I am petite; I am 5ft 3 inches; I am small; I look much younger than I actually am. That is something good in my opinion, especially in the young obsessed culture that we live in… but over the past week, I have been bombarded with, are you 17? You look so young!… looking young/younger than you actually are is a good thing, everywhere… except your place of employment.
The young obsessed culture has not yet reached the workplace. People in most professions prefer to see an older, more “mature” looking person handling their affairs. People equate inexperience and inadequacy to young and experience and know- how to older, more “mature” people… this pisses me off!
For heaven’s sake, don’t judge based on how I look judge me based on the quality of work I produce. If I don’t do a good job, then by all means, crucify me, but don’t assume that I am inexperienced and do not know what I am doing simply because I look “younger”!… There have been conversations about the issues women already have in the workplace, the struggles we have and how hard we have to work to prove ourselves, even harder than our male counterpart. Conversations have been around about race discrimination and breaking the glass ceiling, but enough is not being said about age discrimination.
Age discrimination in the workplace is a reality and affects so many, myself included. I have been passed over for a promotion of which I posses the right qualification and experience just because I look too young. Young professionals have to struggle to get ahead and get the jobs we want and are qualified for, but do not get, we have to wait until we are much older because we do not look the part… So now the challenges I face in the workplace are doubled,… I am a woman and I am young!…
Sound off, what is your opinion on this issue? Have you been affected by age discrimination?
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