simplest procedures in our new accounting software. My predecessor was one of those old draftsmen who refused to learn new practices and new software. I started in 2012 and he was pretty proud of the 'advanced CAD software' he was using (CADKEY '97). Before anyone considers me to be ageist, there are more people over age 55 here than under it. They all do fantastic work. Some people just age a bit more functionally than others.
Load More Replies...
Worked at Verizon. I had the highest Quality rating for the entire south central region. A contest is made for quality metric of being raised while maintaining low call time. I blew everybody's number out of the water. So I am to win the contest which includes a week stay at Tampa for a two day contest. That and $1000 bonus. Everyone knows I won and are already congratulating me. Then my supervisor calls me over and has me read an email. It's the PR director asking is there a way to disqualify me. Stating "Have you seen this guy's face there is no way we can use him in promotions. He is to fat we are promoting fit culture. Maybe if he agrees to lose 50lbs for going to the beach but find a way to to get him out" . My boss a great guy was ticked but as offensive as the email was it's not a violation of anything. Fat and ugly are not protected under any discrimination clause. He did at least negotiate me getting a week off plus a cash bonus (pretty sure he paid as it came on a visa gift)
“Hostile workplace” doesn’t have to tick one of the protected classifications.
Load More Replies... 'go full-time to college'? Who's going to pay the tuition?? What a load of bull-carp is that?? "Take a class" they say. 'Learn a new hobby" they say. Who's going to pay for the class, the equipment for the new hobby? Being forced out of your job into retirement early isn't fair, it isn't right, and there usually isn't any way to fight it. It sucks. There aren't pensions. Social security was only supposed to be one leg of the 3-legged stool of retirement support. And god-forbid if you are a single mom who was barely scraping by and weren't able to save much of anything for that second leg. Am I bitter? Yes. Am I angry? Yes. Do I miss the drive into work? Not one second.
Some states offer low or zero tuition, mostly at community colleges, to people over a certain advanced age (the number differs, but they’re all over 65), so that’s probably what she’s doing.
Load More Replies... While I understand and agree with OP that older women are aged-out of the workforce, as a 36 yr old woman who works with a colleague in her 50's, and the business owner in her 70's, and I also live with my best friend who's a 73yr old man, I have to point out the downside of working/living alongside older folks. Mostly, they have absolutely NO desire to learn anything new, including the new technology and software essential for their jobs. Colleague in her 60's couldn't use powerpoint, refused to learn, complained the company didn't give her training in it, then demanded I stop doing my work to do her work for her. Business owner refuses to upgrade 40yr old accounting software because it's the only one she knows, despite the fact this program triples our workload than modern software. My roommate is a retired architectural drafter who wants to work again, but he REFUSES to learn CAD, and all architect jobs require CAD now. Just offering younger perspective of why we get grumpy too.
Our purchasing agent at work is in his mid 60's and practically threw a temper-tantrum when our boss pitched the fax machine into the dumpster a few years ago. We practically had to force him to use vendors online portals to order things, and we got more forceful when we found out we were being charged more for NOT using them. Our in-house accountant retired after two years of needing his hand held through even the simplest procedures in our new accounting software. My predecessor was one of those old draftsmen who refused to learn new practices and new software. I started in 2012 and he was pretty proud of the 'advanced CAD software' he was using (CADKEY '97). Before anyone considers me to be ageist, there are more people over age 55 here than under it. They all do fantastic work. Some people just age a bit more functionally than others.
Load More Replies... Worked at Verizon. I had the highest Quality rating for the entire south central region. A contest is made for quality metric of being raised while maintaining low call time. I blew everybody's number out of the water. So I am to win the contest which includes a week stay at Tampa for a two day contest. That and $1000 bonus. Everyone knows I won and are already congratulating me. Then my supervisor calls me over and has me read an email. It's the PR director asking is there a way to disqualify me. Stating "Have you seen this guy's face there is no way we can use him in promotions. He is to fat we are promoting fit culture. Maybe if he agrees to lose 50lbs for going to the beach but find a way to to get him out" . My boss a great guy was ticked but as offensive as the email was it's not a violation of anything. Fat and ugly are not protected under any discrimination clause. He did at least negotiate me getting a week off plus a cash bonus (pretty sure he paid as it came on a visa gift)
“Hostile workplace” doesn’t have to tick one of the protected classifications.
Load More Replies...
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