This paper argues that gerontology, the study of old age and the process of aging, have overlooked gender inequality within policies of patriarchal structures, and within the ideologies of western capitalist society. This is a major source of women’s social and economic powerlessness’ in old age. Ray (1996) explains feminist gerontology as a connection between feminism and gerontology focusing on gender and gender relations. Feminist gerontology deals with populations of both women and men, and through the connection between gender, conclusions in research on women are drawn from building upon research based on men (Calasanti, 2004). Patriarchal structure of western society still maintains the core preference of traditional gender roles, which lead to familiar results in old age. The manifestation of this ideology can be seen in advertisement in media and again repeated within institutions of political and educational domains. Its ability to take several forms produces the root of issues of inequality in old age and difficulty women face compared to men. Gender, within research of gerontology is relatively recent in its consideration in exploring the experience of elderly in western society (Wray, 2003). Therefore, differentiating between genders is done through describing the obstacles that women face in old age compared to men, such as gap in life expectancy, where women tend to live longer than men (Backes et al., 2006). Their ‘prolonged’ lifespan in comparison to men
Theories of aging are extremely important because they allow us to see what effects aging have on the human body. The experience of graying hair in America for men is looked at as maturity and well established but for women, the effects are just that they are getting older. According to USA Today “"The long-standing perception that men with gray hair are experienced and women with gray hair are simply old may still be an issue that affects employees in workplaces across the U.S." (Italie, 2012). More women are dying their hair than ever before. There is a lot of pressure in today’s society to “not look old”. According to USA today “In 1950, 7% of women colored their hair, she said. Today, it's closer to 95% or more, depending on geographic
Mrs Ann Smith is a seventy nine year old woman and she has several problems regarding her health and well-being in her elderly age. Many policies and legislation ensure the safety and well-being of the elderly such as Mrs Smith. Legislation and policies safeguard the elderly including Mrs Smith to receive the fair treatment of care and to stop discrimination and exclusion. Discrimination and exclusion is still prevalent today and within contemporary society the ageing population is rising, discrimination and exclusion could increase if it is not appropriately tackled by contemporary society today. There are numerous theories of ageing, some theories are disengagement theory, and the activity theory and these theories have developed key concepts and the effects of ageing on individuals and contemporary society today.
In Chapter 15: Aging and the Elderly, the U.S. birth rate has been falling for more than a century. It happens because children are more likely to survive into adulthood, and so couple have fewer children. As more women work outside the home, they choose to have fewer children. Greater material wealth and advances in medicine have raised living standards so that people benefit from better housing and more nutrition. The oldest segment of the U.S. population, is increasing rapidly and is already forty times greater than in 1900.
1. In her speech, Jane Fonda spoke about aging and the effect that it can have on a person. Fonda talked about “Life’s Third act” or the last three decades of a person’s life. Fonda explained that the advances in medicine and technology enabled the human race to live longer than before (Fonda, 2012). According to Fonda, humans are living on average, thirty years longer than past generations. The human life span has been extended and humans are spending a great deal of their lives in older age (Fonda, 2012). Fonda explains that we should not accept aging as a decline to our mental and physical capacity. According to her, our spirits do not age but mature over time which explains why people over the age of fifty are generally happier, less
discrimination (Begum, n.d. p. 1). For older women the stereotyped image is frail, doddering, wrinkled and slow
In an order to gain a better understanding how the process of aging affects older adults, I interviewed my neighbor, a sixty-seven year old man. For the purposes of this paper, I will refer to him as Pat. Pat lives with his wife of forty-three years. They currently live in a home in Mounds View, which they have owned for twenty-four years. They receive no home services. He views aging as inevitable. He added that, although there are plenty of negative things that are associated with aging, there are definitely perks that come along with it. He believes that maintaining a healthy lifestyle, carrying a positive attitude, and accepting changes as they come, has helped him adjust to growing old. Pat has been retired for nearly three years. Pat appreciates retirement because he gets to watch his two year old grandson during the week. On the weekends, he gets together with family and friends. He enjoys fishing, hunting, reading, and cheering on his favorite sports teams. Pat has a primary doctor that he has seen for several years. He had a myocardial infarction in 2001, and has since been on two prescribed medications for his heart. In addition, he has arthritis, and has been living with chronic pain for nearly a year. The majority of the pain is in his lower back. He stated that the pain will come and go, but it hurts the most in the morning when he gets out of bed, and when he stands or sits for long periods of time. At the time of the interview, I asked on a scale of 0 through
As we grow older, reflecting on one’s life becomes a natural part of the aging process. This paper is a life review taken from my grandfather, Mr. D.H., who was born in the 1940’s, he is currently 75 years old. He has a birthday coming up soon in November where he will be 76 years old. He currently lives by himself in an apartment in a retirement community designed for older able adults, where this interview took place. Overall for his age, his health is stable only suffering from Type I diabetes and a thyroid condition (didn’t specify), that he was diagnosed with in his late 50s that didn’t allow him to work anymore. Despite his current disorders, he’s still able to do for himself, and continues to smoke cigarettes plus indulge in a beer or two a day.
Aging is a phenomena we are all familiar with, a trait characteristic of all humankind, in fact, of all living organisms. What are the effects of aging, especially those which go beyond the biological aspects and effect the social aspects of changing roles, seniority, and treatment of the aged? What was the original human condition before high-tech medical interventions redefined death and dying, before the industrial age changed the nature of the nuclear and extended family? Going back still farther, what can the behavior of chimpanzees tell us about the origins of our responses to the aging of those around us?
The goal of a research paper is to obtain different views and facts about a certain topic. Aging, death, and dying is an extremely broad topic with ample of books, movies, pieces of art, and even television shows. Edgar Allan Poe 's "For Annie" happens to be one piece that relates to the topic of aging, death, and dying. An analysis opens up the background of Edgar Allan Poe, the meaning of the piece as a whole, and the different views of the piece.
In the study of aging, our understanding of issues is always colored by the training and perspectives of the researchers whose work we read. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interdisciplinary nature of gerontology. The disciplinary perspectives to be considered are psychological, sociological, and economic.
Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living
According to the book Gerontology for the Health Care Professional it states that aging is a universal process shared by all living organism where as disease is a selective process, varying with species, organs, tissue, cell and molecules. Aging is intrinsic where as disease intrinsic and extrinsic dependent on both genetic and environmental factors. Aging is always progressive where as disease maybe discontinuous and may progress, regress or be arrested entirely. Aging in always deleterious and likely to reduce functional competence where as disease is occasionally deleterious often causing damage that is reversible. Aging is irreversible where as disease may be treatable and often has a known cause. Cigarette smoking starts out as a lifestyle
Also spelled as ageing, this is generally the process of becoming old. It is the in a way the opposite of immortality. In a broader aspect, it may occur to single cells in an organism also called cellular senescence or the population of a species, known as population ageing. This process primarily affects human beings and fungi. In humans, it signifies the accumulation of various changes which occur over time. The changes include physical, social and psychological changes.
It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.
Humanity has come a long way as we evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Through the years, we have managed to overcome several limitations, which in the past were nothing more than dreams. We succeeded in landing on the moon and communicating over long distance, yet there are still some boundaries we have yet to cross despite our best effort. Aging is an inevitable process of nature. While we cannot stop the ticking clock in our body, we have made it possible for aging to be delayed and relieved to a great extent through advance technology and modern governance. High-tech equipments and medications are available for the treatments of more illnesses as our understanding of medicine improves and governments nowadays are doing