Thankful this Week for Boomer Women

It’s Thanksgiving next week! How did that happen?! Even if I am surprised Thanksgiving is here already, it’s a good reminder of all I have to be thankful for. This week as we approach the holiday, I wanted to give a thankful shout out to the Baby Boomer women in my life who have sacrificed to create a workplace where women are contributing and thriving. Men, I’m thankful for you too…just saying before I get emails and comments.

For our Boomer women, there’s a lot you did and sacrificed so the women coming behind you could be successful. A Boomer woman, from one of my sessions this week, came up and told me with tears in her eyes, that leaving her child home sick while she went to work, was the most horrific thing she’s had to do. She talked about the pressure she felt as a woman employee in the 1970s.

She told me about her boss asking her, “How many hours are you going to have to take off? When do you think your child will feel better?” The Boomer women in our lives didn’t have the work-life blend we have today. In a world where women were proving their professional capabilities, they didn’t have the flexibility to simply stay home when their children were sick.

The pressure to show they could do the same work as a man, with the same commitments of a man, (many of whom had stay-at-home wives to take care of sick children) was intense. To be successful and to earn their credibility, the Boomer women who went before us sacrificed.

It’s their sacrifice that makes much of our today possible. It’s the women of the Boomer generation who have encouraged companies to have flexible policies so those of us in today’s workforce can take time off to meet the needs of our families.

Huzzah to all of you Boomer women who paved the way. I’m grateful this week for your sacrifice and example!

Keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant, Sarah Gibson, helps organizations leverage the power of communication, teamwork and diversity to improve engagement and transform teams. To buy her book or inquire about her speaking programs, please visit www.sarahjgibson.com.