For many women, turning 60 comes with the same old question from colleagues, friends and even family: “When are you going to retire?”
Celine Egan, CEO and co-owner of wellness brand Juice Plus+ Australia and New Zealand, has decided to start a podcast, Second Half Women on FIRE, to give women over 55 a voice and challenge the idea that their professional value has an expiry date.
Egan, who celebrates her 61st birthday today, says the assumption that women should wind down at 60 reflects a cultural narrative that undervalues experience and quietly pushes women out of the workforce.
According to her, the first half of life is “just an apprenticeship,” but “the second half is where you get to turn decades of wisdom into your greatest advantage”.
‘Told To Slow Down But Wanting To Ramp Up’
Egan says the idea for the podcast came after attending a leadership retreat shortly after turning 60, where many felt the workplace was signalling it was time for them to step aside.
“There was this undercurrent of conversation that started leading to ‘When are you going to retire?’ or ‘When are you going to slow down?’,” she told B&T.
“And it was interesting because their male counterparts weren’t being asked the same questions.”
Those subtle nudges, she says, can create guilt among women who still want to contribute.
“There was a lot of guilt around, ‘Should I be making way? Should I be retiring?’ instead of asking, ‘What else could I build?’.”
Egan herself only stepped into the CEO role at Juice Plus+ Australia and New Zealand in her late 50s – something she believes contradicts the cultural narrative around ageing and ambition.
“Why would I slow down when I feel like the first 50 years were the apprenticeship?” she said.
The Quiet Ageism Women Face
Egan argues that age discrimination, particularly against women over 50, remains one of the least discussed barriers in the workforce.
Despite growing life expectancy and longer careers, Egan says many experienced women still struggle to find work.
“I often speak with a highly qualified woman in her early 60s who cannot find a job,” she said. “Employers see her age; they don’t see her resilience, emotional intelligence or capability.”
However, according to Egan, the consequences extend well beyond careers. Women over 55 remain the fastest-growing demographic experiencing homelessness in Australia – often the result of divorce, interrupted careers due to caregiving responsibilities and lower retirement savings.
“It becomes this awful situation where women are too poor to retire but too old to hire,” Egan said.
Acting ‘Like A Man’ Just To Fit In
Reflecting on her early career in corporate Australia, Egan says female leaders often felt they had to adopt traditionally masculine traits to be taken seriously.
“You had to lean heavily into that male energy just to be heard,” she said. “I looked at femininity as weakness because I believed it wouldn’t get me ahead.”
The result, she says, was a generation of women pushing themselves to exhaustion in order to succeed in male-dominated environments.
“I was go, go, go, hustle, hustle, hustle, because that was the only way you believed you could get ahead.”
Over time, however, she said her perspective changed.
“In the second half of life you realise your authentic self is actually your greatest strength.”
Is Australian Media Doing Their Bit?
Another reason Egan launched her podcast, she says, is frustration with how older women are represented in media.
While stories about menopause, health issues or retirement appear regularly, she believes coverage rarely focuses on the ambitions, leadership and reinvention happening later in life.
“I don’t see women over 60 being represented meaningfully unless you actively go looking for it,” she said.
“The media narrative often jumps from young success stories straight to retirement – and skips the decades in between.”
That gap, she believes, contributes to the perception that women’s professional relevance fades with age.
“I would love to see stories about women reinventing themselves in their 50s, 60s and 70s,” she said. “Show the whole picture, not just one part of it.”
Why ‘The Second Half’ Could Be The Better Half
Through Second Half Women on FIRE, Egan hopes to challenge those narratives by showcasing stories of women launching businesses, rebuilding careers after divorce, or stepping into leadership roles later in life.
The podcast’s episodes are deliberately short – around 15 to 20 minutes – designed to fit into busy schedules. Guests will range from entrepreneurs and executives to women who have radically reinvented their careers.
She said the idea behind launching the podcast was also to let women know that they too can start something new at 60 or 70.
“This isn’t about working until you fall over,” she said. “It’s about choosing when the season changes.”
And for many women, she believes that season is only just beginning.
“Sixty shouldn’t be a red light,” she said. “It’s a green light to bigger and better things.”
