When Susan Zirinsky takes over CBS News in March, she will be the first woman to hold the job. She will also be the oldest person to assume the role, at 66.
Her appointment was announced just days after Nancy Pelosi, 78, was re-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives — making her the most powerful elected woman in United States history — and Representative Maxine Waters became the first woman and African-American to lead the Financial Services Committee, at age 80.
News of Ms. Zirinsky’s ascension broke on the same evening that 71-year-old Glenn Close bested four younger women to win the Golden Globe for best actress.
It seems that older women, long invisible or shunted aside, are experiencing an unfamiliar sensation: power.
To the Editor:
Re “Older and in Power, Unwilling to Remain Unseen” (front page, Jan. 9):
We are successful women who worked for four decades as corporate lawyers. The day we retired we became invisible, hidden behind dismal images of aging women. That made no sense to us. Our cohort had come out vividly as women when we started our careers. We changed the working world. Now, we are coming out again, older women with experience, health, style and resources.
We are a new breed, with much to give and much to do.
We were thrilled to read your article. The fabulous women you profiled are just the tip of the iceberg. Most of us are not in the public eye, as they are. But there are millions of us, and we have just begun to roar.
Count on us. We will change the world again.
Karen E. Wagner
Erica Baird
New York
The writers are co-founders of Lustre, a website devoted to changing the images of retired career women.
