by Karen and Erica

Invisible.

We have heard from many retired women that they feel invisible. The day after they end their jobs, they disappear. No-one can see them as they do the things they have done for years, like walking down the street or ordering lunch or making a point at a cocktail party. It’s as if the sunset swallowed them whole.

We experienced the same thing. We were shocked. We thought about it for a while and concluded that one reason for our invisibility is that we are different. We no longer fit within any of the expected roles in society. We had careers, and now we don’t—and therefore we are perceived as old and done. We are hidden behind stereotypes—stereotypes that are linked to age, and an image of older women that is archaic.

Well, now we are coming out as the new face of retirement. We are not going to turn on, tune in and drop out. (We didn’t do that the first time heard it, either.) We are not going to be consigned to rocking chairs. We’re not the retirees of the 1950s. We do not plan to recede into passivity, with dim and passive smiles on out faces, grateful for whatever attention others choose to give us.

We are women who have lived a long time, but we are not old, or feeble, or uncertain. We are still vibrant and engaged. We are women of the world—experienced and confident—and we demand a continuing role in society. We are leaders, and we are going to lead into the future. The future is female, as the author of The Longevity Economy and director of the MIT Age Lab has observed. That female future starts with us.