Ageism in the Workplace

God forbid we go grey.

A couple of weeks ago, news broke that a prominent news anchor here in Canada, Lisa Laflamme, was let go from her position at CTV. Laflamme has worked for the station for 35 years. She’s a seasoned vet in news reporting and an ultimate professional. There are many rumours flying around about the reasoning behind CTV’s decision, however, it’s more than a little coincidental that it just so happens to be around the time Laflamme decided, during the pandemic, to stop dying her hair and let her natural grey hair do its thing in all its glory.

While we can sit here and say ‘oh it’s ridiculous that she’d lose her job for this’, we also know that ageism, particularly against women, is rampant. It’s especially difficult for women in the public eye. Putting aside the fact that Laflamme looks incredible (seriously, I hope they make a grey hair dye and name the colour after her), it’s infuriating that for a woman of such incredible talents, her worth to the TV company she put decades into really does come down to how she looks. But more so, how old she looks.