What is the worst issue confronting middle aged women in 2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Post-college I think of 21-30 as being young or young adult.

30-40 is early adult to regular adult, depending on context.

"Early career" could be any of the previous brackets depending on context and industry. I suppose you could even call people in their early 40s early career (some academics, medical, etc...) where you're surrounded by a lot of old-timers.

Middle age starts somewhere between 40-50 and goes until 60-65ish. You probably wouldn't call a 42 year old mom of a 1 and 3 year old middle aged, but you might call a 42 year old with teens who is a VP in a tech company middle-aged if they are surrounded by junior 20 somethings all day.

Senior begins at 65ish. Used to be around 60 but this feels too young now for most.

Elderly is really dependent on condition. My dad is 81 and in amazing shape and I get calling him elderly but he doesn't really present that way. My mom and my MIL are 73 and barely present as seniors in some ways, but yes, they are seniors. There are 66 year olds who have elderly needs and present as much older.

All of this is so context and life-stage dependent.

I can see midlife being 40s but 50s and 60s? Are you planning to live to 100+?

It's not literal.

Quarter-life crises are not at 19.
Mid-life crises are not at 37.5.
Right?

Instead of insisting middle age is 35, why not offer up what you think is the "worst issue" for middle aged women? And let's hope it's not "affordable after care for kindergarteners".

I don't think middle age is a monolith, so I don't know?

Maybe income disparity? Trying to be everything to everybody? Middle age is a range no matter where you think it starts stops and mix in life stages and it's hard to define a singular issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ageism in the workplace. Yet not having enough money to retire.

+1
I think that, as Gen X here (can anyone relate?) that we were bitten with this at both ends.
Being young in "our" workplace was a liability. Or even just looking young. The older workers were considered wiser no matter the credentials. They could get someone to fax for them. They could draft memos. They talked on the phone a lot and always had lots of messages (hand written by the receptionist).

Now I look in the mirror before work and try to see what my younger coworkers see. I dread aging. It's the younger workers who are now viewed as savvy no matter how much tech Gen X masters (or invented).

[Anonymous]

Removal of remote work (barrier to work)

[Anonymous]

Midlife isn't a literal number, its the phase you are in. In the female it is the Maiden-Mother-Crone trilogy. So the parenthood years are mid life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having zero payoff for ambition

What? Are you a disgruntled WOHM?

[Anonymous]

Visible breakdown of your body, youth, stamina, senses, beauty, processing speed...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Midlife isn't a literal number, its the phase you are in. In the female it is the Maiden-Mother-Crone trilogy. So the parenthood years are mid life.

So now middle aged problems are parenting young children problems? What?

[Anonymous]

Online porn, OF, camgirls etc
Ruining relationships

[Anonymous]

I definitely think it’s ageism. I expected to have a robust career and retire in my early 60s but got bit in the ass mid 50s. Wasn’t expecting that!

[Anonymous]

Really angry men

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not being able to purchase the bottom half of the shirt.

In all seriousness, I think it's sandwich generation stuff... raising kids in a time where very hands-on parenting is the norm, often while working a full-time job, while juggling aging parents.

Also, marital division of labor issues in two working-parent families. Many women my age (40) were raised that they could do anything and that has turned into doing everything.

I don't think parents of young children quality as "middle aged" they are younger women with different issues.

If you are 40 are you not middle aged? I would like to think I will live to be 90 but that's not realistic.

Now 30-40 year old women with young kids are middle aged? When do you become a senior citizen? 45?

Most people use 65 as the lone for seniors. People in their 20s are young adults. And 40 is in the middle. "Middle age" has always meant 40s.

Many in their 40s have young kids, I am one.

Another issue is being erased by people like the above ^ who aren't even middle aged but want to dominate the conversation and make it about them. Pretty much nobody wants to acknowledge middle aged women, including younger women.

Holy victimhood, batman. I'm the PP. I'm 44, DH is 46. We have a 10 yo. I'm in perimenopause, busy 2nd career, my parents are 75+ and failing rapidly, and my knee hurts if I stand up wrong. Yes, I'm middle aged.

[Anonymous]

Climate crisis.

Not just women; everyone will be gasping for air to breathe within a very few years!

[Anonymous]

Uncontrolled immigration across our southern border.

[Anonymous]

The changes in the workplace since covid. Boomer male managers who let things go during WfH covid years have finally been given retirement packages and have passed the baton to older Millennial men in hopes of appealing to the larger younger generation, completely skipping the Gen X men and women doing all the work all these years.

[Anonymous]

Our society now expecting women to be hot and fit through their 50s.