Cecile Richards died on Monday, January 20, 2025. She was the courageous President of Planned Parenthood from 2006-2018, when the organization...
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.
Diana Athill: Possibly the Coolest Old Woman on the Planet!
If you need inspiration and reassurance that old age can be a dynamic time and not a passage to be feared, then grab Diana Athill’s two memoirs. The first, Somewhere Towards the End, was written when she was 89. Her most recent memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! was published last year when Athill was 98! Athill is a wonderful example of how one can [...]
Pat Taub
Managing Hurt Feelings in Close Friendships
Guest post by Stephanie Betzold Lately, I‘ve been thinking a lot about my childhood friends, best friends, fading friends and new friends, the seasons of friendship and how I personally define friend and friendship. Retired for two years now, I have taken advantage of the gift of time to think about my life. I’m more aware of the many [...]
Pat Taub
Why Are So Many Older Women Not Having Sex?
Talking to older women, in groups I’ve led and among friends, I’ve discovered a disconnect between what women tell me and what the popular culture reports about the sex life of older women. A Huffington Post survey conducted last July found that 59% of the partnered women over 60 had an active sex life with a third of the women over 70 [...]
Pat Taub
The Birds are for Getting Old?
Guest post by Ann Tracy When is it that one finally realizes that maybe they are indeed “old”? Do we have individual epiphanies or do we barely notice when we prefer leggings or pants over tights or pantyhose and skirts. Or is that just me? Now at the age of 64, I’m finally able to not care about looking “sexy” [...]
Pat Taub
A WIDOW’S JOURNEY: Part II
Guest Post by Elaine McGillicuddy Once the funeral is over, and the sympathy cards arrive less frequently, what is it like, after every errand, or meeting with a friend, to return to an empty house? I couldn’t bear the void. It’s desperation that told me: “Just sit! Just sit.” What relief to find that in sitting, I experienced Francis’ [...]
Pat Taub
A WIDOW’S JOURNEY: Part 1
Guest Post by Elaine McGillicuddy (First in a two-part series by Elaine on living as a widow) For me, the process of dealing with my grief through the loss of my beloved husband was through writing. I felt compelled to preserve Francis’ words, and what we experienced together during the 100 days from the date of the cancer diagnosis until [...]
Pat Taub
Finding Your Retirement Compass
By Luisa Deprez, Guest Blogger How do you do something you have never done before? How do you realign your life – completely – after moving out of well-established routines of over 40 years? How do you grasp the idea that you are no longer on another’s time clock? That the one you now have is completely yours, to do with [...]
Pat Taub
The Golden Girls c. 2016: Cooperative Housing for Older Women
Now that I’m in my seventh decade I’m starting to think about how I want to live when I’m really old. That day will come for me–and for all of us–when I won’t be steady on my feet, when aches and pains will rule, and when I’ll want the company of like-minded souls close at hand. Additionally I’ll want easy access to [...]
Pat Taub
Why Young Women Choose Bernie Over Hillary: Analyzing Gloria Steinem’s “Joke”
By Evelyn Gilman, Guest Blogger “When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys?’ The boys are with Bernie.” — Gloria Steinem on “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Gloria Steinem’s comment was a joke, or an attempt at one, but it also reveals more than her trying to be funny on a TV talk show. To make an analogy, [...]
Pat Taub
Awake at 2:30 AM!
It seems that almost every older woman I know, myself included, has sleep problems. Insomnia is the new hot topic. Sleep tips abound on the Internet and in popular women’s magazines. For most of us the problem isn’t so much falling asleep but waking up in the wee hours of the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. Conventional [...]
Pat Taub