"Too early" or "too late": how age stereotypes limit your right to a professional and personal life

Ageism – discrimination a person based on their age, is widespread in both formal and informal spheres of social life. This phenomenon manifests itself in the willingness to adequately perceive and cooperate only with people who meet pre-established age criteria.

Manifestations of ageism canto notice at different stages:

At the hiring stage and in your career: When job descriptions contain restrictions – resumes are automatically filtered out based on date of birth, or complex innovative tasks are not assigned to a person, guided solely by stereotypes about age, rather than their actual results.

Due to such biases, employers often lose qualified professionals with excellent performance on previous projects. 

However, this "age rule" also works the other way around. Job offers often seek candidates with experience that younger generations simply cannot gain without working. In addition, older workers are sometimes considered less likely to be promoted or given important projects due to their age, with their successes considered to be incidental or not taken into account at all.

In work and everyday communication: through derogatory phrases like "You are still too inexperienced to make such decisions" or, conversely, "at your age it's already difficult to master something new"Ageism also seeps into everyday interactions: through jokes about “retirement age” or the “TikTok generation,” which hint at professional or personal frivolity. Artificial segregation on "Zoomers and Millennials" often moves from the realm of humor or work discussions into real conflicts. 

In everyday life and society: when society dictates how you should dress, what you should be passionate about, and what life decisions you should make based on the number in your passport, limiting free choice.

Ageism against women: where the double pressure hides

For women, ageism often becomes especially acute, as it is closely intertwined with gender stereotypes. 

Social role control: women are constantly told that they are doing something “inappropriate”, for example "It's time for you to think about your family, not your career"Ageism also manifests itself in the devaluation of the choices of those who decide to return to school or radically change their profession or lifestyle. 

The cult of "youth and beauty": Natural changes in the body and appearance are often perceived as "loss of attractiveness" or "neglect of self-care," which creates enormous psychological pressure, forces people to hide their age, and causes them to feel constant anxiety.

Remember that devaluing should not become the norm. No prejudice or peer pressure should make you doubt your own worth, knowledge, or life path choices. 

If you have been a victim of domestic violence or gender discrimination, please contact the National Hotline for Prevention of Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking and Gender Discrimination for advice and assistance:

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This post was made possible by the support of the Norwegian people through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (MFA of Norway) within the framework of the project “Building a Gender-Inclusive Recovery with the Women’s Movement of Ukraine” (GEN-Recovery). Responsibility for the content of the information lies with the NGO “La Strada-Ukraine”. The information presented in this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway or the Government of Norway.