You are here: Kimberli Hull » Womens Careers

Taking Long Term Care for Women Seriously

November 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Article by Zyra Scott

Very few women get to retire rich and free to pursue their hobbies and travel the world. Most grow old with smaller nest eggs or worse empty-handed. For that reason, long term care for women is a subject that should be taken seriously and planned carefully by all women across the nation.

Indeed, women’s health care is a national issue since women these days outlive the men. So if you are 65 years old today, you can expect her to live for another 19 years while men can look forward to 13 more years.

Good news? Not so because living longer makes an individual susceptible to various geriatric diseases. Women are more prone to hypertension, diabetes, and heart diseases especially if she is the caregiver of a family member and works nine to 12 hours daily.

They can also possibly acquire dementia such as Alzheimer’s which is common among individuals who are past the age of 65. Having this type of health disorder will subject an individual to five or 10 years of care and mind you, the cost of care for this type of sickness can wipe out your lifetime savings.

Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of women have responsibly secured a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy, not to mention over 13% of them have retired early to focus on caring for an elderly or disabled loved one.

By retiring early from work, one’s chances of securing a good plan for her future health care needs are very low. She can neither avail of the employer-sponsored group LTCI nor afford an individual policy anymore because her funds won’t be enough to satisfy its annual premium.

Long Term Care for Women

Statistics show that more women grow old alone and wind up in nursing homes. As a matter of fact, the Medicaid Department of the State of New York’s data revealed that 80% of nursing home residents are women.

Why many women end up in nursing homes has a simple explanation and that is the fact that there is no one in their lives to take care of them.

Majority of American families rely on their mothers, wives and daughters for care. Women’s capacity to care is, after all, not limited to their spouses, parents and children. They will go the extra mile to ensure that their siblings and in-laws are receiving the kind of care which they require.

Since most women are always after the welfare of their loved ones, they would rather sacrifice their jobs or careers to be able to take care of the members of their families that require long term care (LTC). This act is absolutely worthy of praise but if the process of caring for the people you love entails neglecting your own needs, perhaps you should consult an expert on the field of LTC.

Your state’s Area Agency on Aging is also a good source of help as it can recommend the best LTC services for uninsured individuals from the age of 60 and over. You can entrust your uninsured loved one’s health care needs to this federal health program and focus on long term care for women and how to start your plan.

Filed Under: Womens Careers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Judge Nancy Gertner – In Defense of Women

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

mslaw.edu Judge Nancy Gertner launched her career by defending Susan Saxe, an anti-war demonstrator accused of robbery and felony murder. Judge Gertner reveals the details of how she achieved the “win of the century” in the Saxe case, much to the surprise of herself, her client, the prosecutors and the press. She goes on to describe her pioneering work as a woman lawyer in the 70′s and 80′s, including the astonishing lack of respect she experienced as a young female lawyer, her decision to take on abortion cases, her experience as one of the first women serving the defense in murder cases, her significant work in anit-discrimination cases and how she managed to balance both her career and her family. Judge Nancy Gertner joins Massachusetts School of Law Professor Diane Sullivan on this episode of The Massachusetts School of Law’s Educational Forum. Judge Gertern and Professor Sullivan discuss the judge’s new book, In Defense of Women-Memoirs of and Unrepentant Advocate.

Filed Under: Womens Careers Tagged With: , , , ,

Career Change For Over 40′s

October 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Getting back into the workforce or changing careers after the age of 40 can be tricky, especially in this economy, but there is a great deal you can do to improve your chances.

As populations in the developed world are growing older and many countries are experiencing a crisis in the pension system, we are facing the prospect of having to work past the usual retirement age. Yet, at the same time, older people are not always welcomed back into the work force. Many also have difficulty finding a new job if they have an unbroken track record and are simply looking for a change in career after the age of 40.

There are a number of steps you can take to maximize your chances of getting a job, despite the negative views regarding age on the part of some employers.
When writing your CV or résumé, be sure to target it for the job in question. You can do this by highlighting all the skills and experience which are needed for the job and then proving that you have got them.

It is not necessary to put personal information on your résumé – in many countries it is illegal to ask about age so don’t feel you have to volunteer your age on your résumé. You should either leave out your date of birth completely or put it at the end. Do not mention your marital status or the number of children you have or their ages. This is not relevant to the job!

The fact that you are older means that you have valuable experience in many areas and you need to make good use of this in your application. Don’t worry if you are returning to work after bringing up children – soft skills, such as communication, time management and the ability to meet deadlines are crucial in the workplace today and all of those will be skills you have developed in the intervening years. So take a good look at all the skills you have acquired both at work and in other areas of life and make a list. You’ll be surprised to see how many you have and how many of them are transferable.

If you find your particular career favors youth, consider the possibility of self-employment. Could you use your existing skills as a freelancer? If your computer skills aren’t up to date, get your kids to teach you or find out about local classes, which are sometimes free. If there have been changes in your particular industry, look into refresher courses.

Many people make the mistake of assuming that they will get job satisfaction in one place, but this is the exception rather than the rule. So make a list of all the skills you’d like to use (or learn) at work and a list of the tasks which give you job satisfaction. Then consider the possibility of becoming a portfolio worker, that is, someone who has more than one occupation. You might, for example, work as a freelancer in your existing career for two or three days a week and set up a small business doing something completely different during the rest of the week. Or you might write about, teach or run workshops in one of the skills you have developed.

This doesn’t have to be work-related – it could be a hobby you’ve been interested in for years, it could be a hobby you’re passionate about. Look at everything you’ve done in your life so far and you’ll find that there are several areas in which you are an expert.
If you are prepared to look beyond the conventional 9-5 job, you will find that there are many opportunities open to you, regardless of your age.

Filed Under: Womens Careers Tagged With: , , ,

Is A Career Change Right For You?

October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are you unhappy with your job but not sure what exactly it is that makes it feel so unsatisfying? Is it something about your job that’s creating the negative feelings or your overall career?

The best way to find out the answers to those questions is to keep a daily work journal.

First, record how you feel about going into the office or workplace every day. Be honest with yourself and write down your true feelings.

Are you dreading walking through the doors and the thought of it makes you nauseous? Maybe you’re looking forward to it but once you get there, you start to feel stressed and unhappy.

When a specific job assignment comes up, write down your reactions to having to complete that task. Let’s say your boss has given you the assignment of researching past profit margins for one of the products your company produces. He wants a comprehensive report done and on his desk within two days. How do you internally process this request-Are you angry with him and dread the job, or does it make you happy to be trusted with an important job? Write it down!

In your work journal, jot down your feelings about your coworkers. Do you generally get along with everyone, or do you find yourself constantly at odds with people-or a specific person?

If you find that when you get to work you feel bored, write down the reasons why.
Is it that you don’t have enough to do? Is the job is not challenging enough for you?
Or is it you and your overall lack of ambition or desire to apply yourself? Ouch!

The key to journaling is to write down exactly how you feel about various aspects of your job and then look for recurring themes.

Are you unhappy because of the people you are around or because of what you are doing? Maybe your job or career is not in line with your personal beliefs and values?
Or perhaps you just disagree with specific company policies.

Whether it’s your job or your overall career that’s causing your unhappy feelings, keeping a journal of your thoughts and feelings can be very beneficial.

Doing so will make it much easier for you to determine where your unhappy feelings are coming from. Once you identify exactly where the problem stems from, it will be much easier to work out what you need to change – the company you work for, your job or your entire career.

Filed Under: Womens Careers Tagged With: , ,

Who Can be a Better Leader-Men or Women?

October 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

After the detail study about leadership and gender, I come up two conclusions. First, the similarities between men and women tend to outweigh the differences. Second, what differences there are seem to be that women fall back on a more democratic style, while men feel more comfortable with a directive style.

The similarities among men and women leaders should not be completely surprising. Almost all the studies looking at this issue have used managerial positions as being synonymous with leadership. In my view, gender differences apparent in the general population do not tend to be as evident because of career self-selection and organization selection. People who choose careers in law enforcement or civil engineering have a lot in common, where as individuals who choose managerial careers also tend to have commonalities.

As a matter of fact, people consider a person, as good leader when that person have the traits associated with leadership-like intelligent, confidence, sociability and daring and it is true regardless of gender.

Now if we look at the today’s organizations, they recruit and promote people into leadership positions who project leadership attributes.

But despite the above conclusions I think that there are so many differences in leadership styles between men and women.

Leadership traits in Women:

1. Tends to adopt more democratic leadership style.

2. Encourage participation, share powers and information, and attempt to enhance

    Follower’s self worth

3. Usually prefer interpersonal skills to influence others.

Leadership traits in Men:

 1. More likely to use a directive command and control style.

 2. Rely on formal authority of their position or their influence base.

So in the light of above discussion we can say women can be a good leader at the managerial level in the organization where as men is best suited for a leadership role in both the politics and organization.

The reason why I said that women can not be a good leader is not due to her gender or any other reason that might arise in the mind of people and he or she may develop a discriminative or negative view. In my view women can not be good leader because by nature and through genetic coding she is less dominant where as men have dominant traits and it’s a natural fact.   

http://www.internet-living.blogspot.com

Filed Under: Womens Careers Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts