Wage Gap Leads to Age Gap...Oh Crap!

This week I received three polite job rejections, all for positions that are equal to or less “demanding” (at least on paper) than what I had been expected to (and did) accomplish in past positions.  All located in the city in which I live. All in the field of media. Vice President of Business Development, Chief Marketing Officer for a sports-oriented start-up, Head of Brand Marketing for a Spanish-language content developer. The problem is not so much that I was not chosen. I generally handle rejection pretty well. The problem is that I wasn’t even in the running. I was rejected without so much as a call back or an interview. I was totally marginalized.

Throughout my career, that “nasty” reminder that I was a “woman” and somehow not as qualified has reared his ugly head. It became a fact of life.  My skin thickened at an early stage of my career. It’s something I believe all women who have been successfully employed in power positions have experienced at least once.

Want an example? The most blatant reminder took place at a Board meeting consisting of members from four Hollywood studios.  After leading a two-year transformation of a cable channel from underperformance to profitability, I was told, in front of the Board, when the subject of hiring a full time -rather than Consulting- Managing Director came up, “Karen, we can’t consider you. You are a WOMAN! This is Mexico.”  That occurred in 1996. The guy who blurted that out in front of his embarrassed colleagues still has his position – at FOX.

That all being said, I am not one of these people who “cry over spilled milk.”  I do not believe just because we are women, we need special treatment. What I believe is if you are good, you are entitled to rise to the top. If you cannot execute, you lose that privilege, whether you are male or female. Period. And, the fact is that by 2018, nearly 49% of the US workforce will be female; so there are plenty of women out there working.

But what I am saying is something is amiss.

So now, just when I thought I had a handle on the whole “woman” thing, after decades of increasingly more executive positions and successes, I find myself not in the running at all. I am forced to contend with something else entirely: age. 

Crap. And here I thought fifty was the new thirty! Boy was I wrong!

Women over 40 make up 24.3 percent of the U.S. population, the 2010 census found. In comparison, in Hollywood, for example, union casting analysis show actresses over 40 years old get 12.5 percent of roles for television and film. Men of that age are also about a quarter of the population but nearly equal their ranks in casting.

According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, the wage gap also tells a not-so-pretty picture. In 2010, women are still only making 77% of what their male counterparts are earning. Seventy-seven cents to every man’s dollar.

So, think of it: we always knew about the wage gap. Now, baby, think about the age gap. Fifty is still fifty. Deal with it!