CNA author explains how age affects attitudes toward women — Channel NewsAsia

In Singapore, an author for Channel NewsAsia described how age can affect perceptions of women at work and in everyday life. She concluded that reluctance to disclose one’s age does not necessarily indicate insecurity: once this information is revealed, people may judge a person’s professional achievements, appearance and relevance through the lens of a number.

The author recalled that at the age of 43, she managed a small team on a contract covering another employee’s maternity leave. After the work ended, younger colleagues admitted that at first they had expected a new manager over 40 to be strict and overly formal. They later changed their opinion.

Age as a career obstacle

According to the author, at 41 she did not get a potential job after speaking with a recruiter. It was a vacancy at a social e-commerce company that was looking for a candidate with more than 15 years of experience, but about ten years younger than her. The recruiter explained that this was the client’s requirement.

Later, while working in corporate marketing, the author had direct supervisors and global managers who were five to ten years younger. She said she tried to determine their ages through LinkedIn profiles to understand how to structure communication and how much detail to provide about her own experience.

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Gabrielle-Beth Wolowski, a psychotherapist and consultant for the Talk Your Heart Out service, explained that people tend to sort social information into categories in order to navigate a complex environment more quickly. At the same time, this approach can replace a real understanding of a particular person with a simplified idea of them.

Why women do not disclose their age

Financial adviser Yasmin Bentgen, who is in her 30s, stopped revealing her age five years ago. She believes that in the financial sector, once this information becomes known, attention may shift from work results and client relationships to age-based assumptions.

Stylist Ho Chuen Lai, who is in her 40s, also spoke about other people’s constant attempts to guess her age. In her view, youth is closely associated with attractiveness and vitality in many cultures, so an assumption that a woman is older may be perceived as an assessment of her appearance.

The author noted that she will continue to state her age without hesitation, but no longer considers this a sign of greater honesty. In her opinion, both disclosing and not disclosing one’s age should be a personal choice without social sanctions.