Why Older Women Face Greater Financial Hardship Than Older Men (friendly, cousin)
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Oh I am very much aware of these problems we faced. I lived them.
My comment was about how women under 30 finally out earn men. The inequality of payscales is still a problem for many women today. It was good to hear that is finally starting to reverse for the better.
Oh, I misunderstood the intent of your post, I’m sorry.
Respectfully, are you, yourself, perchance one of the cohort that was raised to be a darling, and has had a lifetime of enjoyable non-profit or arts-related work? I ask because the post reflects my observations as well, having worked in both "dirty" and "white-glove" environments.
It's a tough transition for a darling to go from a "white glove staff" or non-profit environment, to a "dirty" environment. In a "White glove"/non-profit environment, there are buffers shielding the organization from personnel drama. Throughput and turnaround time measures, for example, are meaningless.
The transition is a shock for most women transitioning from a softer "white-glove" environment. There are real-time and real-life consequences following failures to perform in a "dirty" environment. To be sure, soft men also find the transition jarring.
That's why female "marketing assistants" and "grant coordinators" make half the pay of female pipeline industry workers (for example).
(edited to include: I like Mike Rowe, lol!)
No, I was not raised to be “darling“. Up until very recently, it was very difficult for women to get those type of jobs. When I was in my mid 20s, I tried to get a job as an exterminator. Every place I went to, when I filled out the application, they offered me a job in the office instead.
I’m certainly not averse to “dirty work”. I’m fairly sure a lot of those “dirty work” guys would find changing elderly persons diapers too dirty for them (occupational therapist).
When my mother entered the workforce in 1968, she didn’t have a prayer of getting a “man’s” job like the above.
I think that the poverty rate of elderly women is definitely skewed by age. Partly because the older a woman is, the further back in time of women's progress in salary equity she is coming from (1960s era career versus 1990-2000s era careers), and partly because the older a woman gets, the more likely she is to be single due to the death of her spouse. Being widowed is huge to those living near the poverty line, or solely on SS. They lose a portion of their SS, which may be up to 33% of their income.
The poverty rates of women vs. men age 65-69 is much closer than the difference at age 80+. Marital status is also a big determinant because with incomes over a lifetime, it's a lot easier to put away retirement savings due to 2 people living cheaper together than 2 living separately.
Check out these stats, especially the fourth graph down the page. It shows that over time the male/female gap in poverty stats has closed through the years.
It started paying off in numerous ways decades ago. As recent as the 60s and 70s, married women couldn’t even get credit cards in their own name. If they went to buy a car they’d be told to come back with their husband or father. They were allowed to be asked what kind of birth control they’re on when applying for jobs. They could get fired for being pregnant. Do you really lack awareness of all the things that have improved since the women’s movement began?
Yes, forgot about that. One of my sisters got fired when she told her boss she was pregnant. She was a pet shop manager. My niece was born in March of 1978, so I guess that was in 1977.
My 82-year-old friend was also fired when she got pregnant, but her son is in his late 50s, so that was in the 1960s. She worked in an office.
Maybe someone already brought this up, but women earning lower incomes than their husbands also tend to lose out when they want to move someplace with more opportunities in their field but the husband uses financial power as the deciding factor.
It could also happen when the wife is the bigger earner, but more often it was the man during my young and middle ages.
Yes, forgot about that. One of my sisters got fired when she told her boss she was pregnant. She was a pet shop manager. My niece was born in March of 1978, so I guess that was in 1977.
My 82-year-old friend was also fired when she got pregnant, but her son is in his late 50s, so that was in the 1960s. She worked in an office.
That is truly amazing that it was just in 1977 the women were getting fired for being pregnant...smh.
The young women today who are so quick to say they aren't "feminists" like it's a dirty word have no idea just how recent the progress has been and how much further it still needs to go. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said "...like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
I was in the "turn over the paycheck to the nanny" cohort myself. I thought about the quandary for about a millisecond and chose to turn over the paycheck to child care.
I had gone through a grueling schooling regimen (yes, where sleep was a luxury). I had taken my father's advice to heart: "You must become prepared to support not only yourself, but your children in a worst case scenario". I took a cold, hard look at my situation. Umm. Was I prepared to throw away those years of study that had landed me a tough, but economically satisfactory job? Was I prepared to forego the years of SS/401(k) contributions? Was I prepared to turn a blind eye to my (well-earning) husband's preference for boats and cars over retirement/college savings? In short, was I prepared to put on a blindfold and walk the plank?
In sum, no. I took extended maternity leaves and returned to the grind. That decision was not without its own costs. Nevertheless, on balance, that decision served me well.
I was the opposite - I put on a blindfold and walked the plank.
I left my job (which I loved) to care for my children. We moved five times for my husband's career. I volunteered at their schools and was a Girl Scout troop leader.
My husband and I had similar values. Unlike many couples in our tax bracket, we forgone fancy vacations. Instead, we took for trips to the New Jersey shore or Cape Cod or staycations. We were pro-education so we saved for private high schools and colleges. We saved for retirement, but mainly, we saved to help our children later in life.
I'm happy with my close relationship with my children and husband. My children appreciate the life/home of their childhoods. It turned out well for me. Was there so risk? Of course, but I took the risk and made a life I love. If my marriage failed, I would be poor, but true to me.
I got hired in the 70's for a job in manufacturing because I had an engineering degree which qualified me for the position. My starting pay was higher than my male peers because I had a specialized engineering degree (I happened to see confidential information so I know this for a fact). My upper management did not hold me back. I was given the same kind of work that the men had. Everyone started out on the floor managing a crew and the conditions were dirty, noisy and dangerous. I had minor issues here or there with the subtle "boy's club" attitudes but I ignored it.
I'm not sure that generalized carte blanche statements can be tossed out that women are making SO much more progress today than back in the 70's. I just read an article online the other day about how women are not going into STEM and engineering careers. This is the same thing I heard back in the 70's and it's the same way today and it's not because conditions out there that are holding women back from these positions. Women (that is, not a lot of them) just aren't interested in STEM or engineering careers. At least, there weren't any women to mentor me in the manufacturing job and none in the trenches with me.
The problem with feminists and their battle cries about equality is that they are not the ones in the trenches of manufacturing jobs or willing to go ride a garbage truck or try a plumbing career. At least I don't see it. The few women who are willing to try these jobs are self-motivated and are plowing ahead on their own, forced to be a solitary presence among men because their "sisters" are nowhere to be seen.
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