Do Gen X Women Have More Complicated Adulthoods Than Millennial Women?

Do Gen X Women Have a More Complicated Adulthood than Millennial Women?

I used to think I was a Gen-Xer, because I was born in 1981 and because my pop culture heroes were Claire Danes in My So-Called Life and Winona Ryder in anything. (You have no idea how thrilled I am that flannel is back in style.)

But I’m a Millennial. Especially when I compare myself to Fast Company’s newest article evaluating Millennial and Gen X women’s experiences at home and in the workplace:

While most millennials entered the workforce during the startup revolution, a time when most corporations value innovation and entrepreneurship, gen-Xers entered the workforce in the midst of large corporate layoffs in the 1980s, or the dotcom bust in the mid-1990s. Gen-Xers “watched their parent’s loyalty and overtime rewarded by layoffs and downsizing — this may contribute to their cynicism,” says Connell.

Now, let’s be serious here—I officially entered the workforce in summer 2004, and although the startup revolution was probably going on somewhere, I was earning $9 an hour plus commission as a telemarketer and wondering why all the adults in my life were telling me to walk my resume up to the hiring manager and just ask for a job! (I have since benefited from the startup revolution—but it took Web 2.0 and a global economic crisis to get there.)

But here’s the interesting piece:

Gen X women are typically responsible for their children and their aging parents, making them the first workforce to be caregivers for both children and senior parents, says Bridget O’Connell, a regional vice president at Addison Group, a provider of professional staffing services.

“Gen X women have more life challenges,” [Tacy M. Byham] says. “Millennial women may or may not have kids, but gen-Xers have kids and aging parents. Those life circumstances become a barometer for where they want to go and how fast.”

I’m also not sure that’s completely true—women have managed jobs alongside both childcare and eldercare as long as there have been… um… children and older humans—but I get the point they’re trying to make. Gen X women, in this example, grew up in a culture that assumed they would have a job, be married, have children, and care for their extended family. Millennials grew up in a culture that still assumed they would have a job, but that presented marriage and children as one of many options.

Because of this, Gen X women have fewer opportunities in the workplace and, in Fast Company’s words, are getting “squeezed out.” Millennials, meanwhile, have nothing keeping them from making Tumblr memes of Allie Brosh characters saying “Work All The Hours!”

Obviously this isn’t true in the individual sense. Gen-Xers aren’t the first people to combine childcare, eldercare, and employment, and Millennials are not childfree workaholics tumbling their way through life.

But—and this is a question I’m asking you directly—do Gen X women have more complicated lives than their Millennial counterparts? If they do, and if they are in fact getting squeezed out of jobs because of their family responsibilities, is this a generational problem or a “women in middle age” problem?

I turn it over to you, Billfolders.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.