Girls just wanna have fun!

What are we going to do about these baby boomers? They simply insist on redefining every stage of their lives.

In the `60s it was the counter-culture movement ­ peace, love and ecology.
In the `70s they revolutionized sex and suburbia. In the `80s the boomers scaled Wall Street and the hills of Hollywood. In the `90s, they moved forcefully into politics, with Bill Clinton as the first boomer president.

And since 1998, with the Red Hat Society, we have a generation of women refusing to go quietly into that good night. Currently there are 50 million Americans over the age of 50. By 2020, that number will reach 75 million. Of women over 65, 46 percent are widowed. Call these numbers a tidal wave, or a tsunami ­ Red Hatters say it's time to adopt a new hattitude!

Perhaps, historically, our society has ignored the older woman. Perhaps women over 50 were marginalized, disregarded ­ invisible. This will clearly no longer be the case. Just as the boomer women of the `70s demanded equal pay for equal work, the ladies of the RHS compel us to pay them equal attention. Refusing to fade into the background, refusing to be put on a shelf, they are engaging in all that life has to offer, and living it to the fullest.

Whether empowered economically, sexually or politically, women over 50 are making their voices heard, and accomplishing more than their mothers and grandmothers imagined possible. If there are now 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, the Red Hatters would want you to know that it was a woman over 50 who put them there.

When you see the red and purple gang coming your way, don't cross the street. Join the party! After all, girls just wanna have fun!

 

Joe R. Fox III - Director