Pat Taub is a family therapist, writer and activist and life-long feminist. She hopes that WOW will start a conversation among other older women who are fed up with the ageism and sexism in our culture and are looking for cohorts to affirm their value as an older woman.
Given all the ageism and sexism smacking older women in the face aging can be a dismal state for many women. Mary Pipher to the rescue! In her book, Women Rowing North, Pipher makes the case for a happy old age: “Happiness depends on how we deal with what we are given.” Piper interviews older women from all walks of life who have triumphed [...]
Pat Taub
Abortion Rights Thanks to a leaked report, it’s now almost certain that the Supreme Court will reverse Roe v. Wade this June. Abortion advocates have been demonstrating across the country, but is this enough? In a recent interview with Chris Hedges, V, formerly known as Eve Ensler, the playwright, author, and political activist, called [...]
Pat Taub
Last Friday I attended a memorial service for 96-year-old Joanne Booth, who never failed to brighten my day when we met up. Joanne’s infectious, slightly mischievous smile, was contagious, as was her love of life. As I listened to her four daughters deliver their warm, loving accounts of their mother’s full life, my mind wandered to [...]
Pat Taub
Ageism, defined as discrimination against the older adult, is very real in the lives of many, if not most, American women. The older woman loses her currency for no other reason than she looks her age. At work, her suggestions are frequently rejected; socially she is shunned because she no longer looks young; her adult children consider her [...]
Pat Taub
I propose that we enlarge Mother’s Day so that we honor not just our biological mothers but also our spiritual mothers. These are the teachers, neighbors, aunts, family friends and others whose influence made an indelible impression on us. Frequently these women didn’t have their own children, but lovingly nurtured and guided the children [...]
Pat Taub
“The Vixen” This week I devoured Francine Prose’s witty new novel, “The Vixen,” which takes place in the 1950’s and revolves around the infamous Rosenburg trial and execution, where Ethel and Julius Rosenburg were executed for passing along secrets to the Russians. The protagonist, young editor, Julius Putnam, is assigned a book [...]
Pat Taub
Spring is typically the time when we tidy up our living spaces by washing windows, sorting kitchen cupboards, and getting rid of clothes we no longer wear. What if we applied this same thinking to our interior lives? What if we engaged in spring-cleaning for the soul? What would that look like? It might involve reworking the formula in [...]
Pat Taub
When my oldest son became engaged, a luncheon was arranged to introduce me to his finance’s family. When I glanced around the table, I caught my future daughter-in-law’s sisters scrutinizing me. I experienced the uncomfortable sensation that I was being sized-up to determine the extent to which I’d be a problematic mother-in-law. I [...]
Pat Taub
Escapist Indulgences After a week of reading about the horrors in the Ukraine and watching a webinar on the necessity for peace talks over escalation, I had my fill of despair, so I turned to a light-hearted TV series and a witty novel about an eccentric family. Julia This new series on HBO Max is part of the current trend reviving the indomitable [...]
Pat Taub
Archaeologists have found traces of women’s home altars as early as 8000 BC. They pop up in the goddess civilization of Minoan Crete, during the Roman Empire, and sporadically in European, African, and Asian history. But in the US, the popularity of women’s home altars is a recent development. The women’s spirituality movement, which [...]
Pat Taub