The media is all abuzz with these new statistics, but since I come from a family where at least as far back as two generations ago the women have been going to work everyday, it just didn’t seem all that surprising to me. But, bringing these statistics to light will definitely generate discussions surrounding traditional male/female roles, how we define family in the future, how social class and economics impact these statistics, and even how men and women define themselves.

The Women at Forty Project focuses on a snapshot of women from all over the world, taken in the fortieth year of their lives, and it will be interesting to hear how women in their forties receive this news compared to women in their twenties, thirties and sixties.

What are your thoughts on the newly released findings? Does it matter that women now make up half of the workforce and are surpassing men as primary breadwinners? Should it matter? Share your thoughts in the comment section, on our Facebook Fan page, or tweet your comments to @womenatforty.

PHOTO SOURCE: The Women’s Conference

There’s something about forty

Turning forty represents so many different things to so many women. We’re infinitely better off than we thought we’d be, or not nearly as far along as we imagined.  We’re happily single or resigned to being that way.  We’re married with kids and wondering how that happened, or traveling the world and wondering how we could have risked missing out on that.  Wherever we are in our lives, at forty, most of us pause to take inventory. We look at where we’ve been, imagine where we’re headed and wonder if forty will be all it’s cracked up to be.

From call centers in India, to fading automobile factories in America, women everywhere, as they have since the beginning of time, are turning forty this year, and they all have a story. The Women at Forty Project wants to chronicle these stories. For every woman, the story’s different. This project isn’t about telling women how they should be living at forty, its about observing how they actually do.

Let’s face it, not all of us can grace the cover of a magazine sporting nothing but a man’s neck tie.  But the truth is, many of us wouldn’t want to. Some of us feel fantastic about turning forty, while others are absolutely dreading it.  And many women the world over are too busy struggling to survive, too busy raising kids, too busy being busy, to worry about something as ephemeral as a magazine cover.  Regardless of where we’ve been or who we are, forty is a significant year in the life of a woman.

There are dozens of magazines and blogs dedicated to telling women how to live better, be better, look better, at forty and beyond.  The Women at Forty Project isn’t about telling you what forty should look or feel like, it’s about you telling us what it really is like.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, if you’re forty, soon to be forty, or have wisdom to share about that year of your life, we want to hear your story.  To find out how you can contribute your stories, visit our Contribute page here.