Life begins at 60, the new 40: Hillary Clinton with daughter Chelsea, is proof that retirement is not the only option at 60Just when most women are thinking of winding down or babysitting the grandkids, Hillary Clinton, who turned 60 on Friday, is contemplating the possibility of becoming a President rather than superannuated, writes Ann Dermody.
DUBLIN, Ireland (The Independent), October 30, 2007:
The Hollywood roles may be said to dry up past 40, but Helen Mirren won her coveted Oscar at 61.
Twiggy, 59, has this week garnered a €2 million deal for a style advice book and Anne Robinson's refusal at 63 to ease off the career pedal is allegedly leading to a divorce said to threaten her estimated €60 million fortune. It's enough to bury the image of tea-sipping old women in candlewick dressing gowns for good.
As milestones go, Hillary Rodham Clinton has had quite a few. But the one she reached last week had nothing to do with politics, career highs, marriage, motherhood or even the possibility of being the first female President of the US.
By chalking up six decades, Ms Clinton is spearheading another campaign, albeit unconsciously, aside from her groundbreaking electoral one -- that rarefied but ever growing group coming into their own at a time when they were traditionally supposed to be meandering off on a retirement cruise.
At a bash last Friday for her birthday, Clinton watched as Elvis Costello serenaded her onstage in New York with his own rendition of Marilyn's Happy Birthday, Mrs President.
But proving that career and the cause don't end when you hit 60, Clinton's birthday-party guests had to pay between $100 and $2,000 for the privilege of being there. This is a woman with a presidential campaign to fund, after all.
Slap bang in the middle of the baby boomer generation, Clinton and her cohorts are blazing a trail for the older woman down which they've rarely ventured before.
But perhaps that's not surprising. These are the original career girls of the 1960s, who in their dapper short skirts and Pucci printed scarves looked beyond the typing pool to a life where marriage and babies didn't necessarily mean the end of paid work.
Now as they approach retirement age, it's not unexpected that they'd push traditional boundaries again. But what they're also doing is bringing sixty-something women into the mainstream of consciousness. We've always been privy to the more positive ageing appearance of older men through the eyes of politics, business and entertainment. Women, with the exception of the latter, where you had to be a nubile young beauty queen shelved after 35, were rarely allowed to grow old in public.
But that may be set to change. Given that the longevity statistics of women are currently greater than those of men, an average woman in her 60s in Ireland can anticipate a good 21 years, at least before she even thinks about shuffling off this mortal coil. And many of those in good health don't wish to spend those two or three precious decades twiddling their thumbs.
Estimations in Ireland are that by 2050, there will be more people over 65 than under 18. Currently, 11pc of the population is over 65. "The problem with statistics like that is that they're used almost as a threat," says Eamon Timmins of Age Action Ireland. "These people will be healthier than ever before, with a wealth of knowledge and experience, yet society cuts off huge opportunities by ignoring them. Ageing is women's issue," he adds. "Not least of all because they live longer than men on the whole. We need to change attitudes. All that 68 on a birth cert means is that you were born 68 years ago; it says nothing else about you.
"Politics and law are some of the few areas that buck the trend. In most work situations, it seems to be around the age of 50 that people start noticing discrimination. You come back from holiday and your desk is moved that bit closer to the door, or you're not getting the promotion you should." But Timmins says tackling ageism has its own unique dilemmas. "The problem with tackling ageism is that it's subtle. It's not as obvious as racism or other discriminations. We've got to provide positive role models of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s and show what they're doing."
Granted not all will harbour ambitions of posing for this year's famous Pirelli calendar at 71, as Sophia Loren did alongside actresses half her age, but the notion that once you hit 65 you're ready to die has long since been thankfully buried.
Which is where the likes of Hillary Clinton and our own Mary O'Rourke -- still going strong in politics at 70 -- step into the frame again.
Aside from being positive ambassadors for their contemporaries, Clinton et al are unwittingly giving younger generations a role model for political achievement that the way-too-attractive 54-year-old Segolene Royal never could, had she won the recent French presidential election.
Clinton, while elegant, was never as distractingly beautiful as to make you forget the message. Which may mean you can be clever, successful, married, a mother, not model gorgeous and, heavens above, old? What message is that sending our kids?
By Ann Dermody
