Combat Gendered Ageism on Your Team

By Amy Diehl for Harvard Business Review | June 28, 2023

A new survey found that professional women face ageism at work no matter how old they are, being deemed either “too young” or “too old” to be leaders. How can you combat this kind of gendered ageism in your organization? Start by training your team to recognize ageism the same way they recognize other forms of discrimination. This entails including ageism in your DEI efforts and challenging harmful age-related assumptions. Younger women are often limited by the assumption that they lack experience. Middle-aged women may be thought of as having too many family responsibilities. And women who are older are often constrained by the perception that they’re no longer invested in the organization. It’s also important to include “lookism” in DEI training to ensure that women’s appearance isn’t a hidden factor in your hiring, promotion, or performance-evaluation processes. Focus your attention—and your team’s—on proven skills and performance. And finally, cultivate creative collaborations to encourage learning across age groups. Intentionally pairing younger women with older mentors and sponsors will aid their learning and career success and enhance your company’s performance.