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After 50, too many women reduce their working hours, become trapped in lower-quality jobs, or exit the labor market altogether. Part-time employment becomes more prevalent as women age. The gender gap widens. For women, this means lower lifetime earnings and significantly smaller pensions. Many are calling this phenomenon the menopause penaltya midlife equivalent of the motherhood penalty. And indeed, research suggests that womens earnings drop in the years following a menopause diagnosis. But while menopause clearly plays a role, there is a risk in attributing these economic setbacks too narrowly to biology. Doing so not only oversimplifies womens lived realitiesit also medicalizes what are fundamentally social and organizational problems. Menopause matters. But it rarely acts alone. A convergence of pressures and setbacks Midlife is often the most demanding phase of womens lives. Menopause tends to coincide with a series of other life shocks that disproportionately affect women. Caregiving responsibilities intensify: aging parents begin to need support, while many women are still helping children or even grandchildren. The sandwich generation is squeezed between upward and downward care. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. Dont miss the next issue subscribe to Laetitia@Work.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/laetitiaatwork.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91472264,"imageMobileId":91472265,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} Meanwhile, serious health risks increaseincluding breast cancer and chronic illness. Divorce is also common in midlife and comes with major financial and emotional consequences. The death of a parent is another major shock that frequently occurs in midlife and is largely invisible in workplace thinkinggrief doesnt fit into a few days of leave but often brings lasting exhaustion and difficulty concentrating. Overlay all of this with growing exposure to ageism in the workplace and it becomes clear that menopause is rarely the only culprit. Yes, symptoms such as fatigue, hot flashes, or brain fog can make work harder to sustain. But menopause comes at a moment of cumulative strain. It does not create the inequalities. It amplifies those that already exist. When work refuses to adapt Many jobs are still designed for a worker who is endlessly available, physically resilient, emotionally stable, and largely free from caregiving responsibilities. Menopause symptoms collide with these unrealistic expectations. Instead of redesigning workadjusting schedules, reducing unnecessary presenteeism, offering autonomy, improving ergonomic conditions and workplaces, or recognizing fluctuating capacityorganizations implicitly ask women to adapt their bodies. And when they cannot, the choices available are reducing hours, stepping back from responsibility, refusing promotions, accepting less visible roles, or leaving work altogether. From the outside, this looks like individual preference. Thats why the menopause penalty looks exactly like the motherhood penalty. Neither is caused simply by biology. Both result from the collision between life stages and rigid work systems built around male, uninterrupted career norms. The penalty is also reinforced by stereotypes. Menopause is still associated with emotional volatility, decline, and loss of competence. Many women fear being perceived as less reliable or less ambitious. Some avoid high-visibility projects. Others turn down leadership roles or client-facing positions simply because they fear exposure. Menopause stereotypes are like sexism on steroids. Economically, the menopause penalty represents a massive loss of human capital. Women in their late 40s, 50s, and early 60s often hold their highest levels of skill, institutional knowledge, and professional experience. When they reduce hours or leave work prematurely, organizations lose leadership potential, mentoring capacity, and expertise. The danger of medicalizing inequality There is an increasing push to frame menopause primarily as a health issue requiring medical solutionsmore awareness campaigns, more diagnoses, more treatments. Dont get me wrong: better healthcare really does matter. Too many women suffer unnecessarily because of lack of information, poor medical support, or lingering fears around hormone therapies. For those with severe symptoms, treatment can be life-changing. But there is a real risk in making menopause the central explanation for midlife economic inequality. When reduced earnings or stalled careers are blamed mainly on hormonal changes, it obscures the role of workplaces, the gendered division of unpaid work, insufficient care infrastructure, ageism, and broader social, political, and corporate issues. It suggests that if women simply managed their symptoms better, the problem would disappear. We often medicalize social problems. For example, we prescribe antidepressants without addressing poverty, violence, overwork, or isolation. Hormone therapy may ease hot flashes and prevent osteoporosis (and thats a lot). But it wont pay the rent, restart a stalled career, restore lost pension rights, or compensate for years of unpaid care work. Pills dont fix ageism. They dont erase structural inequality. Lets redesign work for long lives 1. Design work for sustainability. Most jobs are still built around an ideal worker who is always available, endlessly energetic, and free from responsibilities outside work. This model breaks down over long working lives. Companies should rethink workloads, hours, and performance expectations to allow for fluctuating capacity over time. Focusing on outputs rather than presence, reducing unnecessary urgency, and normalizing lower-intensity periods would make careers more sustainable. 2. Make flexibility the norm. When flexible working is treated as an exception, it carries invisible penalties (slower progression, reduced visibility). To avoid turning flexibility into a career trap, companies should offer autonomy over hours and location by default and ensure flexible workers are not sidelined. 3. Confront ageism head-on. Many midlife career setbacks for women are inseparable from age discrimination. Employers should track pay, promotions, and evaluations by age and gender, challenge stereotypes in leadership cultures, and ensure development opportunities exist throughout careers. 4. Recognize caregiving as a normal life-stage reality. Midlife is often when care responsibilities peakfor aging parents, ill relatives, or extended familyyet workplace policies remain focused on early parenthood. Companies should expand support to include eldercare flexibility. When caregiving is ignored or treated as a personal inconvenience, many women quietly reduce hours or exit. 5. Address menopause openly. Raising awareness and training managers can reduce stigma and improve support. But if rigid schedules, long hours, and unforgiving performance models remain, women are left to manage symptoms within broken systems. Menopause initiatives must go hand in hand with reforms in job design, flexibility, and inclusionor risk becoming symbolic rather than effective. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. Dont miss the next issue subscribe to Laetitia@Work.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/laetitiaatwork.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91472264,"imageMobileId":91472265,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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E-Commerce
Housing affordability is a top concern for many Americans, and both chambers of Congress have been advancing legislation to help prospective homeownersthough it may take years for those benefits to actually materialize. This past week, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill called the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which aims to increase the supply of affordable housing. That sets the stage for some political wrangling ahead. The Senate previously passed its own bipartisan legislation in October as part of a broader package, before it was stripped from the final bill, and it is now considering the stand-alone bill, the ROAD to Housing Act. Ultimately, the two chambers must agree on a final version of a housing bill that will also get support from President Donald Trump. The legislation targets a top concern for Americans. More than 6 in 10 adults (62%) say they are very concerned about the cost of housingtrailing only behind the cost of healthcare (71%) and the price of food and consumer goods (66%), according to the results of a survey of more than 8,500 people conducted by the Pew Research Center in late January. The Houses legislation marks an important step forward, even if it wont magically fix a crisis that has developed over time and will be similarly resolved in time, according to David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, a nonprofit thats focused on affordable housing. We got into this crisis one unit at a time, and we will get out of it the same wayone unit at a timethrough a range of coordinated strategies that expand supply, reduce costs, and improve access to affordable homes, Dworkin said in a statement celebrating the passage of the legislation. Even though it could take time to benefit prospective homeowners, here is how the House bill addresses housing affordability. MODERNIZES FEDERAL HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS One of the primary goals of the Houses legislation is to streamline the federal and local housing process so that more housing can be built more quickly. And among the densest sections of the 202-page legislation is the section focused on modernizing local development and rural housing programs. The legislation takes aim at revising federal housing programs to eliminate regulatory bottlenecks and expand financing for affordable housing. The legislation also expands how funds can be used to include paying for new construction. INCREASES ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT PROGRAMS Another major goal of the House legislation is to ensure that federal grant programs reach a broader segment of the population. The legislation significantly expands the criteria to qualify for existing housing grants. One such example is adjusting the HOME Investment Partnerships Program so that income eligibility caps are raised to 100% of the median-family income of the area, and so the program can support more middle-income families. The bill also introduces new grants that are designed to incentivize local entities to reform their land-use policies and update zoning codes. These grants again target potential local regulatory hurdles that have deterred investment in affordable housing. FAST-TRACKS ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS Again targeting potential barriers to construction activities, the legislation streamlines the review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by exempting certain housing-related activities. Specifically, the bill creates categorical exclusions for certain smaller-scale projects. The legislation also eliminates duplicative environmental reviews so that housing thats received approval for one federal assistance program doesnt have to undergo another review if the scope, scale, and location of the project remain substantially unchanged. MODERNIZES MANUFACTURED HOUSING STANDARDS Finally, the bill envisions a future of more manufactured housing by again changing some of the requirements related to this type of construction that might address the availability of affordable housing. One of the biggest changes this legislation makes is that it strikes just four words from legislation thats been on the books for more than 50 years: It eliminates the requirement that manufactured homes must be constructed with a permanent chassis. It also updates the construction and safety standards for manufactured homes. IMPACT ON HOMEBUYERS Even though it will take time for these changes to roll through the system and benefit prospective homebuyers, trade groups across the various facets of the housing industry celebrated the passage of the House bill. That said, there could be some hurdles to getting a final piece of legislation across the linepartly because President Trump is pressing Republicans to include a measure that will curb large investors purchases of single-family homes. Even so, advocates are optimistic that bipartisan support of housing affordability legislation will continue. Bold action to expand supply and remove barriers to homeownership has never been more urgent, Shannon McGahn, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer for the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement. This legislation takes a comprehensive approach to increasing housing production, modernizing critical federal programs, and strengthening pathways to credit and homeownership.
Category:
E-Commerce
Tax filing season is in full swing, and while preparing your taxes can often be filled with stress, misplaced documents, and worries about proper filing, this year, there may be a silver lining. According to analysts, many Americans may get larger refunds in 2026 due to Trump’s 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill legislation. Last year, the average refund was $3,167, but, given there are a number of new changes and deductions, experts say many Americans are looking to get back an additional $1,000 or more. Overall, that could come out to around $90 billion more dollars in tax returns.Here are the biggest changes that could boost your tax refund this year: No tax on overtime One of the biggest changes hitting tax filers this year is that overtime hours won’t be taxed. Under the newly signed legislation, there is now a deduction for up to $12,500 of qualifying overtime wages. According to the Tax Policy Center, the law will make for an average tax cut of $1,400. The change applies from this year through 2028. Larger child tax credit One change many Americans will see on their tax returns this year is an increase to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The credit will go from $2,000 per child (under 17 at the end of last year) to $2,200 per child (up from $2,000). The credit begins to phase out for married couples filing jointly with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $400,000 and $200,000 for single filers. A new senior deduction This year, those over 65 are set to receive a new $6,000 Senior Deduction ($12,000 for married couples filing jointly). The temporary deduction is available for 20252028, but there are income limits. The deduction is only for those earning under $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples). No tax on tips Tips also won’t be taxed this year, although there are limitations based on the taxpayers income, occupation, and type of work. Still, those that rely on tips, such as servers, drivers, and more, can deduct up to $25,000 from their taxable income. The benefit won’t apply for anyone with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above $150,000 (or $300,000 for couples). The deduction is scheduled to expire after 2028/ Change to standard deduction There’s also a change in the standard deduction this year. For single taxpayers the dedication is $15,750 and $31,500 for joint filers. For heads of households, the standard deduction is $23,625. Overall, the new deductions make for an increase of 7.9% since last year. Change to state and local (SALT) deduction The SALT deduction, which allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct up to a certain limit of state and local income/sales and property taxes from their federal taxable, will see a temporary increase in the cap. For the 2025 tax year the deduction will increase from $10,000 to $40,000. For high tax states, that could make a huge dent in overall deductions. Still, when it comes to this particular dedication, most people won’t see the benefit at all. That’s because most people don’t earn enough to itemize deductions and are better off taking the standard deduction. Those in the 1% to 5% income bracket are set to receive the largest benefit of the change.
Category:
E-Commerce
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