NATION More women choose to shift gears midcareer

At about age 42, women are ready to reassess their careers, one author says.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO -- A growing number of midcareer women -- typically 40 to 55 years old -- are chucking successful careers, including possible advancement, to pursue their passions.
They're starting new careers and businesses, becoming activists in their communities and returning to school to earn advanced degrees.
Some were waiting for their kids to be grown. Others were fed up with office politics or bumping up against the glass ceiling and decided to put their skills to work in more meaningful ways.
"There's a tendency for women to take on a calling, rather than 'work' work," said Amy Lynch, founder of "Ourselves," an online newsletter for women in midlife.
While the women come from disparate income groups, they are dropping out of corporate America at the top of their game. The trend may make it even more difficult for women coming up, says Liz Ryan, president of WorldWIT, an online organization of professional women in technology and business. Ryan said employers may begin to question the determination of women workers.
"The status quo will remain the status quo as long as women are not there to change the paradigm," she said.
Why some wait
Some women prolong terms in jobs they no longer want for fear of ruining it for other women following in their footsteps.
Joan Borysenko, 58, a psychologist, medical scientist, clinician and author, says she stayed in her job at Harvard Medical School because she felt "guilty" about the possible repercussions for other women if she left.
A near-fatal head-on collision changed all that. In her early 40s at the time, Borysenko decided to leave as director and co-founder of the mind-body clinical program with the medical school.
"That is when I turned in my resignation, lying in my hospital bed," said Borysenko, who later wrote "A Woman's Book of Life: The Biology, Psychology, and Spirituality of the Feminine Life Cycle," which includes a chapter called "If we all defect, then what?"
"I loved my job and was passionate about it, but I didn't like the hospital politics and the constraints. I said, 'I'm a free agent, and I'm going to take the risks and do what my heart calls me to do.' "
A hiking enthusiast, Borysenko bought a house on a mountaintop 20 miles outside Boulder, Colo., and keeps her summers free of work. "That was part of the plan. Creating a life by choice." For the last 15 years, Borysenko has conducted workshops around the country on wellness and women's spiritual issues.
Survey results
In a recent survey by the National Association for the Self-Employed, 85 percent of new women business owners surveyed between the ages of 45 and 54 said they left corporate jobs. Only 3 percent said they would go back if they had the chance.
And 44 percent of the women in the survey said they expected to make less than $25,000 their first year in business; 28 percent estimated they would make between $25,000 and $50,000.