An increasing number of workers try to stay on the job past the traditional retirement age of 65 — some because they enjoy their careers and think they still can make valuable contributions, others because of financial realities. But it’s not necessarily that easy to grow old in the workplace. Older employees may face resentment from younger colleagues, who see them as competitors for coveted leadership and economic opportunities. But ageism in the office may not affect both genders equally, and in one important respect, older women actually may have an easier time than older men, according to Ashley Martin, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
In a study recently published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Martin and colleagues Michael S. North of New York University and Katherine W. Phillips of Columbia University present evidence that older, assertive men face the strongest “agency proscription” — that is, pressure for them not to assert themselves, but to sit back and allow young people to rise. Older women who are similarly assertive, in contrast, tend to be spared such backlash, because their behavior isn’t perceived as threatening. bmd
Courtesy: Stanford Graduate School of business