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[littlecodeladies]

About the project: The "Throw like a Girl" project is working on bridging the gap between the US and Cuba by sailing donated baseball gear down to Cuban little league girls. Revival, an engineless 26' sloop, will depart for Havana from Palmetto November 27th. In addition to empowering Cuban girls, the crew members hope to explore interest in setting up Little League games between the US and Cuba.

[littlecodeladies]

Fabulous article, including this one little comment: “The problem with women in technology isn’t the women.” Thank you, Paul Ford.

[littlecodeladies]

My alter-ego Mab gives us a worst-case scenario view of aging.

[littlecodeladies]

Excerpt from my upcoming online course Computer S.W.A.K.

[littlecodeladies]

Vote for Me: Mission Main St Grant

I am applying for a Mission Main Street grant, and I need 250 votes to move forward with my grant application. To vote, just click on this link to see the page for Sunshine Arts & Letters—that’s me!—and connect with your Facebook Account. There will be no additional tracking..

About me: I followed careers in librarianship and in trade publishing with my own freelance writing & editing service. During my journey, I have become increasingly aware of the huge untapped skills available in the pool of older women in our country. I am now shifting my own focus to online training to upskill those women so they can use their vast life experiences in writing, editing, and in technology. 

About my project: I am writing an online course for Udemy.com to be called Computer S.W.A.K. or "Computer Secrets for Women And what the Kids won't tell you." I haven't found anything similar that speaks to older women and treats them like the bright, beautiful, smart people they are: Not dummies! I use the language and references of my generation. 

I appreciate the fact that many women my age (65-plus) have been busy with life, but never learned about today's technology. That certainly does not mean that they don't understand critical thinking or how things work. So, I am starting with the basics and working my way through the many questions friends have asked me about computers and the Internet. It should be fun! And a good income stream for me once I launch. 

Why do I need this grant?

My online course needs a store front. It needs a cozy place where those lucky older women living in the Bay Area can go a step beyond with S.W.A.K. and have some face time with each other. We need a safe place to ask our questions, and we do not want some kid spouting jargon at us. We want folks our own age, who speak our language, and who have patience, to sit with us and talk with us, and work with us with respect, dignity, and tact. And while we're at it, how about a cup of tea or coffee? 

I need some rental space for classes, and I need to hire some smart wonderful women to make this happen. We'll need some new equipment, but some old stuff, too, so we can replicate what people have at home. Desks, chairs, and comfy couches. Think franchise here. And I'd love for each person who "graduates" to come back as a teacher so she can get that first new job on her resume, too. I know how to teach the basics, but there's so much more these women can do. You know I'm right.

This grant would help me complete the initial online course. I need someone to help me finish up my videos with professional equipment. (My at-home sound quality is poor. Trucks keep driving by at the worst possible times.)  Here’s the course intro to give you an idea of what I’m working on. You can jump to 3.09 to get to my soapbox message.

Then the feedback from the finished course will tell me where to go next with online components. I am confident that I have a market for this program, and I have correctly targeted my audience. 

Part Two is to create the in-person component, and I want that to be going within six months, with first classes open only to people who have completed the online course. (Or who have read the accompanying eBook.) While this space is being developed, we will also be developing new online courses for older women on specific topics that meet their needs. This grant will allow me to arrange for space, hire a staff person, and get it up and running. Additional revenue will come from course fees. Ideally, we will be able to provide scholarships and special workshops to provide additional benefits to women who cannot afford to pay full price for courses. Long term: Partnerships with employers who want us to train to specific tasks.

Please vote for me. I need 250 votes to more forward.  [Link will take you to the listing for Sunshine Arts & Letters - That’s me!]

[littlecodeladies]

Retirement Q & A

Q: Where do men go to retire?

A: Golf courses

Q: Where do women go to retire?

A; Poverty

Q: Why?

A: ???

Discuss. What do you think? Here’s an infographic to get you started.

[littlecodeladies]

Women’s Law Center report

[littlecodeladies]

Retirement planning is extremely important for women, and ideally it should consider the big picture including financial resources, the family’s situation, risks, and employment. Nevertheless, many women are more focused on meeting their families’ current needs than on their longer-term futures. This article looks at how family issues can shape [...]

Let me translate this for you: The financial geniuses who have been advising us all for years are just now admitting that they have been WRONG in their estimates about what women need to live well, or even modestly, in retirement. Take note those of you who are young enough to plan ahead. It’s not a pretty picture. 

And keep in mind that the current census figures show 1 in 5 women at age 65 living below the poverty level. Twice as many women as men face extreme low-income in their “golden years.” 

This article talks about women who leave the workforce voluntarily to take care of family members, but it does not address the problems of women who who lost jobs through corporate down-sizing or age discrimination. It also doesn’t mention the difficulties women face in trying to find new jobs in a market rife with age discrimination.

So I’ll raise this question again: If tech industries are so short of workers, why aren’t they starting programs to up-skill older women? End three problems: Lack of diversity in tech, joblessness among older women, and poverty among retired senior citizens (especially women).

[littlecodeladies]

Computer Secrets: What the kids won’t tell you

I’m writing an online course for SMART, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL women who have just been too busy with life to keep up with technology. 

Short lessons & lectures will be based  on questions like these: 

How do I make the type on the screen bigger?

How do i move photos from my phone to my computer?

What is Meet-up? Who will be there?

What does LOL mean? LMFAO? YAMMV? :-<? HTML?

What’s the window in Windows?

I said I would make a PowerPoint presentation at my garden club. Okay, how do I do that?

Where did my downloaded files go?

How can I comment on those Huffington Post articles about how great it is to be 40, 50, or 60?

Why do I need so many passwords? Can’t I have just one?

What’s a GIF? And how do I make one?

Where can I get free Kindle books?

What’s a PDF? Why do I need to know that?

How do I find what I’m looking for online?

How can I watch Internet movies on my television?

Please let me know: What are the questions that older women in your life have about their computers and the Internet?

[littlecodeladies]

If you are a working woman who has read anything about the Ellen Pao discrimination case, your reaction has likely been one of unease and disappointment. Turns out that soft sexism—something very real, likely something you’ve experienced personally—is a slippery thing to prove in a court of law. But that doesn’t mean we should stop talking about it.

[littlecodeladies]

Young things, move aside. Senior citizens get first pick here.

[littlecodeladies]

Most Americans say women are every bit as capable of being good leaders as men, whether in political offices or in corporate boardrooms. So why, then, are they underrepresented in top jobs?

[littlecodeladies]

Thank you for participating in my totally unscientific survey. I have been observing the recent surge in programs to involve "girls and women" in careers in tech.

[littlecodeladies]

I think this should be required reading for every employer and H.R. person in the country. We're all in it together.

[littlecodeladies]

Good article, and these same arguments can be made to hire women who have left the workforce for non-mom reasons, too. Women over 45 would especially benefit from this type of support!

Did you know that most women in the U.S. become moms? According to numbers compiled by the U.S. Census, 81% of women in the U.S. age 40-44 were moms as of 2010.

In today’s tech-driven economy where cutthroat bidding wars for technical talent are par for the course, wouldn’t it be wonderful...

[littlecodeladies]

Women Choosing to be Entrepreneurs in Retirement

Questioning the numbers: 

According to Work in Retirement: Myths & Motivations (A Merrill Lynch Retirement Study, conducted in partnership with Age Wave), "Just 14% [of working retirees] felt they had to start their own companies because they otherwise couldn’t find work."

How does that number change if they report on women retirees only? I'd like to know, wouldn't you?  

In any case, 14% is still a substantial percentage.

Retire-preneurship

While many may think of typical entrepreneurs as people in their 20s from Silicon Valley, the reality is that older workers—with their vast experience, business connections, and often greater financial resources—have consistently exceeded younger workers in entrepreneurial activity.

Working retirees are three times more likely than pre-retirees to own their own business or be self-employed (32% vs. 11%). While some may think retire-preneurs are forced to start their own companies because of age discrimination or difficulty getting a job, the top reason retire-preneurs started their own business was to work on their own terms (82%). Just 14% felt they had to start their own companies because they otherwise couldn’t find work