By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterTHERE IS a concern among women that the refusal of several companies to employ females in the 40-60 age group has contributed to their dependence on their male partners, leaving them at times with little option but to accept abusive treatment.
Additionally, they said that company policies had resulted in many 'bright minds' being restricted from contributing to the workforce.
"If an older woman is seen in the office it is because she will soon retire, not because she has just been hired," Hyacinth Douglas a 55-year-old widow said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street offices in downtown Kingston.
She was one of ten women who addressed the Forum which focused on women issues.
Mrs. Douglas later told The Gleaner that since 1997 she has made several job applications but was turned down because of her age. A former employee of a bauxite company, Mrs. Douglas had resigned in 1991 to care for her disabled mother.
Between 1997 and 1999 she pursued a course in Information Technology at the University of Technology to better qualify herself for the job market, but said she has found that there was discrimination against persons over 40 years old.
She also noted that job vacancy advertisements often specify that applicants should not be over 40 years old.
For her part Phydellis Gibbon, who frequents the dance hall, and is known in that circle as 'Hottie Hottie Cherry' said that too often women who become dependent on their men were disadvantaged.
"Until we can stand on our own then we won't go through that abusive state," she said.
But Dr. Sapphire Longmore, Miss Jamaica World 2000, said there were options for women to empower themselves without depending on men. She suggested that more persons should provide emotional support for those who had to be totally dependent on their partners for survival.
"When you are in a situation where you have to depend on a man, you teach your son to expect the same thing," she said.
Contacted yesterday, Yvonne Davis, Client Service Manager with Jamaica Employers Federation, said that the majority of the positions in organisations catered for younger persons.
She said mature women were often employed in areas related to human resource management or tertiary education.
In the meantime, Doreen Thompson, chairman of the Friends of the Mona Rehabilitation Foundation also said the stigma against more mature women in the workplace had resulted in an under-utilisation of their skills.
Coming in Monday's Flair, Women helping other women. Women taking control of their lives. get the details of our roundtable discussion.
