Baby Boomer Women & ENCORE Careers

Baby Boomers:  Born post World War II, between 1946 – 1964, we are part of the 78 million people referred to as the baby boomer generation.

As a group we are more  educated, spiritual, and wealthy than any generation of women to precede us.

As a generation we have been described as a “shockwave”  –  by the sheer force of our numbers, we boomers have been a demographic bulge which has remodeled society as we’ve passed through it.

As young women who came of age during the 60′s, 70′s &  early 80′s we were front and center to many society-shaping events such as the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Robert Kennedy; race riots; Roe v. Wade; the moon landing; Woodstock and the Beatles.  The women’s movement brought with it overturning obstacles to equality including safe and legal abortions and the pill.   We were told that we should never become dependent on a man, we were the generation that could have it all, do it all, and be it all.

We challenged traditional ideas of what it meant to be a woman and attempted to precariously balance our home and work lives like never before.   We went from housewives to career women and entered the workforce in droves .  However, we were often torn, if we decided to stay home like our mothers to care for our children we felt that we were missing that pay check and the opportunity to climb to the next level on the corporate ladder.  If we put our children in daycare  and focused on that career path we felt guilty for not being there for our children.

With a mindset of youth….. We are now moving towards retirement but we are living longer, healthier lives and the mantra seems to be “What?   Retire?   I don’t feel old enough to retire!   I want to stay in the game, keep active, keep earning money, leave a legacy…. Make a difference!” Retirement is looking much different than as recently as our parents generation.  today’s boomers are refusing to phase out or fade away.  If the old golden years dream was the freedom FROM work, the dream of this new wave is the freedom TO work — in new ways, on new terms, to new and even more important ends.

Now our children have grown up and are leaving the nest.  At midlife we are now stopping long enough to ponder what’s next for us. We are turning inward, seeking spiritual guidance and questioning if we’ve fulfilled our purpose.  We are focusing on what we want the second halves of our lives to look like.  Baby boomer women view the dual liberations of empty nesting & retirement as providing new opportunities for career development, community involvement and continued personal growth. We are hiring life coaches, doing self exploration, and finding new directions.  We’re in search of balance and seeking our passions. No longer obsessed with being who others want us to be, we are finding happiness & gratification in who we are, and what we have to offer the world.

Now, it’s your turn…

“Do  what you LOVE and you’ll

never have to work a day in your life”.

ENCORE Careers:

Work that matters in the Second Half of Life

Now because we baby boomers are living longer, healthier lives and have the need or desire to work far  past the traditional retirement age, up to 20-30 years longer in some instances.   Allowing enough time to create a substantial  body of work  done YOUR WAY! In te book “ENCORE:  Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life,” (http://www.encore.org)  Marc Freedman tells  stories of  encore career  pioneers, who  are working not only for continued income, but for the promise of more meaning and the chance to do work that they are passionate about.   As our numbers begin to swell, we hold the potential to transform work in America—and create a society that works better for everyone.