by Patricia Hughes

Created on: March 15, 2009

There are currently lots of people writing about job changes in midlife - some about the new ideas that surface with the onset of the midlife crisis - but how many of us really make deliberate changes, and how many of fall - or are pushed - into new directions?

In my career, well-qualified though I was, I never got off the first rung of the ladder. At the start and in the middle of my working life this was due to my wanting to spend time with my children, so work became something I needed to do for money, rather than a personal goal. I bet there are lots of women just like me, who would love to really do well at a job, but find other things, e.g. family, more important. But now that my children have grown up and moved out, I can do whatever I want.

In my last job a terrible thing happened. I was a school teacher, and the teenagers in the school I worked in were pretty wild sometimes, but I had no problems. Then during what was to become my last year there I began to feel incredibly tired and have awful headaches. But before I got as far as going to the doctor, the kids sensed my weakness and accused me of hitting them. Their attitude was "Let's get Mrs Bloggs!", with all the single-mindedness of the abandoned human animals in 'Lord of the Flies'. Despite the fact that I had done nothing wrong at all - no, honestly, I would never hit a child, and I hadn't shouted or been sarcastic - the school suspended me, the police interviewed me and my world almost collapsed. Although one advantage was that I was able to complete my medical treatment without any calls on my time, whilst being paid full rate. By the time they dropped all charges I was well on the road to recovery. There's always a silver lining.

You probably think I'm a bit self-indulgent, writing all about myself like this. But this is my point: I am not alone. In the late 1990's at least 15 elderly female teachers were heavily encouraged to retire early in order to make way for younger women teachers - known to us as 'dolly birds' - who knew very little about the job in comparison, but were much cheaper and easier to dream about, if you were a man. Recently one of my friends left her promoted post as a tax inspector, and another was pushed out of her job as a promoted social worker. Why? Because they didn't feel valued. Nobody supported them.

You're now thinking "stupid old bat", aren't you? Or is it "daft old bitch" or "mad old cow"? Think for a minute: what do all these phrases have in common? Yes! You've

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