Be it female or male, being in your 30s-40s and not earning a "high-pay" is definitely scary. Not doubt about that. However, lets try to understand why companies and would not want to hire us, not willing to increase or give us a high pay.

Most importantly, we must understand that the knowledge we have learnt from our degrees are long outdated and not valuable anymore. We can be from the best unis or the private unis but whatever it is, most things we learn from unis are theories from the past or from the present at that time and not about the future trends. This is one of the reasons why companies love to hire younger talent.

Not to worry people. Once you understand this, always remember and it is very important to have this mindset. Let's upgrade. Let's learn new skills. We have experience which is a valuable thing that young talents do not have, all we need to do is start learning again and with effort we will be better than the young talents because we have both experience and the knowledge of the present and future trends.

The most important thing in a workforce is your value to the company. The company or other companies sees your value when they know you are still a relevant asset. How to become constantly relevant, be willing to change. Be willing to learn. To always stay ahead of people with knowledge and understand new trends for the industries you are in.
This is very important.

My advice for people in this age group is go for industry-based professional certificates. 2 reasons, firstly, you learn the latest development and trends in the industry and secondly, you gain more contacts from different companies in the same field. If your company dont see your value, these contacts may see your value in their company.

The worst thing is to feel that I'm not young anymore, I cannot learn, I cannot be as good as the new young talents. This is the worst thinking. Get rid of that mentality if you have. Lets stay ahead of the in terms in of the industry. Make some sacrifices, spend them upgrading yourself so that no one can overtake you and at the same time be able to relate with the young talents. It doesnt matter how much you earn now, dont let it demoralise you. Its never too late to pick yourself and to show how worth you are worth to a company. When you can show your company your worth, this is when they will increase your pay or companies start poaching you.

Sorry about the long text but I hope it helps.