Too Experienced to Ignore

Anya Sizer is a member of the Fabian Women Network's executive committee

Perhaps because the parallels with my own situation (having recently lost my truly loved job in politics due to the elections) or perhaps because so much of my social media seemed to have been picking up on one woman’s story, it was no surprise that the formidable Stacey Duguid’ recent posts hit me in the way they did. 

When I spoke to her, Stacey describes being “dumbfounded” at the response to her post and argues that perhaps “people needed a face to hook their story onto “ 

With over two million views on the first few weeks and tens of thousands of new followers both nationally and internationally Stacey has certainly become the unexpected face of an unexpected mid-life movement 

She describes how after a painful few months of endlessly applying for work she decided she needed a break with friends and booked a cheap and cheerful holiday only to realise she wouldn’t even have the money for transport to the airport. This was not only the lowest point but as it so often is, also the start of the move forwards. 

Stacey herself is certainly not inconsequential in terms of her career and achievements. Her Linked-in profile being truly impressive, and yet work, she discovered was being literally filtered away from her due to age and the changes in how we recruit talent. 

 She is far from alone in this isolation. Currently around 11% of the female population is in this 50-67 age bracket with the 60–65-year old’s having some of the highest levels of poverty in the UK. 

“We have a catastrophic issue coming down the tracks and you have the solution in a cohort of women’s who want to work, want to contribute and have the experience to do so” 

16 months into her own journey and after her “F. It moment” she posted that now infamous Instagram reel and has been blown away. Not just by the numbers, but by the stories, of individual, talented, able women, unable to play their part. 

Her response has been to create a community of like-minded women keen to support, encourage share stories and lift each other up. ENCORE has been born out of frustration and anger but as so often happens this then often leads to solutions. Or at least part of the solution as we now also need our Labour government to listen to and harness the energy that has been created and to seek out the national answers. 

With the revival of the Brown years National economic council and the focus on national and regional growth as a core part of Labours objectives, it is vital that we seize this momentum and include this valuable cohort of women as part of the roadmap forward. 

What will success look like, I ask her as we finish our discussion?  She responds simply; 

“When women don’t have to remove years from their CV and become smaller versions of their authentic selves “ 

For the huge numbers of women, and for each of our individual stories, as well as for the benefit of the country as a whole, this seems to me to be an entirely worthwhile and necessary goal