USA: Women confront age-old problem

Many women still worry about societal pressures when asked their age

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 08, 2005:

Mary Gray, a professor of mathematics and statistics at American University, advises her female students not to disclose their age and marital status on employment applications.

Despite some strides women have made in cracking the managerial ranks of business and higher education, Gray is convinced there is still a widely held notion that women of a certain age might not be up to the job.

"There's a perception people have that old women are less competent than old men," said Gray, whose research has focused on statistics of sex discrimination and harassment.

Gray is 67 but doesn't include her age on her curriculum vitae. So she wasn't surprised that the newly hired president of Carlow University in Oakland hesitated last week when a reporter asked her age.

"Women are more sensitive about it than men," Gray said. "Women broadcasters on TV tend to disappear when they look like they might be over 40."

Mary E. Hines, who will assume the top position at Carlow this summer, has three academic degrees, a long, impressive resume and acknowledged in an interview she has four grown children. After the university announced her appointment Monday evening, she chatted eagerly about the challenges of her new post but passed when asked the age question.

Some women in highly visible jobs worry about revealing their age because society still clings fiercely to attitudes that equate competency and success with appearance, said Katherine Henderson, president of Point Park University, Downtown.

The public embraces youthful, good looks. But it tends to make allowances for aging men more readily than aging women, she said.

"Everyone gets wrinkles in their faces as they get older, but in men these changes are considered dignified while in women they are considered a sign of extreme age. People think those women might not be able to do the job."

Henderson, who is 67, was named Point Park's president when she was 58.

"I knew if I wanted to do it, I had to do it before I turned 60," Henderson said. "And the executive search firm told me that, too. I don't think they would tell that to a man."

When Ronald Reagan was elected president at age 69, Henderson said many people thought he was too old for the job. But his movie-star appearance helped him earn confidence and respect among many who now consider his two terms in the White House to be a success.

Women in their 60s and older don't stand much chance of moving up, she said.

"Possibly in a family business or on an interim basis," Henderson said. "But never a position of genuine, on-going responsibility. That just would not happen." Former TV news anchor Christine Craft generated headlines in 1983 when she won $500,000 damages in an age discrimination suit against the station where she worked in Kansas City, Mo. After she was replaced on the anchor desk, Craft was told she was too old and too unattractive to keep the job.

More recently, Marny Stanier Midkiff, 41, sued the Weather Channel, where she worked for 16 years, claiming she was fired because the network wanted on-air personalities to be under 40.

Midkiff's lawyer said the Weather Channel wants broadcasters to look younger and portray "a sexier look." That case is pending in federal court in Atlanta.

In the corporate world, women may be sensitive about age as a barrier to job advancement because they still occupy relatively few of the top jobs at U.S. companies. A 2002 survey by Catalyst, a New York-based organization that researches and advises women in business, found 15.7 percent of corporate officer positions at Fortune 500 companies were held by women, up from 12.5 percent in 2000 and 8.7 percent in 1995.

In studies of how women make it to the top, Catalyst reported that among the reasons female executives felt they were being held back were "stereotyping and preconceptions of women's roles and abilities."

Gray, of American University, runs into that regularly during her frequent airplane trips to the Middle East.

"Men, especially older men, get more attention than older women," Gray said. "Maybe they think I'm just a grandmother flying to see my grandchildren." Heather Arnet, executive director of the nonprofit Women's & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, frequently finds herself on the other side of the age issue. She is 30 and has been in her position for a year.

"I'll be at a meeting of executives and they'll ask about the foundation and say, 'What do you do there?' They're only asking because I'm not the image they expect. I might look different than someone's expectations of a leader or executive," Arnet said.

Arnet believes women in their 20s and 30s face discrimination when they are asked at interviews about marital status because employers fear they soon will have children and leave their jobs. "Men would not be asked that," she said.

Leslie Davis, president of Magee-Womens Hospital, doesn't hesitate to say she's 46.

But she understands that other women may be more reluctant because of perceived discrimination or even vanity. And she "most definitely" expects to be more sensitive to the issue as she gets older.

If Point Park's Henderson had to dispense advice to middle-aged career women, it would be to color their hair.

"Don't let it grow gray. It's something you can do that's easier than cosmetic surgery, and it does make a difference."

Has she followed her own suggestion? "Absolutely." Henderson said.

By Joyce Gannon jgannon@post-gazette.com)