An online campaign has launched aiming to disrupt stereotypes surrounding older women in the workplace.
The campaign, See the person, not the stereotype, was created by communications and job search specialist Sue Parker. Having owned her own recruitment agency, Parker witnessed how older women were consistently overlooked due to entrenched stereotypes and prejudices around their age.
“I started the campaign as I am determined to shake people awake to realise that not everyone over 50 looks, feels and acts the same way,” Parker said.
“I’m tired of seeing people hurting so badly, losing hope and trust in others, and themselves.”
The idea behind the campaign was inspired by a similar one in the US, launched by California based agency GraceCreativeLA.
For Parker’s campaign, she asked women on LinkedIn to publicly post their age and a photo of themselves, encouraging them to embrace who they are.
Fifty women responded and participated in the See the person, not the stereotype campaign, including eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant, award-winning journalist Tracey Spicer and communications professional Susan Redden Makatoa.
“There is no ‘best before’ age in our industry and if you think there is, take a look around,” Redden Makatoa said.
“There are so many vibrant, creative, dedicated women tapping into their experience not only to deliver great work, but also to champion and progress colleagues and causes. It’s what we do.”
Parker said she hopes the campaign will help women feel empowered to be proud of their age.
“I started the campaign because it was time to address the issue very differently and take a creative marketing approach to knock the nonsense out of stereotyping,” she said.
According to research from the Australian HR Institute and the Australian Human Rights Commission, just over half (56 per cent) of HR professionals are open to recruiting people aged 50-64 to “a large extent”. However, 18 per cent said they’re only open to hiring older workers ‘to a small extent’ or ‘not at all’.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation and EveryAGE Counts reports that 33 per cent of Australians over 50 experience work and job related age discrimination and 20 per cent of people across all generations face discrimination due to their age.