Mel Doyle breaks down ageing taboos in podcast Age Against the Machine

TV presenter Melissa Doyle’s mission to break down taboos around ageing women is a very personal one which she delves into in her new podcast.

Melissa Doyle wants to have a chat.

And it may not be the most comfortable conversation you have had. In fact, it may get downright awkward or frustrating at times. But it’s a topic inspired by her decades-long career in the media as a presenter for Seven — a stint which ended last year — and her milestone arrival at the big five-oh.

Ageing women — it’s not a topic often handled in a positive light in society or it remains a taboo subject, the 51-year-old mother-of-two says.

And she wants to change that.

She plans to tackle this big task in a way women do best — through open, honest conversation with her good friend Naima Brown. The pair will launch a new seven-episode podcast called Age Against the Machine through Audible on April 20.

“It was inspired by real life experience,” Doyle tells Insider.

“I turned 50 last year so it was just one of those conversations I don’t think we always have openly in society in general and amongst friends, male colleagues, female colleagues and family members.

Melissa Doyle, 51, takes a look at the subject of women ageing in her new podcast. Picture: Supplied

“You think about the cliches that men get older and they get better looking, like your George Clooneys, and they’re recognised as these amazing silver foxes who have all these wonderful experiences and they’re better at their job than they ever were. And I don’t always think we have embraced that enough in women.

“So we really wanted to look at … what do they have to bring to the table, what are we doing to support them, how do we enhance them, how do we ensure they’re safe, they’re valued — all of those things.”

For a woman that was front and centre in our lounge rooms for just over a decade as the co-host of Seven’s Sunrise, her departure from the network last year was viewed with some raised eyebrows.

But Doyle is quick to point out she doesn’t believe her parting from the network she was with for more than two decades had anything to do with her age, despite coming just months after she turned 50.

Melissa Doyle and Naima Brown have collaborated on new podcast called Age Against The Machine. Picture: Supplied

Despite this, she admits to being shocked by a statistic Sex Commissioner Kate Jenkins revealed to her while producing the podcast — a statistic that mirrors her own reality.

“We spoke to Kate Jenkins and she said 52 is usually the key age in a lot of industries where women are let go,” Doyle says.

“So if a company is going to shed staff, they will usually start with the older women. And we were laughing and saying how crazy that was because by that age, your kids have probably grown up and potentially left home … and you suddenly have more time on your hands than when you were in your 30s and were raising them.

“You’ve got more experience than you’ve ever had and all the factors that contribute to making you a really good, essential, valued employee.

“I feel that so many businesses don’t actually recognise that. Which I find really crazy.”

While Doyle says she embraced turning 50 — she used the hashtag OnlyGettingStarted on her Instagram account — she says other life milestones, particularly those that involved her role as a mother to Nicholas, 19 and Talia, 17, had a bigger effect on her.

Doyle with her son Nicholas. Picture: James Gourley

She has always been open about the challenges she faced as a mother raising her children while trying to simultaneously hit career goals. She even wrote a few books about it, one called Alphabet Soup: My Life On And Off Screen and The Working Mother’s Survival Guide. But no one prepares you for those years where your children spread their wings, she says.

“For me the challenges were in relation to family and (the fact) that my children were growing up,” she reveals.

“My son leaving home was a really big shift at home, from the dynamics of our family to me just simply missing him.

“I think you spend all of their life getting them ready to fly the nest and grow up into these awesome, smart independent people and then when they do and they do all these things they’re meant to do, I had that moment that I forgot to get myself ready.

“It’s about working out who you are; who you have been, what you want to hang on to into the next part of your life and what you want to let go of.”

Age Against The Machine was born out of a conversation Doyle had with Brown at a time both women were coming to a crossroads in their lives; Doyle was entering her 50s and Brown her 40s.

The pair, who met on the set of Sunday Night where Doyle was a host and senior correspondent from 2015 to 2019 and Brown one of the producers, were wrapping their heads around what these new stages in their lives would mean.

“We live in a youth obsessed culture, even at 35 or 40 you are starting to feel like you’re stepping out of the spotlight,” Brown explains of this early conversation.

“Your male counterparts keep their footing on their careers while women start thinking about what they will sacrifice.

“In a way this (podcast) is a clarion call to action.”

Melissa Doyle with the Sunday Night when she worked for the Seven Network. Picture: Seven

The women cover a wide range of topics and, as it’s a global exploration of women’s roles, they look at what it means to age for a woman both in Australia and in other cultures.

Doyle and Brown join a goddess circle in Byron Bay; they learn that women over 50 are the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia; they chat with women in South Korea, the plastic surgery capital of the world and then visit with Mauri women who embrace every wrinkle as a sign of strength; and they speak with a Hindu priestess in Bali and a Queen Mother in Ghana to see how other cultures embrace ageing women.

“I felt fantastic about (turning 50) because it felt like a really important milestone in my life,” Doyle says.

“I thought I’m healthy and I’m loved and I’ve got a healthy family and I’m still able to do what I enjoy doing both professionally and personally.

“It’s quite powerful in a way I hadn’t anticipated. I had that moment where I thought ‘Damn yeah! I’m 50 and I’m going to wear it with pride!’”

Age Against The Machine is available on Audible from April 20.