Yasmine Morgan discusses how young women can experience both ageism and sexism in the workplace, and why we need to listen to young people’s voices.

In this article, I share some experiences that led me to write about issues faced by young women at work. I wrote this piece on the day that the United States elected a president who has been criminally convicted, and who continues to attack the rule of law and human rights. Now, more than ever, we need to redirect our anger and frustration about injustice towards positive change, whether that’s in the workplace or wider society. 

Workplace discrimination 

As a young queer woman working in sustainability in the NHS, I often struggled to have my voice heard. During my first week on the job, a female colleague and I were referred to as doing ‘fluffy’ work. Initially, I thought it was a laugh, but then I realised our work was devalued everytime we spoke with certain colleagues. They didn’t take us seriously, as two young women with passionate ideas and a will to create positive change in our healthcare system.  

Not being listened to or taken seriously at work is an issue that particularly affects young women, due to patriarchal structures in the workplace, and this is further exacerbated for minoritised groups such as women of colour and LGBTQ+ people, who can also experience structural racism, homophobia and transphobia on top of this.  

Young people leading change 

Within my role so far, I have been involved with valuable projects such as tree planting, planning community greenspace projects, climate adaptation and writing NHS Fife’s Environmental Management Policy. To emphasise, I absolutely love my job, and there are always challenges to a profession. The deeper problem is that young people are more likely to face certain struggles than other age groups, which can reduce ambition and impact our mental health, when experiencing issues such as imposter syndrome, the glass ceiling, and pay gaps. 

Many young people around the world are some of the first generations to be directly experiencing climate impacts and be educated about the threats of climate change, from infancy through to higher education. Therefore, if anyone is ready to address the challenges we face from climate change, it’s young people who can and will lead that change. Unfortunately, despite this, “Research reveals that negative stereotypes associated with younger adults include the notion that they are coddled, radically progressive, disrespectful, and inexperienced”.

Ageism in the workplace 

Despite protections for older adults who face ageism, a 2021 study by Bratt, et al. found that younger adults are more likely to face age discrimination at work over middle-aged or older employees. This form of discrimination against young people is sometimes referred to as ‘youngism’ or ‘reverse ageism’, I’m not really a fan of the latter, so let’s use ‘youngism’. Combine youngism with good old sexism, and you’ve got a pretty good explanation for why young women are so frustrated about modern work life, particularly for those who experience racism, ableism or transphobia as well. 

How ageism and sexism are interconnected 

I have experienced several instances of microaggressions, comments and behaviours that I initially thought were normal, however the majority of these behaviours, in retrospect, are deliberately or subconsciously influenced by my age and gender. I was led to believe that I needed to gain seniority before I could receive any respect. This idea of superiority, combined with dismissive behaviours, can get in the way of productive and open-minded conversations in the workplace. Due to the imposed gender bias and age superiority, sexist and ageist behaviour is unfortunately very common towards younger employees, especially for young women, people of colour and queer people. 

A colleague of mine was recently referred to as a ‘wee girl’ by charity donors after we received a donation for one of our hospital gardens. I was surprised by how these donors referred to a colleague like this, without realising how demeaning it is. These are small behaviours but they need to be addressed in the workplace, without the fear of being called ‘dramatic’ or ‘over-emotional’. 

The power of young people  

One glimmer of hope for me recently was the One Young World Summit in Montréal, which brought together over 2,000 young people representing every country on the globe, to connect and discuss the world’s biggest issues. The 5 key themes of the summit were gender equality, climate, indigenous voices, global health and peace. Seeing the positive projects that young people are actively doing across the world gave my spirit the inspiration it needed to keep fighting for behavioural, organisational and institutional change here in Scotland, particularly issues around feminism and the environment.  

Where do we go from here? 

To any young women who have experienced or witnessed ageism and sexism firsthand (which is unfortunately almost all of us), we can do something about it. Here’s some suggestions to get started: 

• Check out this website for book recommendations on the topic to empower you. 

• Try to call out microaggressions or concerning behaviours, and feel confident to confront others on their biases, even if it is scary.  

• Start support networks, for example, a colleague and I started a network for Young Professionals in the NHS. Sharing similar challenges and opportunities with the group has been really helpful. 

• Let your manager know how you feel, no matter how small.  

• Never forget the value that you, as a young person, add to your workplace.  

This article is part of a series during the Young Women Work campaign, tackling gender inequality in the workplace. Read more about the campaign and its recommendations, and help us spread the word. Can you ask your workplace to sign the pledge and commit to being part of the change?