Career at forty?

Get a life Get a career be financially independent I have heard it all Tell me please all you sitagita readers what options are there for a women who is forty plus? I would love to hear about career options which can be taken up without investing a bomb (turn hobby into business) open beauty parlours/start aromatherapy/reiki/yoga class/sell tupperware/ etc etc. Anyone in the corporate world or private sector willing to employ women over forty who are adept at inventory control/man management /party organization/housekeeping/fire fighting or crisis management? We all belittle the housewife and wave her aside with a disdainful look, but if you think carefully the above mentioned list of ''jobs'' is what she does with aplomb when managing a house and looking after kids and husband. She is on call 24 hours of the day/ minus pay/bonus or even casual leave. She takes it all in her stride. Have you ever seen a housewife turn away her children saying "Sorry no food today. No Gas" She would rather be dead than miss out on a deadline of putting food on the table for her family Best crisis manager in the world is our ''mere'' housewife. All this and more she learns in the ''school of life'' on the job while coping with in-laws, pregnancies, maids or no maids etc Need I say more. After the family chores are taken care of and all obligations and duty fulfilled the humble housewife turns to look at herself and try and get a life of her own Tell me who is out there ready to employ her flexi time or otherwise now that her formal education is outdated and housewifely skills are looked down upon. Life they say begins at forty Tell me dear readers how many of you have been able to get yourself jobs after the ''empty nest syndrome'' has set in I would love to know I have good communication skills, am a committed worker, am organised and disciplined in my work, possess excellent time management skills. I have also tried to keep pace with the times by teaching myself the use of the computer. Any employers out there listening?

Rita Mukherjee

Your Comments

I agree with Rita. I am at the same stage of my life where she is right now. Starting somethig of your own is not an easy option. Our education qualification is outdated and experience which we had 10/15 yrs back is irrelavant so how to get a job at forty.
Name :Veena

I do not agree with sonal's views because if it was easy to start something new then Rita would have done it by now.It is easy to say " why don't you start something of your own." This is something I always get from everybody around me. I am 40 yrs old a MBA graduate worked before marraige and after marraige too. Took a break after I had my first baby. Thought I will start working again once I am done with raising my kids (at the most 5 years). But now after two kids and 10 years of break I find myself at the point where Rita is standing. Outdated education qualification, experience as a housewife and mother of two kids of no use in corporate world. Is there somebody who can give real advice than just saying "Why don't you start something of your own?"

 Hi Sonal..your letter has given me a ray of hope ..i''d been searching desperately for months.. kindly tell me something more about your aunt please ..i am a 29 yr old housewife in Calcutta and i also want to start a business of my own. thanks. U.A.

Name : U.A.
E mail: UMARAHAZIZ@YAHOO.COM

Hi Rita, do you really think work is only worth in money....is it really like that, specially for Indian women? Does she feel satisfied only when she is compensated with money? India is a poor country, and if a woman is willing to work after 40 then she should try to generate jobs so that with her effort, another six seven or may be even two families get a monthly income.....I have seen my aunt who had a option working for this very site "sitagita.com". But she decided to open her store with 25000Rs its been 3yrs now, now she has a turnover of 10-12 lakhs per annum and she gives employment to 7-8 people. She felt so good this deepawali giving incentive to her "karigars". Had she opted for only a job, only she would have earned, now she has a complete team to celebrate with. The only point I am trying to make is don't just blindly follow the west.....think of our surroundings, our nation, then our culture, our upbringing and then think is it all about MONEY. Sorry for being rude but this is what I think. Though I also work under somebody, I still appreciate someone who can generate jobs.
regards sonal

Name :sonal

Hi sonal thanks for your comment Sorry to say you have missed the point completely. While one has no quarrel with enterprising business women who generate jobs for others what I am trying to find out is what are the kind of job options open for a housewife who has time on her hands and would like a job Say a widow who would HAVE to work?? To start a business you need aptitude and flair for it What if you don't have the caliber for it Then what options are open?? Nothing to do with the west or the power of money only kind of job options open. I guess you would love to generate jobs for others I ask you then why don't you do that instead of working for someone else? A question of aptitude perhaps?

Name :Rita Mukherjee

I have just stumbled on your site and have found it very interesting. I have read Rita's thoughts on career at forty and would like to add some of my experiences to Random Thoughts. Since the last 5 years I have been living in New Zealand. Prior to that, I was in Mumbai, leading a very comfortable, laid back "working when I want and how I want" kind of existence. I believed I had finished my "career-life" as I had decided to take the secondary role in the marriage out of choice. I did not believe family and career went together without family losing out especially if you were a nuclear family. However I thoroughly enjoyed working in different NGO's in different areas which I believed in. At no point did I think of restarting my career after forty as no one had ever mentioned to me the idea of "life starts at forty". However at the age of forty five I migrated to New Zealand alone initially, (my husband and son joined me eight months later after I had ensured that I could provide well for them), and was faced with this thought of wanting to provide my family a better life style and good educational opportunities for my son. This move opened my eyes to a whole new world. I found this a country which was women friendly in terms of jobs and opportunities. I was lucky to be able to land a job as a statutory social worker and this opened a world of opportunities for me. I am almost fifty at the moment and am completing my master's degree in social work here, I am a trustee in a number of organisations, am part of a trust which organises one of the biggest regional cultural programmed for ethnic communities and I have ambitions for further professional development. There is no retirement age, as there is a dire need for social workers right through all the countries of the west. I am a full-fledged career woman and am fully involved in my "out of work hours" in voluntary activities involving women and children in the community. At no stage in my earlier life in India had I envisioned taking to a profession again and having a career, but life is full of surprises. I have always been quite a laid back, mild person with no driving ambition, however life had its own path chalked out for me and my suggestions to all women is - if I can do it, every woman can achieve a career at any stage in life! All you require is to be able to work out what you are passionate about, what your interests are and go for it. Being women, we are more resilient, more adaptable, less judgmental, more open to opportunities and experiences. Least but not last, women have the strength and courage to achieve the impossible.

Name :Nirmala

Hi, I agree with you.. everyone has the right to live content lives, where at then end of the day they have no regrets.. The question is not what did you achieve in your career or how many friends you made, but How much did you live each moment in balance. There is no point having a career where you loose every every thing else or having lots of friends who are gossiping about each other with each other. Rather I would select a job which I love and at the same time I could take care of my family and have one friend to whom I can open my heart knowing that friend would not judge me. Its all about having a balance life and not forgetting who we are. Of course in India mother teach their girls to become what their In-laws or Husband wants. I think that is not so proper way, rather mother's may teach us ''Not to loose our identity but at the same time be submissive to elders and to your husband''. Not to mention that submissiveness is not slavery, it communicating your ideas/thoughts/likes/dislikes to your Husband with open mind to receive/evaluate his opinion also. I believe Women in India do all these things not because they wanted to but "Social pressure (what will others say??)" and no wonder women of our generation are so rebellious and use the word WOMEN LIBERATION. Only if we live a balance life and set our priorities straight, then everything will fall into right place. One more important thing I want to add is ''Have a wonderful friendship with your husband before you have kids'' and that friendship will last forever. Kids come and go, I'm not experience myself of kids but like you I saw my mom and other too. Its very hard to become friends later on.

Name :Nben

Nobody gives a career to anybody, you have to make one for yourself. I wanted a job at 36 I went back to college continued were I left and found a good job. Now you may say it is not possible in India I tell you why not? It is not easy I agree, but deep down it boils down to how badly you want it. It was very hard going back to college with two boys and a typical Indian husband, but the end justified the means. The very fact of me going back to college was proof enough of my seriousness to work for my current employer. All I want to say is if you are serious about working, take the right step to upgrade yourself to the current standards and present yourself with the right attitude, may be it will help you.

Name :Aditi

Why don't you try medical transcription or legal transcription? You may have to undergo a course or something. I am not sure about that. You can definitely approach one of the medical transcription centers in the city where you live to find out. In the alternative, you can take up a small duration course in HR management from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, in the city where you live and try and get a job. It is never to late to start working. That is my philosophy.

Name :Jyoti Bhat

I fully agree with Sonal's views. Especially for a woman when she is on 48 hrs duty she should preferably have her own set up. This ensures a flexibility in her working hours. Of course in the initial infancy stages she has to work hard but this hard work would reap good results. So hats of to all those women who have really managed to start on their OWN.

Name :sunita

Again I fully agree with sonal's views where there is will there is a way if u want to start something initial may be bit difficult but it works

Name :koms

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