Why we need more older female role models at work
Women over 50—and especially over 60—are still dramatically underrepresented at the highest levels of visible power.
We need more older female role models at work because their absence distorts how leadership, competence, and value are defined—and who is seen as entitled to power.
Women over 50, and especially over 60, remain starkly underrepresented in senior, visible roles, despite being among the most experienced and skilled segments of the workforce. This is not a pipeline problem; it’s a perception and systems problem.
Here’s why their visibility matters:
1. Experience is being systematically undervalued
Older women often carry decades of institutional knowledge, crisis management experience, and people leadership skills. When they are missing from top roles, organizations implicitly signal that experience has an expiration date—particularly for women. This leads to poorer decision-making and avoidable reinvention of mistakes already solved.
2. Ageism and sexism compound each other
Men are often seen as gaining authority with age; women are seen as losing relevance. Without older female role models, this double standard goes unchallenged. Visibility disrupts the bias by making competence, authority, and age coexist in a way people can no longer ignore.
3. Younger women need realistic career horizons
If the only women in leadership are under 45—or disappear entirely after mid-career—young women internalize a silent message: this path doesn’t last. Older role models expand the sense of what a full, sustained career can look like and reduce attrition driven by burnout and invisibility.
4. Representation changes how power is exercised
Older female leaders often bring different leadership patterns: less performative authority, more contextual judgment, and stronger mentoring instincts. Their presence diversifies not just who holds power, but how power is used.
5. Organizations lose credibility without them
Workforces and customer bases are aging. When leadership does not reflect that reality, companies look disconnected from the people they serve. Older female leaders increase trust, relevance, and cultural legitimacy—internally and externally.
6. Visibility creates permission
Role models don’t just inspire; they authorize. Seeing women over 60 in positions of influence gives others permission to stay ambitious, to age without apology, and to claim space rather than shrink from it.
In short:
We don’t need older female role models as a symbolic gesture. We need them because excluding them is economically irrational, culturally damaging, and strategically short-sighted. Power that only looks young and male is weaker—and the data, talent losses, and leadership gaps already show the cost.