‘There’s a terrible underlying misogyny’

Being a single woman in the US is challenging says Lisa Weber, 57, from Seattle

Hillary Clinton’s defeat was a disaster for midlife women like me. The campaign exposed terrible underlying misogyny in our culture, and allowed people to feel they can be open about it. Having said that, the exposure of the sexual harassment in the film industry and beyond feels like we’re starting to push back. But there’s a long way to go.

I worked in the wine industry and then publishing. I moved to Seattle in 2015 after a series of

bereavements. I hoped for a fresh start, but soon after I relocated I was made redundant. I knew it would be hard to find a new job – Seattle is a tech-hub and very youth-focused – and friends said I’d have to take a pay cut. It was a worrying time, especially as I’m a cancer survivor and need the health insurance, but I kept networking and, after 14 months, I got a job with Microsoft, with no pay cut. I earn $89,000 (about £66,000) a year plus benefits. I’m well paid compared with my peers.

I’m single and I feel very positive about that: I have a real problem with the dominant masculine narrative in the US, and I have no tolerance for mansplaining and low male EQ. In Trump’s America I’m a spinster, a woman no man chose. It’s all rubbish of course, and I could easily have got married. I don’t regret my decisions but sometimes it feels as though women like me are invisible.

Just recently, I’ve started to feel more comfortable with myself than I did earlier in my life. I don’t want to live to be 100, and I probably won’t anyway, but I’m determined to make the most of the time I do have. One of the first things I did in

Seattle was to hire a female personal trainer who understands older women, and to commit to working out five days a week at the gym. Right now my trainer and I are working on strength and endurance: it seems apt!