Standing alongside the gorgeous Joanna Lumley – and in public too – is not an experience anyone this side of physical perfection would relish.
But as we were sponsors of the Ernst & Young entrepreneurs awards which Lumley graciously hosts each year, there was no way out of this particular humiliation. For the second year in a row.
Fresh from her triumphant campaign on behalf of the Ghurkas, Lumley was truly radiant. Except – and here I imagine you’ll think me small minded and jealous – for her hands.
Her face was anywhere between 40 and 60 and so lively it didn’t matter. Her hands were those of a much older woman.
I noticed the same with that other ageless screen beauty, Helen Mirren. Now both these stars have defied the despicable determination of their industry to cast aside women once they pass their late thirties as though unclean.
Others are less conspicuously talented and certainly less fortunate. The wastelands of tinsletown are littered three deep with perfectly able actresses whose age has deemed them unfit to appear on screen.
But acting is not the only culprit – my own business is pretty inhospitable to women of a certain age.
And while women are certainly keeping fitter as they get older, they’re looking good and staying every bit as mentally agile as their male counterparts, they are still scrutinised more closely for signs of ageing.
And in the workplace this will prove increasingly damaging. Women’s retirement date is gradually moving back to match that of men. But for practical purposes they are written off much sooner.
This has got to change if we are going to have to work longer still. The government cannot simply lay down the law that women cannot claim their old age pension until, say, 70 if employers are reluctant to keep them on much after the age of 60. Even DIY retailer, B & Q, which specialises in hiring oldies, won’t be able to take on all of us.
Sadly, while much of corporate Britain is still run by middle aged, middle class white men, we are unlikely to have a radical workplace rethink that will allow older people to remain in fulfilling jobs while still permitting young talent to rise upwards.
There has been some greater flexibility in terms of hours, unpaid leave and part-time working in the attempt to keep more people in jobs during the recession.
And, though there was once again a disappointing snap-shot of the progress of women in Britain’s boardrooms last week in the latest FTSE women’s index from the Cranfield business school, the survey did reveal that just below director level there has been an encouraging rise in the numbers of women.
We should also not forget the fact that many large government owned organisations and businesses as well as those run by private equity, have senior women at the helm.
In some progressive cases, such as Phillippa Williamson the Serious Fraud Office chief executive who I interviewed for Financial Mail (read it here), flexible working is their standard. Williamson has for the past 15 years worked partly from home.
Given that we’ve been failing to secure equal pay for more than 30 years now, equality on the issue of age is unlikely to take place in time to match the imperative of longer working lives.
I fear it will be some time yet before women are unafraid to show their hands. But we can, as an absolute minimum, resolve to challenge age discrimination by not sitting on them!
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