Femalefesto?

Lean In is hailed as a new manifesto for women; to Sheryl's Sandberg's point, it's still a man's world.  In my little book, 55+ Unite! Welcome All Wise Working Women, I propose a 'manifesto' for older working women - you know, the ones who kicked in doors and cracked glass ceilings -- but are now likely to have their houses under water.  I urge older women not to buy into aging myths (with an assist from fMRI findings), to reflect on strengths that have gotten them this far, and to reclaim their lives with a little help from fierce friends. Gal pals are our secret weapons in the war on older women.

Sheryl Sandberg is criticized for speaking from a pulpit in rarified air - no, not heaven, but rather the top of the new, new Corporate America - Silicon Valley.  To her defense, we can only speak of what we really know, observe and study.  Good for her, to restart the conversation.

In Sunday's NYT, Erin Callan, former CFO of the former Lehman Brothers, speaks of what she knows.  Looking back after going belly-up, she bemoans the lack of boundaries she set as a high-flying female executive.  Maybe her experience is not so different from male CFOS in equally epic-sized organizations, but she is now 47, and starting over, sans children.  Erin offers hard-won wisdom about living life vs. being locked in a career.  (Is There Life After Work?  Opinion/NYT - 3/10/13).

As Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes (author of Women Who Run With the Wolves) offers at the end of her excellent audio works, 'And so be it for me, and so it be for you - Amen, Amen - and a little woman, too.'