tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/age-discrimination-60039/articlesAge discrimination – The Conversation2023-10-05T11:11:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145472023-10-05T11:11:29Z2023-10-05T11:11:29ZOntario’s 2-tier minimum wage: As discriminatory now as it was in the 1990s<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/ontarios-2-tier-minimum-wage-as-discriminatory-now-as-it-was-in-the-1990s" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The province of Ontario <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002886/ontario-increasing-minimum-wage-to-1655-an-hour">has increased</a> its minimum wage to $16.55 per hour — unless workers are students under the age of 18, in which case their labour is only worth $15.60.</p>
<p>Québec and Manitoba eliminated their two-tier minimum wage in the late 1980s over concerns that the wage differential amounted to age discrimination and therefore violated Canada’s <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/">Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a>. Ontario almost did as well 30 years ago. But the Ontario NDP government broke its promise, as I detail below.</p>
<p>The issue is personal for me. When I was 17 years old, I was hired by my hometown library. But a week into the job I was called into the head librarian’s office and told that they had made an administrative error. They would need to pay me the lower rate. </p>
<p>With that, my wages dropped from $4 an hour to $3.15. Over the next year, I worked for substantially less than other students hired at the same time and who were doing the same work. This is an experience not easily forgotten.</p>
<h2>Age discrimination</h2>
<p>A few years later, I did something about it. As the head of a provincial student group, <a href="https://ondy.ontariondp.ca/">Ontario New Democratic Youth</a>, I launched a campaign on the issue in late 1989. As I wrote at the time: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If the two-tiered system was based upon any other category (of difference), it would not be tolerated.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We made the case that it was “unfair to value one person’s labour less than another’s simply on the basis of age.”</p>
<p>We then launched a Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge on the issue of age discrimination with the help of Toronto labour lawyer <a href="https://goldblattpartners.com/our-lawyers/steven-barrett/">Steven Barrett</a>. A notice of application was submitted to the Supreme Court of Ontario in April 1990.</p>
<p>But then, most unexpectedly, the Ontario NDP won the election in September 1990 and <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/orange-shockwave-how-ontario-got-its-first-ever-ndp-government">Bob Rae</a> became premier.</p>
<p>It seemed strange to us to continue the court challenge as our youth group was the party’s youth wing. Besides, the Ontario NDP had promised to eliminate the two-tier minimum wage in its election platform. It was also mentioned in <a href="https://www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/discoursV2/Ontario/ON_DT_1990_35_01.txt">the government’s first speech from the throne</a>. So, we dropped the lawsuit. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Court documents." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552305/original/file-20231005-28-q6twsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A photo of the paperwork pertaining to the lawsuit the author’s youth group launched and then dropped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Steven High)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Ontario government reduced the student differential in 1991 to 45 cents an hour from 85 cents an hour, promising to eliminate it altogether the following year.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/ndp-politician-bob-mackenzie-dead/article_8a4536d2-8d22-5e9b-92bb-7d90e9c320ee.html">Bob Mackenzie</a>, the NDP’s labour minister, even told the media at the time that the under-18 minimum wage “just cannot work in a society that promises equality and fairness. In fact, the existence of the student differential is currently before the courts in a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” </p>
<p>But then something changed, and the NDP decided to maintain the lower differential.</p>
<p>I have long wondered what happened. </p>
<h2>Employer lobbying</h2>
<p>Thirty years later, I am writing a book on how the NDP government responded to the industrial crisis. So, I decided to do some digging in the archives to find out why. </p>
<p>Thanks to <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/richard-alexander-allen">Richard Allen</a>, an NDP cabinet minister and historian who donated his records to McMaster University, I discovered that the Ontario Restaurant Association and other employer groups lobbied hard to convince the NDP cabinet to reverse itself.</p>
<p>According to archival material, they argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The student minimum wage category should not be seen as discriminatory against young inexperienced workers, instead it should be viewed as an affirmative action initiative which assists young inexperienced workers in gaining employment.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These were tough economic times and the youth unemployment rate was a dismal <a href="https://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/MLI-PCrossYouthUnemployment10-15-webready.pdf">18 per cent</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A newsletter on newsprint with the headline Youth Viewpoints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552307/original/file-20231005-15-gui2v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Ontario New Democrat newsletter on the minimum wage differential for students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Steven High)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To find out more, I filed an access-to-information request and discovered that a decision was made in September 1991, the same month the <a href="https://springmag.ca/rae-days-lessons-from-the-social-contract-30-years-later">NDP abandoned its longstanding promise to deliver public auto insurance</a>, to hold off on eliminating the youth differential. </p>
<p>Instead, the Student Minimum Wage Consultation Group was formed with representatives of the four main employer groups in the hospitality industry, all with a strong vested interest in maintaining the youth differential, as well as two service-sector unions and an obscure student group nobody ever heard of. </p>
<p>The consultation group recommended keeping the differential.</p>
<h2>Discriminatory differential</h2>
<p>In its April 1993 cabinet submission on the subject, the Ministry of Labour conceded that the differential was discriminatory but recommended it was maintained anyway.</p>
<p>Here is how they worded it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Clearly, the student minimum wage does discriminate on the basis of age and student status. The student component does not appear to present any legal difficulties, but the age discrimination is a complex legal issue.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It went on to say that “legal analysis concluded that if a Charter challenge were to be raised again there is a risk that the student differential could be found to violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the basis of age discrimination.” </p>
<p>Thanks to us dropping our case, the ministry could advise: “There is no legal ruling directly on this issue and no current challenge.” The NDP cabinet therefore agreed with the warped line of reasoning that paying less to younger workers was a form of affirmative action. </p>
<p>Thirty years later, young people in Ontario are still paying the price: 95 cents an hour, to be precise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven High receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Thirty years ago, he was a member of the New Democratic Party.</span></em></p>Ontario almost joined Manitoba and Québec in eliminating the under-18 minimum wage 30 years ago. Then Bob Rae reneged on an election promise.Steven High, Professor of History, Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2027542023-09-14T20:05:15Z2023-09-14T20:05:15ZFriday essay: homesick for ourselves – the hidden grief of ageing<p>Anyone parenting young children will be familiar with the phrase “there’ll be tears before bedtime”. But in a quieter, more private way, the expression seems perfectly pitched to describe the largely hidden grief of ageing. </p>
<p>Not the sharp grief that follows a bereavement (though bereavements do accumulate with the years), but a more elusive emotion. One that is, perhaps, closest to the bone-gnawing sorrow of homesickness.</p>
<p>Sarah Manguso <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781509883295/">evokes</a> this sense of having travelled further from our younger selves than we could ever have imagined:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes I feel a twinge, a memory of youthful promise, and wonder how I got here, of all the places I could have got to.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Historically, the phenomenon of homesickness was identified in 1688 by the Swiss medical student <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/when-nostalgia-was-a-disease/278648/">Johannes Hofer</a>, who named it nostalgia from the Greek <em>nostos</em>, meaning homecoming, and <em>algos</em>, meaning an ache, pain, grief and distress. </p>
<p>It was the disease of soldiers, sailors, convicts and slaves. And it was particularly associated with soldiers of the Swiss army, who served as mercenaries and among whom it was said that a well-known milking song could bring on a fatal longing. (So singing or playing that song was made punishable by death.) Bagpipes stirred the same debilitating nostalgia in Scottish soldiers. </p>
<p>Deaths from homesickness were recorded, but the only effective treatment was to send the afflicted person back to wherever they belonged.</p>
<p>The nostalgia associated with old age, if it occurs, appears incurable, since there can be no possibility of a return to an irrecoverable youth. But as with homesickness, how badly those afflicted suffer seems to depend on how they manage their relationship with the past.</p>
<h2>The phantom was me</h2>
<p>American writer Cheryl Strayed <a href="https://cherylstrayed.substack.com/p/what-you-know-changes">describes</a> deciding to transcribe her old journals. On reading one of them from cover to cover, she is left feeling </p>
<blockquote>
<p>kind of sick for the rest of the day, as if I’d been visited by a phantom who both buoyed and scared the bejesus out of me. And the weirdest of all is that phantom was me! Did I even know her anymore? Where did the woman who’d written those words go? How did she become me?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’ve experienced a similar rush of bafflement and grief upon opening a letter I’d written some time before I turned 50. My mother had saved it and returned it to me 20 years later. Within its pages I found a younger, more energetic and vibrant self. The realisation this woman who inhabited the letter so vividly was no longer available to me came with a jolt of emotion that felt like a bereavement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-lament-for-the-lost-art-of-letter-writing-a-radical-art-form-reflecting-the-full-catastrophe-of-life-197420">Friday essay: a lament for the lost art of letter-writing – a radical art form reflecting 'the full catastrophe of life'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I was so knocked off-kilter by this ghost-like encounter that the letter (along with others I had been planning to transcribe) had to be set aside for a day when I might be able to muster the necessary courage and detachment. Whether that day ever comes will depend, I suppose, on how I navigate my own relationship with time, and on reaching a calm acceptance of the distance travelled.</p>
<p>Disbelief at the distance between the young self and the old self is one of the factors in this late-life grieving. At its root, perhaps, is an internalised ageism: innate, or else massaged into us by the culture we spring from. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543975/original/file-20230822-29-4ikzip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carol Lefevre found a ‘younger, more energetic and vibrant self’ in old letters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a series of recent conversations with people over 70, I encouraged them to tell their stories and to reflect on the effects of time on their lives. Childhood sometimes emerged as a place they were pleased to have left behind – and occasionally, as a place to be held close.</p>
<p>Trevor emigrated alone to Australia when he was just 18. I asked him how often now, at 75, he thinks about his childhood. “Do you have a sense of who you were back then, and is that person still part of who you are?”</p>
<p>“I think about my childhood quite a lot, especially putting some distance between where I was then and where I am now,” he told me. “I didn’t have a really happy upbringing, and coming to Australia was a way of getting away from home and experiencing a new culture.”</p>
<p>In response to the same question, Jo, at 84, led me to a framed photograph, enlarged to poster-size, which has hung on the wall of both his homes. It shows him aged three, in a garden – a radiant child wearing a plain white shirt and dark shorts, arms out-flung as if to embrace the natural world. He bursts with exuberance, curiosity, and joy.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I relate to that as an idea, as a concept of my life. I want to maintain that freshness, that child-like freshness. You’ve got no responsibilities; every day is a new day. You’re looking at things in a different light, you’re aware of everything around you. That’s what I wanted to maintain, that feeling through my life – I’m talking age-wise. My concept of my ageing is there in that photograph.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While older voices are often absent in the media, and in fiction they are too often presented as stereotypes, in conversation what arises can both surprise and inspire.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543941/original/file-20230822-25-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jo (not pictured) wants to maintain ‘that child-like freshness’ in age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘How can I be old?’</h2>
<p>As I approached my own 70th birthday, I realised I was about to cross a border. Once I was on the other side, I would be old – no question. Yet the word "old”, especially when coupled with the word “woman”, is carefully avoided in our culture. Old is a country no one wants to visit.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/metamorphosis-9780241514771">Penelope Lively’s</a> novella-length story Metamorphosis, or the Elephant’s Foot, written when Lively was in her mid-eighties, explores this evolution from youth to old age through the character of Harriet Mayfield. As a nine-year-old, Harriet is reprimanded by her mother for not behaving well on a visit to her great-grandmother. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“She’s old,” says Harriet. “I don’t like old.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When her mother points out that one day Harriet, too, will be old, like her great-grandmother, Harriet laughs.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“No, I won’t. You’re just being silly,” says Harriet “how can I be old? I’m me.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Towards the end of the story, Harriet is 82 and must somehow accept that she is “in the departure lounge. Check-in was a very long time ago.” With her equally elderly husband, Charles, Harriet ponders what they can do with the time remaining. Charles decides “it’s a question of resources. What do we have that could be used – exploited?” Harriet replies, “Experience. That’s it. A whole bank of experience.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“And experience is versatile stuff. Comes in all shapes and sizes. Personal. Collective. Well, then?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If distance travelled is a factor in late-life grief, so too is a sense of paths not taken: of a younger self, or selves, that never found expression. </p>
<p>In Jessica Au’s recent, much-awarded novella <a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/jessica-au-cold-enough-for-snow/">Cold Enough For Snow</a>, there is a scene where the narrator explains to her mother the existence, in some old paintings, of a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/pentimento-oil-painting">pentimento</a> – an earlier image of something the artist had decided to paint over. “Sometimes, these were as small as an object, or a colour that had been changed, but other times, they could be as significant as a whole figure.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543943/original/file-20230822-19-qdhp6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madame Pierre Gautreau John Singer Sargent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Art historians, using X-rays and infrared reflectography, have identified pentimenti in many famous paintings, from the adjusted placement of a controversial off-the-shoulder strap in <a href="https://www.virtualartacademy.com/madame-x/">John Singer Sargent</a>’s Portrait of Madam X, to the painted-over figure of a woman nursing a child in Picasso’s <a href="https://www.pablopicasso.org/old-guitarist.jsp">The Old Guitarist</a>, and a man with a bow-tie concealed beneath the brushwork of his work <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Room_(Picasso)">The Blue Room</a>. </p>
<p>Singer Seargent’s adjustment was his response to an outcry at the perceived indecency of Madame X’s lowered shoulder strap, which both the public and art critics of the time declared to be indecent. By contrast, the model’s icy pallor caused only a ripple of interest. </p>
<p>Picasso’s hidden figures <a href="https://www.singulart.com/en/blog/2019/10/29/pablo-picassos-blue-period-and-the-old-guitarist/">are assumed</a> to be the outcome of a shortage of canvas during his <a href="https://www.pablopicasso.org/blue-period.jsp">Blue Period</a>, but shortages aside, the word pentimento, which derives from the Italian verb <em>pentirsi</em>, meaning “to repent”, brings to these lost figures a sense of regret that resonates with the feeling in old age of having lost the younger self, or of carrying traces, deeply buried, of other lives one might have lived. </p>
<p>In Cold Enough for Snow, Au’s narrator remarks of her mother that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps, over time, she found the past harder and harder to evoke, especially with no-one to remember it with. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The mother’s situation references another source of grief: that of the person who becomes the last of their friends and family still standing. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543944/original/file-20230822-19-rtve38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carol’s interviewees in their 70s all feel the presence of a ‘younger self’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alina Kurson/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In childhood games of this nature there would be a prize for the survivor. But for those who reach an extreme old age, having lost parents, siblings and contemporaries who knew them when they were young, even the presence of children and grandchildren may not entirely erase this “last man standing” loneliness. There is, too, the darkness of a projected future where there is no one still living who remembers us.</p>
<p>In Jessica Au’s book the narrator occasionally speaks of the past as “a time that didn’t really exist at all”. And yet in my recent conversations with people in their seventies and above, every one of them admits to feeling a vivid sense of the past, and of the continuing presence of a younger self. As one of them wistfully remarked: “Sometimes she even seeps through.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-responsibilities-of-being-jessica-aus-precise-poetic-meditation-on-mothers-and-daughters-175632">The responsibilities of being: Jessica Au's precise, poetic meditation on mothers and daughters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Memory and detail</h2>
<p>Perhaps part of the problem is the mass of ordinary detail that disappears from memory on any given day. Life is made up of so many small moments that it’s impossible to hold onto them all – and if we did it might even be damaging. </p>
<p>Imagine someone casually asking how your day had been, and responding with the tsunami of detail those hours actually contained. </p>
<p>After opening your eyes at first light, you’d describe your shower, your breakfast, and how you slipped your keys into your handbag as you left the house; in the street you’d passed two women with a pram, a child with a small white dog on a lead, and an elderly man with a walking stick. And so on. </p>
<p>If our minds swarmed with the trivia of daily life, more important events might be forgotten, and possibly the neural overload would even make us ill. Yet with the realisation of the loss of these minutes and hours arises the anxiety that in time, the things we do want to remember will slither away from us into the dark. </p>
<p>I imagine this fear is what compels people to fill social media with photographs of their breakfasts, and of their relentless selfie-taking. It is surely the impulse behind keeping a journal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543945/original/file-20230822-21-tzqdpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fear of losing time must be what compels things like ‘relentless selfie-taking’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RDNE Stock Project/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The anxiety of losing even the passing moments in a day afflicts the author of <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781509883295/">Ongoingness: The End of a Diary</a>. In it, the American writer Sara Manguso describes her compulsive need to document and hold onto her life. “I didn’t want to lose anything. That was my main problem.” </p>
<p>After 25 years of paying attention to the smallest moments, Manguso’s diary is 800,000 words long. “The diary was my defense against waking up at the end of my life and realizing I’d missed it.” But despite her continuous effort, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I knew I couldn’t replicate my whole life in language. I knew that most of it would follow my body into oblivion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is it possible that women experience grief around ageing earlier, and more emphatically than men? After all, by the age of 50, the bodies of even those women who remain fit send the implacable signal that things have changed. </p>
<p>In Alice Munro’s story Bardon Bus, from her collection <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-moons-of-jupiter-9780099458364">The Moons of Jupiter</a>, the female narrator endures dinner in the company of a rather malicious man, Dennis, who explains that women are</p>
<blockquote>
<p>forced to live in the world of loss and death! Oh, I know, there’s face-lifting, but how does that really help? The uterus dries up. The vagina dries up.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dennis compares the opportunities open to men as opposed to those available to women. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Specifically, with ageing. Look at you. Think of the way your life would be, if you were a man. The choices you would have. I mean sexual choices. You could start all over. Men do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When the narrator responds cheerfully that she might resist starting over, even if it were possible, Dennis is quick to retort: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>That’s it, that’s just it, though, you don’t get the opportunity! You’re a woman and life only goes in one direction for a woman.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In another story in the same collection, Labor Day Dinner, Roberta is in the bedroom dressing for an evening out when her lover George comes in and cruelly remarks: “Your armpits are flabby.” Roberta says she will wear something with sleeves, but in her head she hears the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>harsh satisfaction in his voice. The satisfaction of airing disgust. He is disgusted by her aging body. That could have been foreseen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Roberta thinks bitterly that she has always sought to remedy the least sign of deterioration. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Flabby armpits – how can you exercise the armpits? What is to be done? Now the payment is due, and what for? For vanity. Hardly even for that. Just for having those pleasing surfaces once, and letting them speak for you; just for allowing an arrangement of hair and shoulders and breasts to have its effect. You don’t stop in time, don’t know what to do instead; you lay yourself open to humiliation. So thinks Roberta, with self-pity […] She must get away, live alone, wear sleeves.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-love-in-the-time-of-incontinence-why-young-people-dont-have-the-monopoly-on-love-or-even-sex-198416">Friday essay: love in the time of incontinence – why young people don't have the monopoly on love, or even sex</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As with most emotions that arise around our ageing, it can usually be traced back to a fraught relationship with time. French philosopher and Nobel Prize winner <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bergson/">Henri Bergson</a> <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56852/56852-h/56852-h.htm">says</a>: “Sorrow begins by being nothing more than a facing towards the past.” </p>
<p>For Roberta, as for many of us, it was a past in which we relied on those “pleasing surfaces”, perhaps even took them for granted, until they no longer produced the desired effect. </p>
<p>But the truth is that our bodies are capable of more severe betrayals than mere flabby armpits. In time they may cause us to be exposed in skimpy, front-opening or back-opening hospital gowns under the all-seeing eye of the CT scanner; they may deliver us into the skilled, ruthless hands of a surgeon. Our very blood may speak of things we will not wish to hear.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543950/original/file-20230822-1274-mhycyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our bodies are capable of severe betrayals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Muskan Anand/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Glimpsing our mortality in middle age</h2>
<p>Middle age is sometimes referred to as The Age of Grief. It’s when we first glimpse our own mortality; we feel youth slipping away into the past, and the young people in our lives begin to assert their independence. </p>
<p>We have our mid-life crises then. We join gyms, and take up running; we speak for the first time of “bucket lists” – the term itself an attempt to diminish the sting of time’s depredations. None of this will save us from the real Age of Grief, which comes later and hits harder because it is largely hidden. And we’ll be expected to endure it in silence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543952/original/file-20230822-21-iakn79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mid-life crises cause us to take up running and develop ‘bucket lists’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Olsen/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my conversations with people aged 70 and older, grief has surfaced from causes other than what might be called “cosmetic” changes. Following a severe stroke, 80-year-old Philippa describes the pain of having had to make the decision to relinquish her home and move into residential care. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s when you lose your garden, which you’ve loved, and you’ve got to walk away from that. I’ve got photos of the house, and I look at them and think, oh, I just love the way I did that room, decorated it, things like that. But change happens.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“Somehow change always comes with loss, as well as bringing something new,” I said.
“Yes,” she replied, “I just had to say to myself: you can’t worry about it, and you can’t change it. That sounds hard, but it’s my way of dealing with it.”</p>
<p>Tucked away in residential care homes, largely invisible to those of us lucky enough to still inhabit the outside world, elderly people like Philippa are quietly raising resilience to the level of an art form. </p>
<p>In her poem, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art">One Art</a>, the Canadian poet Elizabeth Bishop advises losing something every day. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Accept the fluster<br>
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.<br>
Lose something every day.<br>
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bishop goes on to list other lost items – her mother’s watch, the next-to-last of three loved houses, lovely cities, two rivers, even a continent. While the losses elderly people commonly accumulate are less grand, they are no less devastating. </p>
<p>One by one, they will relinquish driver’s licenses. For many there will be the loss of the family home and their belongings, save for whatever will fit into a care home’s single room. Perhaps they have already given up the freedom of walking without the aid of a stick, or walker. There may be the dietary restrictions imposed by conditions such as diabetes, and the invisible disabilities of diminished hearing and eyesight. </p>
<p>A failing memory, one would think, must be the final straw. And yet, what seems to be the actual final straw is the situation, reported time and again, where an old person feels “unseen”, or “looked through”, and for indefensible reasons finds themself being “missed” in favour of someone younger. It might, for example, be a moment when they are ignored as they patiently wait their turn at a shop counter. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543972/original/file-20230822-25-59b80x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The final straw, for most older people, is when they feel ‘unseen’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel van den Berg/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my conversation with Philippa, she remarked that old people are often looked through when they are part of a group, or when they are waiting to be served. “I have seen it happen to other older people, as if they don’t exist. I have called out assistants who have done that to other people.”</p>
<p>Surely the least we can do, as fortunate beings of fewer years, is to acknowledge the old people among us. To make them feel seen, and of equal value.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-grey-haired-and-radiant-reimagining-ageing-for-women-182336">Friday essay: grey-haired and radiant – reimagining ageing for women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Age pride’ and destigmatising ‘old’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246680/">Ageism, Healthy Life Expectancy and Population Ageing: How Are They Related</a> is a recent survey conducted with more than 83,000 participants from 57 countries. It found that ageism negatively impacts the health of older adults. In the United States, people with a negative attitude towards ageing live 7.5 fewer years than their more positive counterparts. </p>
<p>In Australia, the National Ageing Research Institute has developed an <a href="https://www.nari.net.au/age-positive-language-guide">Age-Positive Language Guide</a> as part of its strategy to combat ageism. </p>
<p>Examples of poor descriptive language include terms such as “old person”, “the elderly”, and even “seniors”. That last term appears on a card Australians receive shortly after turning 60, which enables them to receive various discounts and concessions. Instead, we are encouraged to use “older person”, or “older people”. But this is just another form of age-masking that fools no one. </p>
<p>It would be better to throw the institute’s energy into destigmatising the word “old”. What, after all, is wrong with being old, and saying so? </p>
<p>To begin the process of reclaiming this word from the pejorative territory it currently occupies, old people need to start claiming their years with pride. If other marginalised social groups can do it, why can’t old people? Some activists working against ageism are beginning to mention <a href="https://www.nextavenue.org/how-to-swap-ageism-for-age-pride/">“age pride”</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543973/original/file-20230822-29-s1816g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Old people need to start claiming their years with pride.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Le/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If we become homesick for who we once were as we age, we might remind ourselves of the meaning of <em>nostos</em> and consider old age as a kind of homecoming. </p>
<h2>Narrative identity</h2>
<p>The body we travel in is a vehicle for all the iterations of the self, and the position we currently inhabit is part of an ongoing creative process: the evolving story of the self. From the 1980s, psychologists, philosophers and social theorists have been calling it <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-21882-005">narrative identity</a>. </p>
<p>The process of piecing together a narrative identity begins in late adolescence and evolves across our entire lives. Like opening a Russian doll, from whose hollow shell other dolls emerge, at our centre is a solid core composed of traits and values. It’s also composed of the narrative identity we have put together from all our days – including those we cannot now remember – and from all the selves we have ever been. Perhaps even from the selves we might have been, but chose instead to paint over. </p>
<p>In Metamorphosis, or the Elephant’s Foot, Harriet Mayfield tells her husband, “At this point in life. We are who we are – the outcome of various other incarnations.”</p>
<p>We know our lives, and the lives of others, through fragments. Fragments are all we have. They’re all we’ll ever have. We live in moments, not always in chronological order. But narrative identity helps us make meaning of life. And the vantage point of old age offers the longest view. </p>
<p>The story of the self carries us from the deep past to the present moment. And old age sets us the great life challenge of maintaining balance in the present, while managing the remembered past – with all its joys and griefs – and the joys and griefs of the imagined future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Lefevre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As we age, it can be hard to fathom the gap between our younger selves and the bodies we inhabit. Carol Lefevre explores this strange form of homesickness.Carol Lefevre, Visiting Research Fellow, Department of English and Creative Writing, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994542023-04-20T16:32:16Z2023-04-20T16:32:16ZChildism: how discrimination against children plays out in law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514205/original/file-20230308-28-jf04ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C16%2C5397%2C3611&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/father-mother-telling-off-their-daughter-718592134">BearFotos/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some acts are only considered criminal if they are committed by someone aged under 18. This doesn’t just include things such as drinking alcohol. In some US states, for example, it is illegal for children to <a href="https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/juvenile/running-away.htm">run away from home</a> or even to repeatedly disobey parental authority.</p>
<p>This behaviour is <a href="https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/juvenile/incorrigibility.htm">called incorrigibility</a>. If a child is decided to be incorrigible by a court, the sanctions they can receive include detention in a juvenile facility. </p>
<p>In many countries where there is legal recourse for adults against violence by other adults, we find a troublesome lack of such protection for children. In over 130 countries in the world, children lack full protection against <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/">corporal punishment</a>. In England, children can lawfully be smacked by parents if the smack can be considered “<a href="https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/the-law-on-smacking-children/">reasonable punishment</a>”. </p>
<p>This kind of unequal treatment is an <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/61923">example of childism</a>: prejudice and discrimination against children.</p>
<h2>Defining the problem</h2>
<p>The concept of childism was used by psychiatrists <a href="https://journals.healio.com/doi/abs/10.3928/0048-5713-19750701-04">Chester Pierce and Gail Allen</a> as long ago as 1975, describing the universal oppression created by anti-child attitudes and practices. They argued that childism is “the automatic assumption of superiority of any adult over any child”. </p>
<p>In 2012, the term was further popularised by psychoanalyst <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/us/elisabeth-young-bruehl-65-dies-probed-roots-of-ideology-and-bias.html">Elisabeth Young-Bruehl’s</a> book <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300192407/childism/">Childism: confronting prejudice against children</a>. Young-Bruel argued that childism should be considered as a prejudice alongside other prejudices such as racism, sexism and homophobia.</p>
<p>Ideas about women’s inferiority to men or assumptions about race feed into ideas about children’s inferiority to adults. These are prejudices about who has and who lacks rationality, logic and authority. This prejudice stands in the way of children being heard and taken seriously.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photograph of group of children holding hands walking away from camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514208/original/file-20230308-26-8lj9va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child may face unfair treatment based not only on their age but also other characteristics such as race and gender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-white-image-children-walking-park-737997076">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A child can be discriminated against on multiple grounds. The age, race, gender, class, disability, language and sexual orientation of a child can hinder their rights in school or access to societal institutions. </p>
<p>Expectations that the law should uphold some form of justice, that people should be treated equal in the application of laws, and that children as a vulnerable group should be adequately protected by the law, can clash with the existence of childism. </p>
<h2>Childism in law</h2>
<p>Children’s rights are formulated in international law. The most commonly known is the United Nations convention on the rights of the child (<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">CRC</a>) established in 1989. But while the convention states that the rights it lays out should apply to any child without discrimination on the basis of factors such as race and sex, it does not define or address discrimination against children.</p>
<p>This stands in stark contrast to other core conventions on human rights. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial">The convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination</a>, as the title indicates, address racial discrimination, and <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/">the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women</a> sexist discrimination. But age-based discrimination against children has been overlooked. </p>
<p>The convention on the rights of the child says that the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc">best interests of the child</a> should be a primary consideration in legal and administrative proceedings. But what is in the best interests of the child tends to be defined through concerned adults and their interests. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-children-vectors-during-covid-19-is-turning-into-discrimination-171041">Calling children 'vectors' during COVID-19 is turning into discrimination</a>
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</em>
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<p>In custody cases, for instance, the rights of the <a href="https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/residence/#:%7E:text=The%20wishes%20and%20feelings%20of,detailing%20the%20child's%20living%20arrangements.">concerned adults</a> <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/61923">are often prioritised</a>. Research in Sweden found that children’s right to welfare support tends to be <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/61923">determined mainly</a> through the claims of adults in the family. </p>
<p>The convention on the rights of the child also includes the instruction that the “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc">evolving capacities of the child</a>” should be taken into consideration when judging matters relating to children. This may <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/61923">silence children’s voices</a> on their own rights, as a child may be deemed too immature or not ready to have a say in their life.</p>
<p>However, not discriminating against children does not mean treating them the same as adults. Such formal equality can be unfair to children, as their specific circumstances will be different to those of an adult. What it does mean is – for instance – ensuring that a child has a right to be heard on issues that affect them, and that their views are not dismissed simply because they are the views of a child. </p>
<p>Discrimination against children needs to be addressed from an intersectional perspective. This means taking into account how a child might simultaneously experience overlapping discrimination based on their age and other factors such as race and gender. Governments should recognise that the rights of the child rest at the centre of human needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Adami does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children face the effects of prejudice over who has and who lacks rationality, logic, and authority.Rebecca Adami, Associate Professor in Education, Stockholm UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995002023-02-27T03:23:42Z2023-02-27T03:23:42ZOlder women are doing remarkable things – it’s time for putdowns to end<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511566/original/file-20230222-24-7ndkjm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C17%2C3982%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>It’s not easy to claim being an old woman. To start with, how can I be 75 when I feel about 40? And isn’t it shameful to be old when youth is valued? People proudly parrot statements such as, “I’m growing older but not getting old” (meaning, “How terrible to be old!”). I even heard that line quoted approvingly by one of the middle-aged hosts of the recent Australia Day Award ceremony.</p>
<p>Then there are shop assistants who serve an old person by asking, “What can I do for you, young lady/man?” (i.e. “I see that you’re old and will mock it by calling you young”). When author Jane Caro <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/this-throwaway-joke-at-the-bakery-was-just-another-example-of-ageism-20230130-p5cgjt.html">wrote about her husband’s angry response to this example of ageism</a> it created quite a Twitter storm. Can’t you take a joke? But, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/tv-commentator-jane-caro-roasted-after-saying-her-husband-suffered-ageism-when-he-was-called-young-man/news-story/98c39b5978498fbb2139268307c75ccf">as Caro replied</a>, “Benign ageism, hostile ageism. One often turns into the other and both make the recipients feel diminished”. </p>
<p>Benign ageism applies as much to the stereotyping of young people (wasting their money on smashed avocado), as it does to the old.</p>
<p>Ageism is bad enough, but it’s often compounded by sexism. It is humiliating for a boy to be told he’s playing like a girl but even worse for a man expressing doubts or concerns to be called an old woman. The stereotype of the old woman is anxious, dependent, useless, and a burden – if she isn’t a nasty, bitter old witch. Dismissing old women in this way renders them invisible because they are considered of no use to society. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/men-and-young-people-more-likely-to-be-ageist-study-93057">Men and young people more likely to be ageist: study</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Women experience a sense of invisibility from late middle age: being overlooked in shops, ignored in restaurants. People walk into me in the street as though I’m incorporeal. Of course, it can be liberating to be ignored, not to be constantly assessed for one’s looks as young women are, and I try to make as much lemonade as possible from life’s lemons. Nevertheless, I’d prefer not to be completely disregarded.</p>
<p>When Jane Fisher and I i<a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/promoting-older-womens-mental-health-insights-from-baby-boomers">nterviewed Baby Boom women</a> (born 1946 to 1964), we found that they wanted to be treated with respect, which doesn’t seem like much to ask. They said that respect includes requiring we all challenge – and refuse to perpetuate – these harmful stereotypes.</p>
<p>Ageist stereotypes reinforce age-based discrimination. An Australian <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28795587/">survey of more than 2000 people</a> aged over 60 found experiences of ageism have an adverse effect on mental health, prompting depression and anxiety.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508800/original/file-20230208-15-31aufw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maggie Kirkman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karma Clarke</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Challenging stereotypes</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/time-of-our-lives/">recent interviews</a> with women from the previous generation, dolefully named the Silent Generation (born before 1946), challenge these stereotypes. In their late seventies, eighties, and nineties, these women are leading fulfilling lives; contributing to their communities and to the wider society. </p>
<p>There is Mig Dann, whose PhD was conferred in her early eighties. Her thesis explored memory and trauma through art theory and practice. Exhibitions of her work <a href="https://migdann.com/">are breathtaking</a>.</p>
<p>Olive Trevor OAM developed her love of plants as her five children grew up and, in her eighties, was recognised as a world expert in bromeliads.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511073/original/file-20230220-271-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eudcational coach Lester Jones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Family collection.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lester Jones runs an educational coaching business, specialising in people with learning difficulties. She is in her nineties.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508798/original/file-20230208-27-84k83n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jacqueline Dwyer at graduation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dominic Dwyer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacqueline Dwyer was ANU’s oldest successful postgraduate student when she became a Master of Arts at 90; <a href="https://scholarly.info/book/flanders-in-australia-a-personal-history-of-wool-and-war/">a book about her research</a> was published when she was 92.</p>
<p>After a difficult young adulthood as an itinerant worker, Raylee George found her vocation in typesetting. When she was made redundant, an employer who values older people took George on in her seventies as a specialist call-centre operator. </p>
<p>As she approaches 80, environmental scientist and climate campaigner Dr Sharron Pfueller continues to set an example of how we should all be living sustainably. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508801/original/file-20230208-16-3xtadg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robina Rogan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After working as a TV make-up artist and in managerial roles, as well as doing voluntary work, Robina Rogan at 76 joined a team that built a boat and rowed it around Port Phillip Bay. In her eighties, she’s still rowing.</p>
<p>Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM was Senior Australian of the Year in 2021; her life is committed to supporting Indigenous youth and to maintaining bridges that unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and people. These are just a few examples.</p>
<p>It was Ungunmerr Baumann who led me to ponder the contrast between the way in which so many of us (appropriately) pay our respects to First Nations Elders past and present while disrespecting old people in general. As she says to audiences of people in late adulthood, “You are all Elders”.</p>
<p>The life stories of these women reveal they endured hardship and grief while displaying resilience and determination. But personal qualities can’t fully account for lives that continue to have meaning. It isn’t enough to tell women to exercise, eat more vegetables, do lots of puzzles, and volunteer at the local op shop. We live in communities and societies in which we are all interdependent. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508797/original/file-20230208-19-31aufw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann: ‘you are all Elders’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eleesa Zlatic</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Baby Boom women demonstrated that their whole life course influenced their experience of ageing, including their mental health. Were they adequately parented? Disadvantaged? Victims of violence? Well nourished in body and mind? Did they have good health? And, crucially, were there people, policies, and a culture that valued and supported them?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-love-in-the-time-of-incontinence-why-young-people-dont-have-the-monopoly-on-love-or-even-sex-198416">Friday essay: love in the time of incontinence – why young people don't have the monopoly on love, or even sex</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A social responsibility</h2>
<p>Women may have qualities that help them to live productive and satisfying lives, but they can achieve their potential only in a milieu that enables, rather than inhibits, them. </p>
<p>The milieu includes other people (family, friends, workmates, the community), the built environment and social policies. Ageing well is a social responsibility, to be shouldered by everyone – not only because it is the right thing to do but because we all stand to benefit.</p>
<p>Preparations for old age begin with care and support for parents and infants and even with preconception healthcare: anything that contributes to physical and mental health and to parents’ capacity to nurture children. It includes financial support, adequate housing, early identification and treatment of postnatal depression, good childcare and high-quality education for all. </p>
<p>Anti-discriminatory policies, informed and inclusive healthcare, and social structures that support and enhance the lives of girls and women – as well as boys and men – will benefit everyone, not only older women.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-out-flowers-on-tiktok-is-this-a-random-act-of-kindness-or-just-benevolent-ageism-187064">Giving out flowers on TikTok: is this a 'random act of kindness' or just benevolent ageism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The United Nations has declared the years 2021 to 2030 to be the Decade of Healthy Ageing: a time for worldwide collaboration to promote longer and healthier lives. Physical health is emphasised not as an end but as a necessary condition for full participation in society. This endeavour is part of a magnificent movement towards creating age-friendly neighbourhoods. The World Health Organization has taken the lead through its <a href="https://extranet.who.int/agefriendlyworld/age-friendly-cities-framework">age-friendly cities framework</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511074/original/file-20230220-17-m0ny9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sharron Pfueller: environmental scientist and climate campaigner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided from family collection.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The eight areas in the framework are community and healthcare, transportation, housing, social participation, outdoor spaces and buildings, respect and social inclusion, and civic participation and employment. These areas are interconnected. They encompass the physical, psychological and social components of life, all of which are implicated in ageing. We need to develop and maintain a world in which everyone, of any age, feels welcome and is encouraged to participate.</p>
<p>Socially constructed ideas of ageing can similarly be socially dismantled.</p>
<p>I’m proud to be old, but my age is not what I want you to see first, especially when “old” means useless, past it, of no interest to anyone else. A woman of 25 might have firm flesh and a future full of possibilities, but she doesn’t have all the decades of life experience embodied by a wrinkly woman of 75. </p>
<p>I’d like people to be interested in old women’s stories, to be prepared to learn about their lives: not only their past, but what they’re doing now, what they plan to do in the time to come.</p>
<p>This isn’t a whinge. I enjoy getting old. I love birthdays and cake. But I would like old age to be valued. It seems perverse for those who are not yet old to condemn their own futures.</p>
<p><em>Maggie Kirkman’s book <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/time-of-our-lives/">Time of Our Lives: Celebrating Older Women</a> is out on 1 March.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Kirkman has received funding from Liptember and an anonymous philanthropist to conduct research on ageing. </span></em></p>The stereotype of the old woman is anxious, dependent, useless, and a burden. But my interviews with older women found them contributing to society in myriad ways.Maggie Kirkman, Senior Research Fellow, Global and Women's Health, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1971402023-01-05T06:17:58Z2023-01-05T06:17:58ZPoliticians are getting older – shutting young people out of decision-making around the world<p>US president Joe Biden is clearly frustrated about the focus on his age. In mid-December last year he reportedly vented to allies, saying: “You think I don’t know how fucking old I am?” But, as attention turns to the 2024 election, the prospect of Biden – now 80 years old – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/us/politics/biden-running-president-2024.html">running for another term</a> which would last until he is 86, means that this is an issue that is unlikely to go away. </p>
<p>And rightly so – Biden is the oldest US president in history. Taking into account other prominent US politicians such as Donald Trump (who is 76) and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (who is 72), the age of American political leaders has become a hotly debated topic. </p>
<p>But it’s not just a factor in party leadership. In the legislative term 2020-2022, the average member of the US House of Representatives was about 20 years older than the average citizen. In addition, the age of members in the House <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026137942200110X">have risen for the past four decades</a> (see Figure 1).</p>
<p><strong>Figure 1. Age of members in the US House of Representatives</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing the changes in the mean and median ages of US representatives" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502942/original/file-20230103-90208-3asv4l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How US politicians are getting older.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Gothenburg/University of Ottawa</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Voters seem to think that this is a problem. A September CBS News poll illustrates that <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elected-officials-maximum-age-limits-opinion-poll-2022-09-08/">Americans voice concern over the lack of youth in politics</a>. Almost 47% state that having more young people in office would make politics better. Moreover, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-turns-80-americans-ask-whats-too-old-2022-11-11/">Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in November 2022</a> finds that almost nine out of ten Americans support a cutoff of 75 years old for serving as president.</p>
<p>In our new book <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/11459940">Youth without Representation</a>, we address young adults’ under-representation in parliaments and cabinets. We show that young adults – those aged 35 years or below – tend to be scarce among decision-makers. Globally, people 18 to 35 years face an under-representation in legislatures by a factor of three, relative to their share in the population (their share of the electorate is three times bigger than among legislators), and at a factor of ten in cabinets. </p>
<p>The stylised figure 2 below illustrates this discrepancy. We found these patterns in many democracies including Japan and India as well as in non-democracies such as Egypt.</p>
<p><strong>Figure 2. The underrepresentation of youth in parliaments across the globe.</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing age distribution of politicians compared with the population of their countries globally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502944/original/file-20230103-70262-n2p7zj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Imbalance of ages between politicians and the general public worldwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Gothenburg/University of Ottawa</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We interviewed former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark. Her views summarise several aspects of this challenge:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think the old age of legislators is a problem. We have the world’s largest generation ever of youth. So if decisions are being made by an age cohort that is decades above that and is not attuned to their perspective I think it’s a serious democratic deficit. I used to be of the view that people needed to come in to parliaments with some degree of maturity and background. I actually no longer think that. I think a parliament is a place where young people with fresh perspectives should be. And I think our political system should accommodate that.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Youth issues not on the agenda</h2>
<p>The age discrepancy between leaders and citizens raises essential questions. What explains the under-representation of youth in politics – and how can this situation be changed? </p>
<p>The under-representation of young adults in decision-making can mean that issues important to them fall off the agenda – climate change being the most obvious. And their relative absence can contribute to a vicious cycle of alienation, also including low voter turnout and political interest among youth.</p>
<p>One of the things <a href="https://www.fulcrum.org/epubs/08612r295?locale=en#">we found</a> was that young candidates are less likely to succeed in the electoral process, compared to older candidates. This is partly because they are often nominated in races where they have little chances of winning or are designated to low placements on party lists. But while these disadvantages apply to many parties, there is also variation. Across the more than 270 parties in the 52 countries we analysed, we found that newly created parties have generally younger MPs. But as these parties mature, representatives tend to get older as well. Parties with younger leaders tend to have a younger group in the legislature. </p>
<p>A big barrier for young candidates is their lack of experience. But, with selection processes that favour incumbency, there is, all too often, little space for parliamentary turnover. Moreover, many assemblies around the world have a culture of seniority in which youth struggle to be noticed.</p>
<p>Across the 100 countries we studied, we found effects from rules of minimum age requirements for office. Many countries across the globe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_candidacy">only allow</a> those above 21, 25 or even 30 years to run (for example the US Senate requires candidates to be at least 30). Not only do these rules hinder youth legally, but also signals who politics is for. We also discovered that countries with proportional representation in their electoral systems, including those in Scandinavia, elect a higher share of young adults.</p>
<p>When looking at cabinets, we find similar patterns. For instance, younger leaders tend to make cabinets younger. We also detect a contagion effect, that is, a young parliament triggers a young cabinet – and this happens regardless of whether cabinet members must be elected MPs or not.</p>
<h2>Encouraging youth</h2>
<p>What can we do to change the situation? Term limits could be a way to break the incumbency advantage and give youth a chance to claim nomination. Setting the age barrier to run for office at 18 would allow youth to run and send a message that they are welcome in politics. At the organisational level, political parties must work to break the culture of seniority – quotas could be an efficient option, if seriously implemented.</p>
<p>Young people will live the longest with the laws we are adopting now. They should be given the chance to be involved in the decision-making process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aksel Sundström receives funding from the Swedish Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Stockemer receives funding from Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>It’s not just a problem of leadership – ageing politicians tend to dominate around the world.Aksel Sundström, Associate professor, University of GothenburgDaniel Stockemer, Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1950092022-11-21T22:50:46Z2022-11-21T22:50:46ZParliament now has to justify keeping the voting age at 18 – it’s a hard argument to make<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496599/original/file-20221121-18772-bebq50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C5009%2C3342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyI mages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week’s <a href="https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2022/2022-NZSC-134.pdf">Supreme Court judgment</a> on lowering New Zealand’s legal voting age has, at times, been interpreted as some kind of mandate for change. That’s not quite the case, but the court’s ruling does at least make change a possibility.</p>
<p>What the court has done is accept the claims made by members of the <a href="https://www.makeit16.org.nz/">Make It 16</a> campaign that the current voting age limit of 18 is inconsistent with <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225519.html">section 19</a> of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Essentially, it found, preventing 16- and 17-year-olds from voting discriminates against them on the basis of their age. </p>
<p>The court also accepted that this inconsistency has not been justified. While that doesn’t mean the age limit cannot be justified, the <a href="https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2020/0230/latest/LMS324098.html">New Zealand Bill of Rights (Declarations of Inconsistency) Amendment Bill</a> means legislation can be found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. </p>
<p>The decision effectively means parliament now has to defend the 18 age limit if it wants to keep it. However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/479195/voting-age-16-law-to-be-drafted-requiring-three-quarters-of-mps-to-pass-ardern">already announced</a> her government will draft a bill to lower the voting age (requiring a three-quarter majority to pass). She’s also said she personally supports lowering the voting age. </p>
<p>This rapid shift of the electoral landscape provides a good opportunity to restate the arguments in favour of lowering the voting age – and to ask whether retaining the 18 age limit can be justified at all.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1594540882497503232"}"></div></p>
<h2>Voting is a human right</h2>
<p>When the 2020 general election was delayed due to COVID, it meant a group of young people were suddenly eligible to vote because they had turned 18 in the interim.</p>
<p>As I <a href="https://theconversation.com/lowering-new-zealands-voting-age-to-16-would-be-good-for-young-people-and-good-for-democracy-145008">noted then</a>, the choice of where to set the voting age is not made on the basis of some immutable facts about the capacity of the young to vote. Rather, it is a procedural decision. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lowering-new-zealands-voting-age-to-16-would-be-good-for-young-people-and-good-for-democracy-145008">Lowering New Zealand's voting age to 16 would be good for young people – and good for democracy</a>
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<hr>
<p>Setting the voting age at 18 made some sense when it was introduced in 1974 (down from 20). It was a convenient number that coincided with some (but not all) other age limits for the granting of rights in our society. </p>
<p>But the right to vote is different to the right to buy alcohol, for example, which is also restricted to those 18 or over. Unlike buying alcohol, voting is a human right. Any restrictions on human rights must be demonstrably reasonable restrictions. </p>
<p>The Make It 16 campaign argued, and the Supreme Court has now agreed, that parliament has not provided that justification for setting the voting age at 18. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1594479999196749824"}"></div></p>
<h2>Improve civic education</h2>
<p>Parliament will find it difficult to provide a satisfactory justification for continuing to exclude 16- and 17-year-olds. </p>
<p>The most popular arguments against letting these young people vote – that they aren’t interested or capable – are subjective, anecdotal or simply not very good. Another common argument – that they don’t pay tax – is both wrong (many work and they also pay GST) and irrelevant to enfranchisement. </p>
<p>A key part of a good argument is that it can be applied consistently. If we wanted to exclude young people for being uninterested or incapable, we would have to be willing to exclude the many adults who are uninterested or incapable. We do not do this, and nor should we. </p>
<p>If an adult doesn’t want to vote, they don’t have to. The same would be true for a 16-year-old if the voting age was lowered. Making the voting age 16 simply gives young citizens the opportunity to vote. </p>
<p>It then falls to society to encourage them to learn who they should vote for. If we want better-educated voters, we should look to improve <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lowering-the-voting-age-to-16-could-save-democracy-93567">civic education</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-u-s-voters-reduced-the-red-wave-to-a-pink-splash-in-the-midterm-elections-why-didnt-polls-predict-it-194507">Young U.S. voters reduced the 'Red Wave' to a 'Pink Splash' in the midterm elections — why didn't polls predict it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Good habits start young</h2>
<p>There are, however, two good arguments in favour of lowering the voting age: it seems to improve voter turnout, and voting from a young age increases the likelihood people will become regular voters, consistently participating in the democratic process. </p>
<p>Both these claims may seem counter-intuitive. After all, isn’t it well known that young people vote in lower numbers than older people? It is. But that may simply be because we don’t give young people the opportunity to vote until it’s too late. </p>
<p>In Austria, which has <a href="https://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/en/analyses/voting-at-16-in-austria-a-possible-model-for-the-eu/">allowed voting from 16</a> since 2008, participation rates among young voters improved significantly once the voting age was lowered. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lowering-the-voting-age-to-16-could-save-democracy-93567">How lowering the voting age to 16 could save democracy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One theory is that 16- and 17-year-olds are often in more stable situations than 18- or 19-year-olds – still in school, usually still living with family. When they are allowed to vote, they are more likely to be supported or encouraged by their family and school.</p>
<p>A strong indicator of whether someone will vote is whether they voted the last time they had the opportunity. Given more young people vote when offered the chance earlier in life, a lower voting age will result in higher levels of lifetime voting. </p>
<p>It is much easier to care about politics when you are allowed to participate in it. Lowering the voting age will give young people more reason to be invested in their political system. Over time, this will make our democracy stronger and more legitimate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Munn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court has found the current voting age limit discriminates against young people. But there are other good arguments for lowering the age, including strengthening our democracy.Nick Munn, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895132022-08-30T18:09:29Z2022-08-30T18:09:29ZGrey hair: Fine for George Clooney but not Lisa LaFlamme?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481623/original/file-20220829-8654-tx2s1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C982%2C335&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the aftermath of her dismissal, alleged statements about Lisa LaFlamme's grey hair by CTV executives have ignited debates around the expectations placed on the physical appearance of women. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bell Media)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hillary Clinton once said: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/21/nyregion/commencements-at-yale-mrs-clinton-ponders-hair-and-politics.html">Pay attention to your hair, because everyone else will</a>.” </p>
<p>It’s been two weeks since the shocking news that longtime CTV News anchor Lisa LaFlamme was <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-longtime-ctv-anchor-lisa-laflamme-blindsided-as-bell-media-ends/">dismissed after 35 years</a> with the network. It’s still not clear why she was let go. </p>
<p>But in the aftermath of LaFlamme’s departure, there were allegations LaFlamme’s decision to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-lisa-laflamme-ctv-grey-hair/">allow her hair to go grey</a> was questioned by executives.</p>
<p>LaFlamme’s termination, and the allegations that newsroom executives made comments about her hair, have angered many. More than 70 prominent Canadian journalists, activists, politicians and artists have <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-open-letter-bell-media-laflamme/">signed an open letter</a> condemning LaFlamme’s dismissal.</p>
<p>Bell Media, which owns CTV, has denied that LaFlamme’s removal had anything to do with her age or going grey. The company says that terminating LaFlamme’s contract was a <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/08/28/bell-media-lisa-laflammes-departure/">“business decision”</a>. </p>
<p>In a post on LinkedIn, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6969086677784915968/">Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said</a>: “The narrative has been that Lisa’s age, gender or grey hair played into the decision. I am satisfied that this is not the case.”</p>
<p>Amid backlash over LaFlamme’s dismissal, Michael Melling, vice president of news at Bell Media, is <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/08/26/ctv-executive-michael-melling-to-take-leave-in-wake-of-lisa-laflamme-firing.html">on a leave of absence pending the outcome of a workplace review</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1559238644317167618"}"></div></p>
<p>Whatever the cause of LaFlamme’s dismissal, the episode has once again highlighted the gendered ageism many women continue to face. </p>
<h2>Aging and gender</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, this story is nothing new in the world of ageism. Ageism is negative stereotypes, prejudice or discrimination <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-016-0409-9">directed toward aging people</a>. Issues surrounding ageism continue to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30035-0">be widespread</a> in our society and mainstream media.</p>
<p>Though ageism affects all older adults, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2021.1899744">women are subject to the greatest discrimination</a>. The standards for attractiveness in our consumerist culture are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X07007003">defined by youthful characteristics and are constantly portrayed through the media</a>.</p>
<p>How women are judged compared to men in terms of physical appearance varies immensely. </p>
<p>Take the famous (and relatively new) term dad bod. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/5/14/8607369/what-is-dad-bod">A “dad bod” is a male body type</a> that is described as “softly round.” It suggests that, because a man has found a partner and fathered children, he doesn’t need to worry about maintaining a sculpted physique. Dad bods have been celebrated because men like <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/shirtless-leonardo-dicaprio-shows-dad-22991075">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> have made them popular. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1562408903551467520"}"></div></p>
<p>Where is the equivalent for women? Is there a mom bod? Of course there is, but a mom bod is usually a woman who has “let herself go” as she’s aged and is no longer desirable. </p>
<p>This gendered ageism is particularly apparent when it comes to physical appearance. The unrealistic pressure and expectations put on women in terms of beauty and youthfulness is part of the rise in the importance of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203740248-24/aesthetic-capital-sylvia-holla-giselinde-kuipers">aesthetic values</a> in society. </p>
<p>These values influence the notion that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0714980811000274">grey hair on a woman produces one of the least desirable personas in Western society – an old woman</a>.</p>
<p>“Ideal” images and media representations of women exaggerate our expectations of female physical attractiveness: forever youthful, thin, light-skinned and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.01.010">toned</a>. This is a physical appearance that is not representative of the majority of women, especially not older women. </p>
<p>The double standard when it comes to aging speaks to the reality that aging women are judged the harshest in society. The loss of youthfulness (which is associated with attractiveness) <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2016.63026">makes women less desirable</a>.</p>
<p>These harmful standards of beauty and aging have ignited calls for an intersectional approach to address the cultural expectations of ageism and physical appearances. Leading feminist scholars like <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520240544/unbearable-weight">Susan Bordo</a> have stated that as women are socialized to be more worried about their physical appearances and aging, the more damaged their self images and confidence will be. </p>
<h2>Grey is for men but not women</h2>
<p>LaFlamme and her alleged experience of gendered ageism makes for some interesting comparisons. There are <a href="https://www.wonderwall.com/celebrity/hot-celebrities/countdown-15-hottest-celeb-silver-foxes-29210.gallery">entire articles</a>, forums, hashtags and social media sites that celebrate “silver foxes” (older men with grey or white hair). What is the equivalent of a silver fox for women? There isn’t. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"877707747684270080"}"></div></p>
<p>Anderson Cooper continues hosting his show on CNN with grey hair. <a href="https://regalgentleman.com/blogs/blog/george-clooney-proves-that-silver-hair-should-be-embraced">George Clooney</a> and <a href="https://time.com/4834526/steve-carell-grey-hair-internet-reactions/">Steve Carell</a> are praised and labelled as attractive for their grey hair. Most notably, LaFlamme’s predecessor, Lloyd Robertson, was allowed to stay in the anchor’s chair long after his hair turned grey, all while being able to leave on his own terms <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/08/16/heres-how-other-famous-news-anchors-in-canada-and-the-us-bid-their-final-farewells.html">when he was 77</a>.</p>
<p>This is because aging men are seen as <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2015/02/17/10-reasons-grey-haired-men-are-hot-5065945/">suave, distinguished and sophisticated</a>. Women are just seen as old. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2021.1899744">“Whatever a woman does or does not do with her hair will affect how others respond to her and thus her social power”</a>, meaning that women have a choice: let the natural process of aging take over and go grey (and be socially dismissed), or dye their hair to look younger and be more “socially accepted.”</p>
<h2>#KeepTheGrey</h2>
<p>LaFlamme’s experience is the spark that has started a fire.</p>
<p>Brands that joined in solidarity with LaFlamme include <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2022/08/heres-why-wendys-in-canada-has-given-its-iconic-red-headed-mascot-gray-hair/">Wendy’s</a> (their iconic red head logo switching to grey hair), <a href="https://swimsuit.si.com/swimsuit/model/maye-musk"><em>Sports Illustrated</em></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/DoveCanada/status/1561503357889568768?">Dove Canada</a> (tweeting #KeepTheGrey). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1562802911142219777"}"></div></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1562894323750141952"}"></div></p>
<p>These companies have taken a step in the right direction. Though this matter seems like a <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/in-wake-of-laflammes-exit-brands-should-be-wary-when-jumping-on-hot-topics-experts">grey area</a>, it is much deeper than the colour of LaFlamme’s hair. It is a deeply complex matter of gendered ageism. </p>
<p>With more women (and aging women) in the work force, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2022/08/27/companies-beware-grey-hair-rising-fire-the-older-at-your-peril/?sh=126e32ff2910">companies need to learn how to retain, respect and develop older employees</a>. Responding to the mistreatment of LaFlamme and making her an inspiring role model is the beginning of a positive change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For many men, grey hair is just part of getting older, but for women, going grey can have major consequences.Victoria Atabakhsh, PhD Candidate in Aging, Health, and Well-Being/Director of Lifestyle and Programs, University of WaterlooJoe Todd, PhD Candidate in Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885162022-08-12T04:31:55Z2022-08-12T04:31:55ZPersonality testing in job applications: what can and can’t employers ask you?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478858/original/file-20220812-14-2gnx2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C6000%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Sora Shimazaki/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You might have heard of jobseekers being asked to complete a “personality test” as part of a job application, or been through the process yourself. </p>
<p>The questions can range from the innocuous to the deeply personal, with some applicants reporting being asked about their <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/personality-tests-in-job-applications-explained/100560772">political views</a> in such tests. The Guardian Australia recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/05/workforce-australia-provider-makes-jobseeker-complete-personality-tests-assessing-zest-and-spirituality">reported</a> one jobseeker was asked to do a personality test assessing “zest” and “spirituality”.</p>
<p>So, what can and can’t prospective employers ask in a personality test?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1555276468111949825"}"></div></p>
<p>Questions about a person’s age, sex, race, sexual orientation, political opinions or disability are unlawful if the employer <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/protections-at-work/protection-from-discrimination-at-work">makes a decision based on the response</a>. </p>
<p>But it’s not always easy to prove the employer did actually make a decision based on the response you gave.</p>
<p>For example, say an employer asks a job applicant with a physical disability about what changes they would need in the workplace to accommodate their disability, and then doesn’t hire them because of the costs involved. A court might find that to be <a href="http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/vic/consol_act/eoa2010250/s7.html">disability discrimination</a>. </p>
<h2>Anti-discrimination law: it’s complicated</h2>
<p>Blatant examples like this are unlikely, because workplace discrimination has been unlawful for four decades; savvy employers know what not to do.</p>
<p>But what about a recruiter asking if the candidate sees themselves as “lively” or “energetic”? Could this question be used to work out age, and then used to deny an older applicant the job? This <em>could</em> be age discrimination but it’s not easy to prove.</p>
<p>And if someone finds they weren’t hired even though they had the right skills but they’re over 55 and didn’t describe themselves as “energetic”, how will they ever prove age was a factor in the hiring decision?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-harassment-claims-are-costly-and-complex-can-this-be-fixed-133149">Sexual harassment claims are costly and complex – can this be fixed?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>No wonder people are sceptical about providing information – they don’t know why employers want this information or what they’re going to do with it.</p>
<p>Anti-discrimination laws require the candidate to prove that the reason they weren’t hired was because of their disability or age. Unless the employer told them this or put it in writing, this is very difficult. </p>
<p>Without direct evidence, the candidate will have to ask the court to infer that the reason they weren’t hired was because of their disability or age.</p>
<p>This is a costly exercise, especially if lawyers are involved. Even if the candidate wins, compensation payouts are not windfalls. It’s not surprising so many discrimination claims are <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UTasLawRw/2010/5.html">settled or abandoned</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478861/original/file-20220812-23636-xfz2om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No wonder people are sceptical about providing information to prospective employers – they don’t know what they’re going to do with it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Woolworths case</h2>
<p>In Queensland, employers are <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/qld/consol_act/aa1991204/s124.html">prohibited</a> from asking a person a question upon which discrimination could be based.</p>
<p>This was an <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/man-awarded-5k-for-woolies-discrimination/lx94rwkxe">issue for Woolworths in 2014</a>, when a man applying to work in a petrol station was asked to provide his gender, date of birth and documentary proof of his right to work in Australia. </p>
<p>He lodged a complaint and the case was heard in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.</p>
<p>Woolworths said it needed his date of birth to streamline recruitment, helping determine if he could work in its liquor outlets and his rate of pay.</p>
<p>The tribunal <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/qld/QCAT/2014/601.html?query=">found</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>that Woolworths’ conduct in requiring a job applicant to provide a date of birth and gender on its online application form contravened <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/qld/consol_act/aa1991204/s9.html">section 9</a> of the <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/qld/consol_act/aa1991204/">Anti-Discrimination Act</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Woolworths could have collected this information in other ways, such as asking if he was aged over 18, and requiring him to show evidence of age if hired. </p>
<p>Woolworths was ordered to pay the man A$5,000. </p>
<p>The tribunal also noted it had, by then, already taken steps to change the online application form, which had addressed all of his concerns.</p>
<p>This case did not involve personality testing, but it does show how employers should be clear about why they’re seeking personal information. </p>
<p>The decision in the Woolworths case came about a year after the man applied for the job, showing how slow and onerous a court or tribunal process can be. Most wouldn’t bother to try.</p>
<h2>It’s about how information is used</h2>
<p>Collecting statistical data about a workforce can be <a href="https://journals.latrobe.edu.au/index.php/law-in-context/article/view/152">useful</a> in addressing discrimination if it’s followed by action when inequality is detected, and those actions are monitored.</p>
<p>Most employers are required to collect data about the gender composition of their workforce and report annually to the <a href="http://www.wgea.gov.au">Workplace Gender Equality Agency</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-using-myers-briggs-at-work-might-be-a-terrible-idea-mbti-31178">Why using Myers-Briggs at work Might Be a Terrible Idea (MBTI)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If the data show a lack of women in certain jobs, they can take note and actively recruit women, or encourage women to seek promotion.</p>
<p>This won’t be sex discrimination <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/sda1984209/s7d.html">as long as the employer can show</a> their strategy was designed to increase equality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188516/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominique Allen receives funding from the Victorian Women's Benevolent Trust. </span></em></p>No wonder people are sceptical about providing information – they don’t know why employers want this information or what they’re going to do with it.Dominique Allen, Associate Professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1870642022-07-19T04:53:50Z2022-07-19T04:53:50ZGiving out flowers on TikTok: is this a ‘random act of kindness’ or just benevolent ageism?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474497/original/file-20220718-14-gh0ok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4880%2C2931&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">sk/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In June, 22-year-old Harrison Pawluk filmed himself staging a “random act of kindness”, giving a bunch of flowers to an older woman sitting alone in a Melbourne food court.</p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lifeofharrison/video/7111321730773175553?lang=en">video</a> went viral on TikTok, attracting 57 million views within a week. </p>
<p>Comments on the post included, “when she started crying, I couldn’t hold it back” and “wow that was so beautiful I swear I would cry”. </p>
<p>Acts of kindness can boost <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103117303451">wellbeing</a> for the giver, the recipient, and even the viewers of selfless acts. Social media influencers have found ways to commodify this by presenting them as random and unexpected. </p>
<p>But this gesture was interpreted by Maree, the woman targeted for the video, as an artificially staged production that left her feeling “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-14/tiktok-video-maree-melbourne-flowers/101228418">dehumanised</a>” and like “clickbait” for tabloid fodder. </p>
<p>In the media, individuals aged over 60 are often depicted as a homogeneous group of elderly people who lack personality, social identity or individuality. </p>
<p>It’s not just a “random act of kindness”. Pawluk’s actions – and some of the media coverage – unearths a much bigger problem of “benevolent ageism”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-grey-haired-and-radiant-reimagining-ageing-for-women-182336">Friday essay: grey-haired and radiant – reimagining ageing for women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is benevolent ageism?</h2>
<p>When we talk about ageism, people often think of overt acts such as older people being explicitly told they are dressed “<a href="https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/louise-di-francesco-ageism-at-work-200031282.html">inappropriately</a>” for their age, or an employer refusing to hire someone for a job because of their age.</p>
<p>But not all ageism is overt. “<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2793359">Everyday ageism</a>” is a more subtle yet pervasive component that informs our impressions of older people. This could be assumptions about what older people’s preferences are because of their age group, or that by a certain age most people should be “slowing down”. </p>
<p>Benevolent ageism is where these every day biases manifest in the belief that older people need special “help” or “support”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older white woman holds a Queer flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474761/original/file-20220719-18-d4v6tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Everyday ageism might manifest in assuming someone’s politics because of their age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rene Böhmer/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Benevolent ageism manifests in the way people sometimes use pet names or <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ageism#ageism-in-healthcare">baby talk</a> to address older people; an emphasis on <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00405.x">pitying</a> people above a certain age; or the importance placed on “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.587911/full">protecting</a>” older people during the COVID pandemic.</p>
<p>Commenters on Pawluk’s video said “[the flowers] made her feel so good and it looks like she might have needed it”, “she is so cute” and “I miss my grandma!”. </p>
<p>Benevolent ageism leads to false assumptions or inaccurate and limiting stereotypes about older people being “warm but not competent” and lacking individuality. </p>
<p>In Pawluk’s video, Maree is framed as being sad and alone. Speaking to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-14/tiktok-video-maree-melbourne-flowers/101228418">ABC Radio</a>, Maree expressed frustration at being presented as “the elderly woman who drank a takeaway cup of coffee”.</p>
<p>“It’s the patronising assumption that women, especially older women, will be thrilled by some random stranger giving them flowers,” she told the ABC. </p>
<h2>Our implicit biases</h2>
<p>Benevolent ageism is hiding in plain sight. </p>
<p>Our own ageist biases can show up in everyday judgements we make about people’s capacity to work, how they dress or whether they are in need of assistance or attention because of their age. </p>
<p>Ageist characterisations are culturally reinforced by media portrayals, and have the effect of categorising “older people” – <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/josi.12162">particularly women</a> – as being lonely and in need of pity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older Asian man reads a newspaper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474767/original/file-20220719-18-t9jm4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just because an older person is alone, this doesn’t mean they are lonely.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hang Fung So/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/18-03-2021-ageism-is-a-global-challenge-un">recent report</a> from the World Health Organization shows one in every two people shows moderate to high levels of ageist attitudes, with their definition of ageism encompassing stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age.</p>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission found that <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/new-research-finds-ageism-most-accepted-form-prejudice-australia-0">90% of Australians</a> agree that ageism exists in Australia. </p>
<p>Age discrimination commissioner Kay Patterson calls ageism “the least understood form of discriminatory prejudice” and “more pervasive and socially accepted than sexism and racism”. </p>
<p>Internalised ageism, in which we unconsciously hold these own ageist attitudes against ourselves, negatively impacts our functional health as we age and can even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009174350400115X">shorten our own lifespan</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/retirement-communities-ageism-exists-even-among-the-elderly-new-research-171855">Retirement communities: ageism exists even among the elderly – new research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stereotypes facing older women</h2>
<p>These TikTok random acts of kindness can have the unfortunate overtone of the <a href="https://www.britishgerontology.org/content/22875/Live/pdf/Generations_Review%2025%202%20July%202015.pdf">twin prejudices</a> of ageism and sexism. Older women targeted in this way can be left feeling like their identity is reduced to being just an older lady in need of pity. </p>
<p>When interviewed by The Project, Pawluk <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/aussie-tiktok-star-sorry-but-wont-stop-controversial-acts-of-kindness/news-story/347c18457d80a961e27c6b31f42b2507">apologised</a> to Maree. He claims he does not target people based on their age. </p>
<p>But the assumptions made about Maree – and other women to whom he has offered flowers – are embedded in age-old stereotypes about older women: that they are sad or lonely, and in need of support.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older Black woman dances" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474763/original/file-20220719-26-4osyy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">90% of Australians believe ageism exists in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paris Lopez/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is nothing wrong with greeting another person regardless of their age. But the framing of this TikTok video is a clear example of ageist stereotypes manifesting as a show of concern. </p>
<p>Much of the news reporting and comments surrounding the event were also examples of everyday ageism. The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10967869/Melbourne-TikToker-Harrison-Pawluk-gives-woman-bunch-flowers.html">described the video</a> as a “heartwarming moment [where] a total stranger gives an elderly woman a bunch of flowers before she bursts into tears”.</p>
<p>Although likely not the initial intention of the gesture, this social media craze of capturing supposed “random acts of kindness” can have the undesired effect of diminishing the perceived social value of the target to whom the protagonist is trying to show kindness. </p>
<p>We should take this as a moment to pause and address our own unconscious biases and our subtle forms of everyday ageism of the benevolent kind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Ginnivan works for the University of New South Wales, School of Psychology. She receives funding for her projects from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research and the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute. She is also a volunteer contributor to MEAx Australia, is a member of the Australian Association of Gerontology, the NSW Older Women's Network and is an associate of the UNSW Human Rights Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaarin Anstey receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. She is Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute, and affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing and Neuroscience Research Australia.</span></em></p>When Maree was given flowers by a TikTok influencer, she felt ‘de-humanised’ and reduced to her age. Here is how benevolent ageism shows up in our society.Natasha Ginnivan, Interdisciplinary Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyKaarin Anstey, Director, UNSW Ageing Futures Institute, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1630482021-07-13T12:28:35Z2021-07-13T12:28:35Z63% of workers who file an EEOC discrimination complaint lose their jobs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410411/original/file-20210708-23-lgodul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=123%2C86%2C3991%2C2554&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">EEOC complaints often result in retaliation. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ResortDiscriminationSettlement/fe760f6dcfe4490781cd0e24949b9454/photo?Query=Equal%20Employment%20Opportunity%20Commission&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=92&currentItemNo=34">(AP Photo/David Zalubowski</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410168/original/file-20210707-27-1byguql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People who experience sex discrimination, race discrimination and other forms of discrimination at work aren’t getting much protection from the laws designed to shield them from it.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/who-files-discrimination-charges">That’s our main finding</a> after analyzing the outcomes of 683,419 discrimination cases filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2012 to 2016 – the most recent data available. We focused on workplace complaints filed related to race, sex, disability, age and national origin. Those are the five most common categories. </p>
<p>We found that at least 63% of workers who filed a complaint eventually lost their job. That number was even higher for workers who filed a disability-related claim, at 67%. And about 40% of workers reporting experiencing employer retaliation, such as verbal abuse or being passed over for work opportunities like training or promotion, for filing a claim. At 46%, employer retaliation was most common for sex discrimination cases.</p>
<p>Moreover, the complaints themselves rarely led to a successful outcome for the workers who filed them. Our analysis found that legal redress in the form of negotiated or mandated changes in workplace practices occurred in only 7% of all cases. Workers received monetary awards in 12% of the cases – with a median payout of only US$8,500. </p>
<p>These patterns may explain <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo26176123.html">why only a fraction of people who believe that they have experienced discrimination</a> at work actually file a complaint. Legal standards to prove discrimination to the EEOC or in court are quite high, and the burden of proof falls largely on the employee. </p>
<p>Low rates of discrimination claim filing may also suggest that people see the legal route as dangerous with low chances of success. Enduring discrimination on the job and proving it in court or to the government are quite different things.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/what-the-paycheck-fairness-act-could-mean-for-women-and-the-pay-gap.html">Lawmakers have been debating</a> measures to beef up protections for workers for years, such as the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7">Paycheck Fairness Act</a>, a bill aimed at wage discrimination, or paying workers doing the same job differently based on their sex, race or national origin. Besides increasing pay transparency, the bill would shift more of the burden of proof to the employer. </p>
<p>While we believe passage of this legislation would be a good step to encourage more workers to report discrimination, our research shows that increased protections should be applied to all types of discrimination. But giving workers the protection from discrimination that we feel they deserve likely will <a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/equal-employment-opportunity-bidenharris-transition-white-paper#overlay-context=diversity-reports">require stronger enforcement efforts and stiffer penalties</a> for employers who break the law. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163048/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey receives funding from the W.K.Kellog Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly McCann is affiliated with the Center for Employment Equity at UMass-Amherst. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>JD Swerzenski is affiliated with the Center for Employment Equity at UMass-Amherst.</span></em></p>Workers who filed complaints faced retaliation and rarely got a favorable result from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Employment Equity, UMass AmherstCarly McCann, Research Affiliate at the Center for Employment Equity, UMass AmherstJ.D. Swerzenski, Ph.D. Candidate in Communication, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1599062021-04-28T06:16:13Z2021-04-28T06:16:13ZContrary to popular belief, middle-aged entrepreneurs do better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397469/original/file-20210428-16-1atz3f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4857%2C2501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">insta_photos/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bill Gates was 21 when he and Paul Allen registered Microsoft. Steve Jobs was 22 when he and Steve Wozniak launched Apple. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dormitory.</p>
<p>The biographies of these tech billionaires who achieved great success in their twenties has helped cement the perception that entrepreneurship is a young person’s game. </p>
<p>Not true. Such stories are the exception rather than the norm.</p>
<p>Starting young can have some clear advantages. For one thing, it gives you much more time to fail the several times most enterprenuers do before they put it all together and succeed. </p>
<p>But overall, the research suggests, older age is associated with higher levels of entrepreneurial success.</p>
<p>That’s an important policy point for governments that want people to keep working (and paying taxes) longer even though employment prospects for job seekers <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-good-at-your-job-wont-stop-age-discrimination-149954">decline significantly</a> from about the age of 45. </p>
<p>Rather than just putting money into “job ready” programs or subsidies to employers to hire older workers, more should be invested into programs to support the demographic with the best chance of successfully starting new businesses.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/employers-need-more-than-money-to-hire-older-workers-41490">Employers need more than money to hire older workers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Mature-aged enterprise growing</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/YUFEMDJMGNNWDZDFZBMC/full">My research</a> with
Bronwyn Eager (University of Tasmania) and Saskia De Klerk (University of Sunshine Coast) suggests mature-aged entrepreneurship – after the age of 50 – is growing faster than among any other age group in Australia. </p>
<p>Mature-aged entrepreneurs run about a third of all businesses that are less than three years old. (All up, mature-aged entrepreneurs have started about 380,000 businesses with a turnover of about A$12 billion a year.)</p>
<p>Younger entrepreneurs do have some advantages. As a group, they are healthier and tend to have fewer family obligations. They may be less risk averse, often because they have less to lose. The may also benefit from others’ positive perceptions of them as “youthful”.</p>
<p>But mature-aged entrepreneurs have three key advantages: human capital, social capital and financial capital. </p>
<p>Our research involved surveying more than 1,000 mature entrepreneurs and correlating the results to other studies on entreprenuers. Our findings indicate older entreprenuers have accumulated business and life experience, knowledge and skills, social networks and resources that better equip them for success. They tend to have better social skills, and are better able to regulate their emotions, than those younger. </p>
<p>They do have a lower risk tolerance than younger entrepreneurs, but that is offset by other factors, such as confidence in their abilities and experience. Their fear of failure is thus less than their younger counterparts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-mature-age-workers-on-the-job-85678">Keeping mature-age workers on the job</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The numbers are with them</h2>
<p>Our research supports previous studies finding no evidence to suggest younger entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed than those in middle age.</p>
<p>MIT Sloan School of Management professor Pierre Azoulay and colleagues, for example, <a href="https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/jones-ben/htm/Age%20and%20High%20Growth%20Entrepreneurship.pdf">analysed the data</a> on 2.7 million founders of US companies between 2007 and 2014 that went on to employ at least one person. The average age at founding was 41. For the “1 in 1,000” highest-growth ventures, the average age was 45.</p>
<p>The authors conclude “all evidence points to founders being especially successful when starting businesses in middle age or beyond, while young founders appear disadvantaged”.</p>
<p>Indeed, they found the “batting average” for creating successful firms rose dramatically with age. A 50-year-old founder was 1.8 times more likely to achieve “upper-tail growth” than a 30-year-old founder. Those in their early 20s had the lowest likelihood of success. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/most-successful-entrepreneurs-are-older-than-you-think-95402">Most successful entrepreneurs are older than you think</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How government can help</h2>
<p>Entrepreneurship may therefore be a viable alternative to mature-aged unemployment. </p>
<p>There is, however, compelling evidence that aspiring mature-aged entrepreneurs require specialised government support and incentives, both to start their businesses and grow their businesses. </p>
<p>Government initiatives such as the <a href="https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/entrepreneurs-programme">Entrepreneur’s Program</a> (formerly the Entrepreneurship Infrastructure Program) and <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/entrepreneurship-facilitators/entrepreneurship-facilitators-contacts">Entrepreneurs Facilitators</a>, for example, could be better designed to account for the specific needs of mature-aged entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>Such support will both enhance the success of these businesses – and employment prospects for young and old.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Maritz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young and successful entrepreneurs get the attention, but they are the exception, not the norm.Alex Maritz, Professor of Entrepreneurship, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456852020-09-08T20:07:27Z2020-09-08T20:07:27ZNew Zealand is violating the rights of its children. Is it time to change the legal definition of age discrimination?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356847/original/file-20200908-16-vo2p06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4770%2C3185&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The comforting claim that New Zealand is a great place to bring up kids took another hit with last week’s damning <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/child-well-being-report-card-16">UNICEF report</a> on child well-being. </p>
<p>The latest in two decades of monitoring and comparing best practice for children in the world’s richest countries, the report gives New Zealand a dismal ranking of 35 out of the total 41. It highlights several crucial areas of failure:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>youth suicide rates are the second highest in the developed world, more than twice the average of the other rich countries surveyed </p></li>
<li><p>childhood rates of obesity are also the second highest </p></li>
<li><p>educational outcomes were already <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/995-an-unfair-start-education-inequality-children.html">poor</a> and this latest report suggests they are getting worse</p></li>
<li><p>income inequality is a key problem</p></li>
<li><p>New Zealand children do not feel they are listened to.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>On the eve of an election focused on economic recovery, these findings raise important legal questions about the extent to which New Zealand is protecting young New Zealanders’ rights to health, education and an adequate standard of living. </p>
<h2>The gap in our law</h2>
<p>Those rights are protected in a range of international human rights <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/peace-rights-and-security/human-rights/#international">instruments</a> that New Zealand has already accepted over the years, starting with the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">Universal Declaration</a> of Human Rights 1948. </p>
<p>Everyone has these rights, including children, as New Zealand recognised in 1993 when it signed the United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. Yet despite these international commitments, our domestic legal framework makes no overarching or explicit provision for children’s rights. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-inquiries-find-unfair-treatment-and-healthcare-for-maori-this-is-how-we-fix-it-144939">Two inquiries find unfair treatment and healthcare for Māori. This is how we fix it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yes, there is a right to education. But, given the links between educational outcomes, health and economic inequality, this right by itself only takes us so far. </p>
<p>Our key piece of legislation, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, does not include the right to health (physical or mental) or to an adequate standard of living – both strongly related to the right to education. </p>
<p>One of the roles of the Children’s Commissioner is to give <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0121/latest/DLM230435.html">better effect</a> to the Children’s Rights Convention. However, the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0057/18.0/whole.html">Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018</a> makes no mention of children’s rights. That is despite <a href="http://www.nzchildren.co.nz/">recent findings</a> by the commissioner that New Zealand’s child poverty rates have hardly changed since 2012. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1301389721092812802"}"></div></p>
<h2>Children should seen <em>and</em> heard</h2>
<p>To ensure an integrated approach to child well-being and to plan for the future, the UNICEF report recommends the government listen carefully to the perspectives of children and young people. The prime minister has accepted that recommendation.</p>
<p>The fact is, however, New Zealand is already obliged to do this. The Children’s Convention requires that the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">best interests</a> of the child be a primary consideration in all actions affecting children. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-responsible-data-for-children-134052">Why we need responsible data for children</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The convention also stipulates that the child has the right to express their <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">views</a> and be freely heard in all matters affecting them. These principles have been <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/585150624.pdf">interpreted</a> broadly to apply to all matters affecting children, including decisions affecting their health, education and well-being.</p>
<p>To be fair, New Zealand is making some good progress here. The Children’s Commissioner has published a <a href="https://www.occ.org.nz/listening2kids/child-centred/how-child-centred/">child-centred</a> strategy to help decision-makers consider the implications of their actions for children. Similarly, the Ministry of Social Development has published a <a href="https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/resources/child-impact-assessment.html">Child Impact Assessment Tool</a>. </p>
<p>But these are policy statements only, and the UNICEF report would suggest they are not enough. </p>
<p>So, perhaps a better question might be asked: are young New Zealanders experiencing such poor outcomes because of their age?</p>
<h2>Expand the definition of age discrimination</h2>
<p>Imagine if the data contained in the UNICEF report referred to women, Māori or other minorities. We would of course have to ask whether such poor outcomes were the result of discrimination based on a shared characteristic such as gender, race or ethnicity.</p>
<p>Alas, it is not that easy with young people, even though they are defined by their age. International human rights law has only recently recognised <a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=4slQ6QSmlBEDzFEovLCuW1a0Szab0oXTdImnsJZZVQdqeXgncKnylFC%2blzJjLZGhsosnD23NsgR1Q1NNNgs2QltnHpLzG%2fBmxPjJUVNxAedgozixcbEW9WMvnSFEiU%2fV">age-based</a> discrimination. The concept that <a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsqIkirKQZLK2M58RF%2f5F0vH%2bg0BeHNYSXl2ulaeIW9Y1nEBWXdUgC9p%2fn2WzRfn3fwsXNNC%2b2E7%2bbuK3ful8wJQP6BtAlEzFZVO26Bnyk9OH">young people</a> might be the victims of age-based discrimination is a work in progress. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-crisis-shows-why-new-zealand-urgently-needs-a-commissioner-for-older-people-139383">The coronavirus crisis shows why New Zealand urgently needs a commissioner for older people</a>
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</em>
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<p>New Zealand law has actually been ahead of international law since our Human Rights Act <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304475.html">prohibited</a> age-based discrimination back in 1993. The problem is the act itself sets an age limit and doesn’t apply to people under 16. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s now time to extend the prohibition on age-based discrimination to all young New Zealanders. </p>
<p>Changing the law on age-based discrimination may be no silver bullet. And there is no doubt that responding to the issues raised in the UNICEF report is a hugely complex task. </p>
<p>However, if the laws and policies affecting young people were subject to the same kind of legal scrutiny as other forms of discrimination, New Zealand might take one step towards demonstrating a more serious commitment to doing better by its young people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With UNICEF ranking New Zealand 35th out of 41 rich countries for children’s well-being, the gap between rhetoric and reality is wider than ever.Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1393832020-06-01T04:16:46Z2020-06-01T04:16:46ZThe coronavirus crisis shows why New Zealand urgently needs a commissioner for older people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338457/original/file-20200529-51496-34rlqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5760%2C3828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Zealand is often described as a great place to grow up. We must also ask ourselves whether it is a great place to grow old.</p>
<p>The question becomes increasingly urgent as the impact of COVID-19 becomes clearer. While New Zealand has been one of a small number of countries to have seemingly <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases">controlled the spread</a> of the virus, it has been older people who have borne the brunt of the disease. </p>
<p>The elderly have not only died and become critically ill in greater numbers, as shown below, they have also suffered most under the stringent control measures adopted and from lapses in adequate health care.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338754/original/file-20200601-83211-19ioxx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">New Zealand’s COVID-19 cases by age group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases">NZ Ministry of Health</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>There has been no shortage of debate about the impact of New Zealand’s strict lockdown on rights and liberties. But, given the burden of the disease has fallen mostly on older New Zealanders, their absence from that debate speaks volumes. </p>
<p>The establishment of an official advocate for the elderly is clearly overdue.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/nz-health-statistics/health-statistics-and-data-sets/older-peoples-health-data-and-stats">15%</a> of the population is aged 65 or older and that will double in the next few decades. The 22 New Zealanders who died from COVID-19 were <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases#age">60 and older</a>. Many of those deaths occurred in residential care facilities that struggled to adequately test residents and staff or provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and training.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/low-staff-levels-must-be-part-of-any-reviews-into-the-coronavirus-outbreaks-in-nz-rest-homes-137764">Low staff levels must be part of any reviews into the coronavirus outbreaks in NZ rest homes</a>
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<h2>New Zealand’s aged care has fallen behind</h2>
<p>This situation is sadly ironic because New Zealand has been a world leader in passing laws to protect older people, starting with the Old Age Pensions Act in 1898. Nearly a century later, the Human Rights Act 1993 <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304475.html">prohibited discrimination</a> on the basis of age. </p>
<p>In fact, the United Nations was still unsure whether this type of discrimination applied to older people’s <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4538838f11.pdf">rights</a> to health, housing, work and social security. It wasn’t until 2009 that it finally <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/4a60961f2.html">concluded it did</a>. </p>
<p>More generally, the rights of older people are not enshrined in any dedicated global human rights treaty. There are longstanding <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/ageing/madrid-plan-of-action-and-its-implementation.html">plans of action</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/olderpersons.aspx">principles</a> in this area, but these fall into the category of “soft law”. They do not create legally binding obligations for countries. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the UN is now focusing more on the human rights of older people and is considering whether there should be a treaty. It has taken a further step by appointing a UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older people.</p>
<p>Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, who held the role until recently, visited New Zealand at the invitation of the government just before we locked down due to COVID-19. Her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/new-zealands-intention-to-improve-older-peoples-lives-is-falling-short-says-un-expert">findings</a> suggest New Zealand’s leadership in protecting the rights and interests of older people has stalled. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338685/original/file-20200530-78863-15tkbyg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, former UN independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.</span>
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<h2>UN expert’s call for a commissioner</h2>
<p>Although there were things to be proud of in what Kornfeld-Matte found, including recent <a href="http://superseniors.msd.govt.nz/about-superseniors/ageing-population/better-later-life-report/index.html">government strategies</a> to cope with an ageing population, and our universal superannuation, there were also concerns. </p>
<p>Those included violence, poverty, affordable housing, availability of long-term care workers, structural biases in the health system that disproportionately affect Māori and Pasifika, and increasing rhetoric portraying the elderly as a burden. </p>
<p>To deal with these issues Kornfeld-Matte <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25712&LangID=E">called</a> for the establishment of “an independent national commissioner on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recession-hits-maori-and-pasifika-harder-they-must-be-part-of-planning-new-zealands-covid-19-recovery-137763">Recession hits Māori and Pasifika harder. They must be part of planning New Zealand's COVID-19 recovery</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is real merit in this recommendation. Although there is a minister and an <a href="https://dpmc.govt.nz/cabinet/portfolios/seniors">Office for Seniors</a> that has developed <a href="http://superseniors.msd.govt.nz/about-superseniors/ageing-population/better-later-life-report/index.html#WhydoweneedanewstrategynbspTetakemewhairautakihou0100">commendable strategies</a>, there is still a risk this approach to advocacy will either be too timid or too tied to the views of whichever political party is in power. </p>
<h2>NZ already has good models to copy</h2>
<p>New Zealand already has a number of commissioners who are obliged to represent the interests of particular groups or concepts. Their advocacy role is based in legislation and they are independent of any political party or the partisan reach of any political cycle.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338686/original/file-20200530-78845-1wrb433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NZ Commissioner for Children, Judge Andrew Becroft.</span>
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<p>The best example is the <a href="http://superseniors.msd.govt.nz/about-superseniors/ageing-population/better-later-life-report/index.html#WhydoweneedanewstrategynbspTetakemewhairautakihou0100">Commissioner for Children</a> whose role it is to <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0121/latest/DLM230435.html">advocate</a> for the youngest New Zealanders. In the nearly two decades since its establishment, the Office of the Commissioner has managed to develop a system of advocacy across a wide range of areas, including children in the judicial system, children’s welfare, with the placement of children into state care. </p>
<p>The commissioner has consistently highlighted the issue of child poverty and hailed the passing (with cross-party support) of the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0057/18.0/LMS8294.html">Child Poverty Reduction Act</a> in 2018 as “<a href="https://www.occ.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Media-Release-Child-Poverty-Reduction-Act-18Dec2018.pdf">a historic cause for celebration</a>”. The commissioner has the support of an international legal framework that has been accepted by every UN member state except the US.</p>
<p>Fortunately, New Zealand has been spared the devastation COVID-19 has caused elsewhere. But our lives have still been changed dramatically. The challenge now is to ensure the voices of those most at risk from the disease (and from the current means of controlling it) are heard loudly and clearly. </p>
<p>The appointment of an independent national commissioner to advocate for older New Zealanders would be a significant step towards restoring this country’s reputation as a great place to live – at any age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID-19 harms older people most. Now more than ever they need an advocate to protect their rights and their health.Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoAlexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1313802020-05-06T12:21:18Z2020-05-06T12:21:18ZOut with the old: Coronavirus highlights why we need new names for aging<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332478/original/file-20200504-83740-vf56gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C0%2C6720%2C4396&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mary-Lou McCullagh, 83, inside her Ventura, California home, in isolation because of COVID-19. She and her husband Bob, 84, greet the little boy who lives across the street. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mary-lou-mccullagh-and-her-husband-bob-greet-axel-stirton-news-photo/1209074212?adppopup=true">Getty Images / Brent Stirton</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although largely unnoticed by mainstream media, something significant has happened with the rise of COVID-19: the marginalization of older Americans. Scorn for elders is now on full display. Some blame them for the shelter-in-place guidelines. Some even say <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/24/covid-19-texas-official-suggests-elderly-willing-die-economy/2905990001/">they should be offered up</a> as a sacrifice for the good of the country. </p>
<p>But the coronavirus affects everyone. It’s true that hospitalization and mortality rates increase with age, but a March <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm">report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> shows young adults take up more ICU beds than the very old. This may evolve as the pandemic ensues. However, it highlights the potential issues in ageist assumptions. So why portray only older adults as vulnerable? </p>
<p>This is hardly the first time they have been diminished. Geezer, hag, crotchety, over-the-hill, coffin dodger, grumpy old man – these are stock phrases used to describe older adults, even by older adults themselves. One example: Donald Trump, age 73, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/485628-trump-biden-doesnt-know-where-he-is-or-what-hes-doing">commenting on</a> “Sleepy Joe” Biden, age 77. </p>
<p>There is a consequence. Words – positive, negative, supportive, dismissive – are powerful. They have tremendous impact. Our society no longer accepts the use of similarly degrading terms when identifying other demographic groups. Whether it’s gender, sex, race, religion, ethnicity – when people verbally discriminate in these domains, social norms are breached. Invariably, there’s a strong and loud response. Would we be so quick to victimize older adults if our language lifted them up rather than regularly put them down? </p>
<p>We don’t think so. We are <a href="https://gero.usc.edu/faculty_category/instructional-faculty/">professors of gerontology</a> at the University of Southern California. We ask anyone who considers themselves polite, socially aware and considerate of others to rethink the common, casual use of the stereotypical phrases that refer to age. Many people do value and respect the experience of older adults, of course; only by being aware of the implications of our word choices and behaviors can we start to adjust our prejudices. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332032/original/file-20200501-42942-g9yxgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We don’t consider the consequences of ageism until we experience it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-senior-man-with-trumpet-royalty-free-image/1182736825?adppopup=true">Getty Images / MoMo Productions</a></span>
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<h2>Discriminating against our future selves</h2>
<p>Aging is something we will all experience, if we’re lucky. Yet ageism is arguably the last widely accepted form of social prejudice. Indeed, the <a href="https://www.who.int/ageing/features/faq-ageism/en/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) believes ageism may be more pervasive than sexism or racism. <a href="https://www.giaging.org/documents/150501_gauging_aging_final_FrameWorks_report.pdf">Research clearly shows</a> negative attitudes about aging when you’re older can damage your health and well-being, even impact your mortality. </p>
<p>Whose lives are we cutting short? Our parents, grandparents, the aging co-worker? And what makes this particular prejudice so pernicious: everyone will be exposed to it as they go through life. </p>
<p>Ageism is ingrained into American society. Advertising bombards us with it: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/market/birthday_old_fart">greeting cards</a> and <a href="https://tenor.com/search/old-fart-birthday-gifs">GIFs</a>, some that we send to family and loved ones, use blatantly ageist images and language. <a href="http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/Seniors_on_the_Small_Screen-Dr_Stacy_L_Smith_9-12-17.pdf">Prime time</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk">late night television</a> seek cheap laughs with skits that emphasize frailty, confusion, and memory problems. Many theatrical movies do much the same (“<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3063516/">Bad Grandpa</a>” is one). The writers and performers, out to entertain young audiences, gain fame at the expense of “those unappealing others.” </p>
<p>Because ageist words have so easily slipped into the vernacular, they shape our attitudes toward older people. This is reinforced every time we re-experience these attitudes in the media. Maybe when we’re young or even middle-aged, we tend not to notice. But when our hair turns gray, when wrinkles appear deeper and eyesight noticeably deteriorates, we begin to understand. We start to notice the stereotypes. Now, the joke is on us.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329883/original/file-20200422-47794-gsscgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s not easy fighting ageism when it’s promoted in the media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/senior-male-on-bike-in-forest-royalty-free-image/1183931505?adppopup=true">Getty Images / Justin Paget</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conforming to expectations</h2>
<p>When we fully acknowledge our membership in the older population, we then <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01662.x">take on the stereotypes</a> associated with them. This is a double whammy. Putting the stereotypes on display reinforces them to the rest of society. It further cements the prevailing attitude. And it reinforces our own negative perceptions about aging, something we then <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-832261.pdf">eventually transfer to ourselves</a>.</p>
<p>The anti-aging market makes billions by encouraging these stereotypes. We are told to mask age-related changes: hair dye, implants, botox, topical creams, cosmetic surgery. When we buy these products and services, we feed a greedy business thriving on our insecurities. </p>
<p>So does it really matter? Do our negative references to older people do harm? Is it a big deal to assign value to an older person’s appearance? Well, in a word, yes. Discriminatory attitudes drown workforce composition and opportunity for everyone. Those over 50 find it hardest to reenter the workforce, whether following a planned or unplanned exit. Those workers are also more likely to face discrimination, particularly with promotions. An uneven playing field is created; the older workforce is deskilled. This means older people will earn less, save less, and have less money for retirement. </p>
<p>Words can motivate change for good or bad. Our lexicon can push us in the wrong direction. When we say someone “looks good for their age,” or register surprise that they’re still working, we consider it a compliment. But why not say they simply look good? Or acknowledge their position in the workforce without acknowledging their age? </p>
<p>Language has a deep and profound impact, yet we use it flippantly. Stereotyped words promote ageism, prioritize youth, and prevent us from making the changes needed in our communities as we all advance in years. Aging is not an insult or fuel for laughter; it’s an accomplishment worthy of words of praise. With lives and livelihoods at stake, let’s stop the name calling. </p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What’s in a word? Plenty, when it comes to the choices we use to describe people over 60. Stigma against older people that has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic shows why it’s time to change.Caroline Cicero, Instructional Associate Professor of Gerontology , University of Southern CaliforniaPaul Nash, Instructional associate professor of gerontology, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1355342020-04-13T17:19:46Z2020-04-13T17:19:46ZCoronavirus triage protocols: Hard choices over ventilator shortages shouldn’t put doctors at legal risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326704/original/file-20200409-109213-89d2og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C501%2C3519%2C2031&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A health-care worker in protective gear at a COVID-19 assessment centre at the Scarborough Hospital in Scarborough, Ont., on April 3, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across Canada, the coronavirus pandemic is increasing the demand for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-icu-beds-1.5521394">already scarce critical care resources</a>. In the coming weeks, there is a very real chance that there <a href="https://www.covid-19-mc.ca">won’t be enough ventilators and critical care beds for everyone who needs them</a>. Difficult decisions will have to be made about who gets what. Sick individuals who might survive if put on a ventilator may be denied access to one, or even removed from one they were already on, in order to save someone else.</p>
<p>In anticipation of this, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/29/ontario-developing-last-resort-guidelines-on-which-patients-to-prioritize-if-hospitals-are-overwhelmed-by-critical-covid-19-cases.html">provincial and territorial governments now face the challenge of authorizing triage protocols</a>: documents that spell out the nature and process of allocation decisions. The normal rules for allocating resources just <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/who-gets-a-ventilator-in-the-covid-19-crisis-1.4876069">don’t work during a pandemic</a>. When critical care units can no longer admit everyone who wants and might benefit from critical care, new rules must be set. Who lives and who dies? Who decides?</p>
<h2>Triage protocols vs. standards of care</h2>
<p>The best case scenario is that these protocols will not need to be introduced, and it will be possible to meet all clinical needs through mobilization, management and sharing of resources. However, given the uncertainty about the future spread of the virus, we should hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Which means provincial and territorial governments should prepare critical care triage protocols, as <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/29/ontario-developing-last-resort-guidelines-on-which-patients-to-prioritize-if-hospitals-are-overwhelmed-by-critical-covid-19-cases.html">Ontario has done</a>.</p>
<p>However, for these protocols to work and not add more stress to our already over-stressed health-care providers, the authorities — including governments, prosecutorial services and professional regulatory bodies — must take steps to protect health-care providers. Authorities must ensure that health-care providers who follow these protocols will not face criminal or civil liability, or discipline by regulatory colleges, and ensure that health-care providers are aware of this.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326707/original/file-20200409-115270-1eaajjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medical staffers work in the Intensive Care Unit of the Maria Pia Hospital in Turin, Italy on April 7, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The problem is that critical care triage protocols direct health-care providers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsb2005114">deviate from their normal duties and standards of care</a>. They may direct providers to prioritize based on survival of the most people, or first-come-first-served or lottery. Furthermore, protocols may direct providers to discriminate based on grounds that are usually prohibited <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.060911">such as age</a>. </p>
<h2>Liability risks</h2>
<p>Normally, if a physician removes a ventilator from a patient who might survive, with neither the patient’s nor their substitute decision-maker’s consent, they might be charged with <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/page-50.html#h-119680">criminal negligence causing death</a>. The patient’s family might <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/j21lm">sue for negligence</a> or claim a breach of <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13290/index.do">provincial consent legislation</a>. The province’s college of physicians and surgeons might discipline the physician for violating their <a href="https://www.cpso.on.ca/Physicians/Policies-Guidance/Policies/Planning-for-and-Providing-Quality-End-of-Life-Car">duties to the patient and standards of practice</a>. </p>
<p>However, a critical care triage protocol may direct a physician to do just that.</p>
<p>It’s possible that a court would not convict a health-care provider on criminal charges or find them civilly liable. It’s possible that a regulatory college would not find that a health-care provider breached professional standards. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it’s possible that there could be criminal charges, civil lawsuits and disciplinary hearings. It’s possible there could be liability and sanctions. Thus, these triage protocols can create both real and <a href="https://twitter.com/jesshwprince/status/1247010464380289026">perceived risks for health-care providers</a>. </p>
<h2>Protection and reassurance for providers</h2>
<p>Fortunately, the authorities can protect providers from both liability and regulatory sanction, which can reassure providers. I will take Nova Scotia as an example; however, it is worth noting that the same or similar steps are available in other provinces and territories. </p>
<p>For criminal liability, the Nova Scotia director of public prosecutions could issue a directive indicating that criminal charges will not be prosecuted if health-care providers comply with the triage protocol and professional standards of their regulatory body. There are precedents for this; the <a href="https://mjlhmcgill.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/mjlh-vol-vi-no-2-downiewhite.pdf">attorney general of British Columbia</a> and the <a href="https://novascotia.ca/pps/publications/ca_manual/Physician-Assisted-Death.pdf">Nova Scotia director of public prosecutions</a> have previously issued such directives about end-of-life care. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326708/original/file-20200409-86219-1p0b8dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An engineer attaches the breathing tubes to a prototype of an emergency response ventilator in Vancouver on March 27, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, the federal government could publish a guidance document indicating its endorsement of a particular triage protocol or of triage protocols in general. While this would not have the force of law, it could be used in court should there be a need to defend against criminal charges laid against a practitioner for complying with their provincial or territorial triage protocol.</p>
<p>For civil liability, the minister of municipal affairs could approve a Nova Scotia critical care triage protocol as an emergency management plan under the <a href="https://nslegislature.ca/sites/default/files/legc/statutes/emergency%20management.pdf">Emergency Management Act</a>. This would ensure, under the liability provisions of that act, that health-care providers are protected from any civil liability for actions taken that comply with the protocol.</p>
<p>For professional sanction, the regulatory bodies (such as colleges of physicians and surgeons) could issue <a href="https://cpsns.ns.ca/professional-standard-regarding-medical-assistance-in-dying-for-nova-scotian-physicians/">professional standards</a> stating that health-care providers must follow a triggered protocol and that health-care providers will not be subject to sanction if they do so.</p>
<p>If these steps are both taken and publicized by authorities and <a href="https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/home">insurers</a> alike, health-care providers will be able to move forward without fear, safe in the knowledge that they are protected. This will allow health-care providers to follow triage protocols, which are established in accordance with the values and goals that society believes should guide the allocation of scarce resources during the present crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jocelyn Downie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If COVID-19 causes a ventilator shortage in hospitals, triage protocols will dictate who gets life-saving treatment. Health-care workers need protection from liability for following those protocols.Jocelyn Downie, James Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law, University Research Professor, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1329322020-03-24T12:15:50Z2020-03-24T12:15:50ZWorkplace age discrimination could become even harder to prove in court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320463/original/file-20200313-115106-1pcy9tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Over 15,000 workers filed age discrimination claims in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aleutie/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Age discrimination remains one of the greatest vulnerabilities that American workers face. </p>
<p>A 2018 <a href="https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/economics/info-2018/multicultural-work-jobs.html">AARP study</a> of adults age 45 and older found that more than 60% said they had seen age discrimination in their workplace or experienced it themselves. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742548084/The-Face-of-Discrimination-How-Race-and-Gender-Impact-Work-and-Home-Lives">most incidents go unreported</a>, over <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/adea.cfm">15,000 workers</a> filed a claim of workplace age discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2019 alone. This makes ageism one of the most commonly reported forms of workplace discrimination, just below race (23,976 cases) and sex discrimination (23,532 cases), and above cases pertaining to national origin (7,009 cases) and religion (2,725 cases).</p>
<p>Along with a general reluctance to report their employers for unfair treatment, aging workers face notable obstacles when and if they do decide to move forward with legal action. Cases, for instance, rarely go to trial, and studies suggest that when they do <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1293784">employers are twice as likely to win</a>, given the difficulties victims face in proving their claims. </p>
<p>And now, the Trump administration is trying to further curtail the protections afforded to aging workers.</p>
<h2>To the courts</h2>
<p>On Jan. 15, the Supreme Court heard the age discrimination case <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/babb-v-wilkie/">Babb v. Wilkie</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019/18-882">Noris Babb</a> worked as a pharmacist at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Florida, where she helped to develop a program for older veterans. The VA later developed a nationwide plan based on the one that Babb’s team initially developed. </p>
<p>Babb and other female co-workers, each of whom was over 50, applied for promotion and training opportunities as well as clinical positions, yet were denied the opportunity to advance. Instead, the VA promoted two other women – both under the age of 40. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm">Age Discrimination in Employment Act</a> requires the government to make employment decisions “free from any” age discrimination. The EEOC has long held that this language means that age should not be even a contributing factor for determining workplace decisions in federal jobs. </p>
<p>Babb filed charges of gender-plus-age discrimination, but the court sided with the VA. Babb challenged that decision, arguing that the court had relied on an overly stringent standard for demonstrating discrimination. </p>
<p>The case then made its way up to the Supreme Court, where the Trump administration argued that, to be protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, federal workers must prove that age is the singular motivating factor in an employment decision – a standard referred to as “but for” causation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320202/original/file-20200312-111268-1ioutbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In January, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on age discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-oct-3-2016-equal-496281247">bakdc/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Proof of discrimination</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo26176123.html">Nearly three decades of research on workplace discrimination</a> show that it is already extraordinarily difficult to prove that employment decisions are discriminatory. </p>
<p>Our own work, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JQ7zUUcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">analyzing EEOC case histories</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PEwucWsAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1">interviewing workers</a> about their experiences of mistreatment and discrimination, provides insight into why. </p>
<p>Many employment decisions are made behind closed doors. This understandably creates situations in which a worker is left wondering why they were denied a job, not promoted or even terminated. Identifying the cause of one’s mistreatment is often difficult. </p>
<p>To complicate matters, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2007.0109">employers rarely, if ever, own up</a> to their discriminatory actions when accused. Rather, they often point to alleged violations of company policy by the employee in question. Or, they couch their discriminatory actions as the result of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/ctx.2010.9.1.16">smart and profitable decision-making</a>, company downsizing or business restructuring. </p>
<p>If the Trump administration is successful in arguing that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies only when age is the solitary factor in a federal employer’s conduct, the burden of proof for those encountering age discrimination will raise to an even higher level. </p>
<p>With the Trump administration’s stricter interpretation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, almost any employer counterargument would effectively remove the possibility that aging workers would be protected. </p>
<p>This is further complicated by the fact that, in about 50% of age discrimination cases and 80% of all EEOC cases involving denial of promotion, plaintiffs <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1293784">make multiple claims within a single case</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00463.x">Research shows</a> that the odds of legal victory are cut in half for charging parties who make multiple claims. </p>
<h2>Negative effects</h2>
<p>Research shows that age discrimination is bad for workers, bad for families and bad for the United States as a whole.</p>
<p>Discrimination takes a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518767407">toll on the health</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.962007">well-being</a> of all workers. It decreases workplace morale and <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230240933">workplace productivity</a>. Discrimination also artificially <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/03/why-discrimination-hurts-competitiveness/">limits the pool of competent and talented workers</a> stifling economic growth. </p>
<p>Moreover, when workers are unfairly denied employment, unjustly excluded from promotion and training opportunities, or terminated in a discriminatory fashion, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ctx.2010.9.1.16">possible negative impacts</a> also spill over to family members, spouses and children. </p>
<p>The U.S. population is aging, and so is the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/04/aging-workforce.html">U.S. workforce</a>. For more than 50 years, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act has been the primary mechanism for workers across the nation to contest ageist treatment at the hands of employers. </p>
<p>The current push to interpret the Age Discrimination in Employment Act as strictly requiring “but for” causation will raise the burden of proof for victims to a nearly impossible level. It will also make it difficult for aging federal workers to maintain and succeed in their jobs.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the number of sex discrimination cases.</em></p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plaintiffs in age discrimination cases often find it difficult to prove their cases. Now, a Supreme Court case could further undermine workplace protections available to victims.Catherine Harnois, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest UniversityVincent Roscigno, Professor of Sociology, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1273002019-11-19T14:05:07Z2019-11-19T14:05:07ZWhy saying ‘OK boomer’ at work is considered age discrimination – but millennial put-downs aren’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302281/original/file-20191118-66921-g49omo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">OK, boomer... </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-company-employee-feeling-tired-listening-1512367268">Motortion Films/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The phrase “OK boomer” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779783608/-okboomer-vs-okmillennial-workplace-nightmare-or-just-a-meme">has become a catch-all</a> put-down that Generation Zers and young millennials have been using to dismiss retrograde arguments made by baby boomers, the generation of Americans who are <a href="https://www.careerplanner.com/Career-Articles/Generations.cfm">currently 55 to 73 years old</a>.</p>
<p>Though it <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ok-boomer">originated online</a> and primarily is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/farrahpenn/ok-boomer-jokes-that-prove-gen-zers-are-funnny">fueling memes</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/okboomer?lang=en">Twitter feuds</a> and a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/13/problem-with-ok-boomer/">flurry of commentary</a>, it has begun migrating to real life. A New Zealand lawmaker <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-zealand-lawmaker-says-ok-boomer-during-parliament-speech-about-n1078066">lobbed the insult</a> at an older legislator who had dismissed her argument about climate change. </p>
<p>As the term enters our everyday vocabulary, HR professionals, <a href="https://law.uoregon.edu/explore/elizabeth-tippett">employment law specialists like me</a> and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/supreme-court-age-bias.html">Supreme Court justices</a> now must ponder the question: What happens if people start saying “OK boomer” at work?</p>
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<h2>Evidence of discrimination</h2>
<p>A lot of the internet fights over “OK boomer” revolve around whether the phrase is offensive or not. But when you’re talking about the workplace, offensiveness is not the primary problem. The bigger issue is that the insult is age-related.</p>
<p>Workers aged 40 and older are protected by a federal statute called the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination/agedisc">Age Discrimination in Employment Act</a>, which prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of age. </p>
<p>Comments that relate to a worker’s age are a problem because older workers often face negative employment decisions, like a layoff or being passed over for promotion. The only way to tell whether a decision like that is tainted by age discrimination is the surrounding context: comments and behavior by managers and coworkers. </p>
<p>If a manager said “OK boomer” to an older worker’s presentation at a meeting, that would make management seem biased. Even if that manager simply tolerated a joke made by someone else, it would suggest the boss was in on it.</p>
<p>Companies also risk age-based harassment claims. Saying “OK boomer” one time does not legally qualify as harassing behavior. But frequent comments about someone’s age – for example, <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/17-1191/17-1191-2018-08-01.html">calling a colleague “old” and “slow”</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7763968087195450711">“old fart”</a> or <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5555043418652493543&q=%22age-based+harassment%22&hl=en&as_sdt=2006">even “pops”</a> – can become harassment over time.</p>
<h2>Gen Xers are covered too</h2>
<p>And it doesn’t matter if the target isn’t even a boomer.</p>
<p>Gen Xers were born <a href="https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z">around</a> 1965 to 1979. That makes them older than 40 and covered by federal age discrimination law. </p>
<p>Yes, I get that the comment is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/ok-boomer-diving-generation-what-does-it-mean-ncna1077261">a retort to “unwoke” elders</a> who cannot be reasoned with. The problem is that the phrase is intended as a put-down that is based, at least partly, on age. If you say it at work, you’re essentially saying, “You’re old and therefore irrelevant.” </p>
<p>Lumping Gen Xers into a category with even older workers doesn’t make it better. Either way, you are commenting on their age.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1194357940007796737"}"></div></p>
<h2>Funny or not</h2>
<p>I recently watched some of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NarX9usjj0Q">“OK boomer” TikTok compilations</a>. </p>
<p>A lot of them were quite funny, like the hairdresser imitating a customer who criticized her tattoos as unprofessional. She responded, “OK boomer,” while appearing to lop off a huge swath of the customer’s hair.</p>
<p>When I was an employment lawyer, I heard tons of hilarious stories of things people said in the workplace. But that’s the point: The story ended with a lawyer on the other end of the phone. </p>
<p>One of the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2149108217300957983&q=reeves+v.+sanderson&hl=en&as_sdt=2006">most famous</a> age-discrimination cases – which made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court – involved a manager who described an employee as “so old he must have come over on the Mayflower.” </p>
<p>In other words, “it was just a joke” is an awful legal defense. </p>
<h2>Tit for tat</h2>
<p>To millennials who have suffered through years of being called “snowflakes” by their elders, protests of age discrimination can seem a bit rich. Why didn’t HR ban all those <a href="https://jeffjbutler.com/2019/04/12/where-did-the-avocado-toast-millennial-stereotype-come-from/">millennial jokes about avocado toast</a>? </p>
<p>The Age Discrimination in Employment Act only kicks in for workers who are 40 or older, which means millennials aren’t covered. For now.</p>
<p>The oldest millennials will turn 40 later this year. So fear not, the millennial jokes may eventually become a legal problem for companies as these workers age.</p>
<p>Also, a few states, <a href="https://dhr.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/age-discrimination.pdf">including New York</a>, ban age discrimination for all workers over 18, and employers in those states probably should have done something about the millennial jokes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Millennials tired of their elders making fun of their love for avocado toast are out of luck.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthy-avocado-toasts-breakfast-lunch-rye-1105043105?src=343fd847-5577-4d34-8228-a345bef4f2e9-1-23">By Nelli Syrotynska/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why older workers need protections</h2>
<p>Boomers might seem really powerful, and yes, they might be your boss’s boss’s boss. </p>
<p>But older workers are more vulnerable than they seem. Older workers are expensive – by the time they’ve worked their way up the corporate ladder, their generous salaries start to weigh on the balance sheet. And management <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/emplrght16&div=6&id=&page=">may have trouble</a> envisioning spectacular growth and innovative ideas from them years into the future, even if they are ready and willing to deliver.</p>
<p>That’s why Congress thought it was important to extend protections to those workers. It wanted employers to treat them <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7232159241469569502">as individuals</a> who shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because of their age.</p>
<p>And in many ways, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/31/why-gen-z-millennials-using-ok-boomer-baby-boomers/4107782002/">that’s what young people seem to want</a> as well: a little respect for what they bring to the table. After all, that meme didn’t make itself.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Nov. 19, 2019.</em></p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127300/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth C. Tippett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An employment law expert explains why you shouldn’t use an age-related insult at work to demean an older colleague – an issue even the Supreme Court is now talking about.Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1023882018-09-24T10:20:37Z2018-09-24T10:20:37ZAs life expectancies rise, so are expectations for healthy aging<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237527/original/file-20180921-62950-3oyzl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Healthy aging is a new norm, researchers say, with older adults having a new name and attitude.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blowing-bubbles-active-funny-aged-couple-1182357994?src=SuliAxWQj8rmYIoKecnJ0w-3-42">By YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Fountain of Youth may still be a myth, but a longer life expectancy is now a reality.</p>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://www.seniorliving.org/history/1900-2000-changes-life-expectancy-united-states/">life expectancy at birth</a> in the U.S. has risen by more than 30 years in barely more than a century to a current 78.6 years.</p>
<p>But with the increased life expectancy, a question arises: How do people stay healthy as they age? A new concept of healthy aging has emerged. In fact, some are using a new word for aging baby boomers – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-search-of-a-word-that-wont-offend-old-people/2017/12/29/76640346-b808-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.104a93633471">“perennials”</a> – to describe people who want to live an active, blossoming life into old age. </p>
<p>What is healthy aging? As members of the <a href="https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(16)30502-5/fulltext">Healthy Aging Research Network</a>, we have been researching factors affecting how long Americans will live, ways to stay as healthy as possible, and how best to make extended years quality years. Taking a comprehensive view, we defined <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/aag/pdf/2015/healthy-aging-aag.pdf">healthy aging</a> as “the development and maintenance of optimal physical, mental (cognitive and emotional), spiritual, and social well-being and function in older adults.” </p>
<p>But achieving this is something different altogether.</p>
<h2>Shifting demographics, shifting views</h2>
<p>We now know many of the interacting factors influencing healthy aging – one’s genetic makeup, cellular biology, lifestyle behaviors, personal perspectives about aging, social engagement, and environment – and realize the importance of viewing aging as the culmination of all these factors. Despite the accumulation of chronic diseases such as arthritis, dementia, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer, aging is not a “disease” but rather a lifelong process that occurs from birth to death. <a href="https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/beyond-health-care-the-role-of-social-determinants-in-promoting-health-and-health-equity/">Social and behavioral determinants</a> are often stronger predictors of premature death than one’s biology or health care. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237526/original/file-20180921-129868-5lzw6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The possibilities for many are endless, such as Hong Inh, 103, experienced when she achieved a life-long dream of American citizenship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Centenarian-Citizen/43d7b8925961402c839127fa3ced2639/57/0">Richard Vogel/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Yet, there are fundamental questions about what aging means in the U.S. and abroad. This is important to consider, as stereotypical views of aging can be <a href="https://wihealthyaging.org/ageism">health hazards</a> themselves, as research has shown that holding negative perceptions of aging can cut 7.5 years from one’s life. </p>
<p>In the early 1900s, U.S. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2017/015.pdf">life expectancy at birth</a> was under 50 years of age, and only a very small percentage of Americans lived to age 65. </p>
<p>As a result, people did not expect to live to an old age, and the concept of healthy aging was unthinkable. Few people, including older adults, health care professionals, or policymakers, could imagine the costs of aging with chronic conditions for individuals and society. </p>
<p>Now, aging is a <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WPA2017_Highlights.pdf">global phenomenon</a> with 962 million people 60 years and older around the world, including about 78 million North Americans. With average life expectancies hovering around 80 and the possibility of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/30/health/aging-dispute-humans-live-to-125/index.html">living to 125</a> on the horizon, there is more attention to the contributors and consequences of living into one’s 80s, 90s, 100s, and beyond. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WPA2017_Highlights.pdf">Population aging</a>, older persons comprising an increasingly larger share of the population, is becoming the “new normal” throughout the world. This is resulting in the debunking of some stereotypes about global aging as a phenomenon only occurring in the most developed countries. Although Japan and European countries have the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/ageing/">highest percentages of older people</a>, rates of population aging are actually higher in many developing regions such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America and have huge implications for the welfare of older populations. With <a href="https://www.enotes.com/research-starters/caring-elderly-global-perspectives">rapid globalization and urbanization</a>, families are often more mobile, social support networks are breaking down, health care systems are inadequate, and older people are often left in remote villages to fend for themselves or care for young children left behind.</p>
<p>On the positive side, we in the U.S. can learn from how some countries are successfully dealing with their aging populations and age-related conditions by considering “all in” community approaches such as <a href="https://www.alz.co.uk/adi/pdf/dfc-principles.pdf">dementia-friendly communities.</a></p>
<h2>Ageism rampant</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237519/original/file-20180921-129847-2bp6nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people hold negative views of older people as lonely and sad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-elderly-woman-house-sitting-table-1184549260?src=hmvEYSz46wxtVQ4llO6ZfQ-1-30">De Visu/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the increased proportion of older people in our society, many people still hold <a href="https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/67B/1/13/556414">stereotypical views of aging</a> and view seniors as less capable. Often, the images they hold depict aging as synonymous with frailty, loneliness, and poverty. </p>
<p>Similarly, depictions of super-aging, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyiPkqJmp54">90-year-olds running marathons</a>, reflect extreme cases that are not necessarily the reality for most people in their 80s, 90s, or 100s, the age groups <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/21/worlds-centenarian-population-projected-to-grow-eightfold-by-2050/">increasing most rapidly</a>. Healthy aging does not mean everyone needs to be at peak performance on every dimension; rather, it means everyone should live life to the fullest. </p>
<p>Foremost, it is important to combat ageism in all its forms requiring a shift in our thinking and policies away from negative aging stereotypes. </p>
<p>Recognizing aging as a societal and individual concern, it is important to identify concrete actions at all levels that can make a difference. </p>
<p>For grand-scale change, we believe that multiple sectors – aging services, public health, and health care – and policymakers, health care professionals, families, and older people themselves can take action. We believe there needs to be more public support enabling the growing number of perennials to engage in the <a href="http://research.tamu.edu/2018/02/06/what-if-healthy-aging-becomes-normal-journal-examines-trends/">well-documented keys to healthy aging</a>. These include having a positive attitude toward aging, being physically active, having access to healthy foods, being socially connected, and living in safe communities. </p>
<p>Toward this end, several aging advocacy groups have banded together to create a campaign to “<a href="http://frameworksinstitute.org/reframing-aging.html">reframe” or “disrupt” aging</a> – stressing its positive aspects, but also recognizing the realities of some age-related changes, such as declines in sensory abilities and chronic conditions. </p>
<p>A crucial factor is rethinking the role of older people in society and having meaningful roles throughout one’s life, whether paid or unpaid. We need to combat ageist views that make it difficult for <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/age-discrimination-.aspx">older workers</a> to maintain high-paying jobs or find new ones if they find themselves unemployed. As researchers, we have seen the positive impact of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00136/full">evidence-based programs</a> for chronic disease self-management, physical activity, falls prevention, and lifestyle enhancement for promoting health and independence. </p>
<h2>The challenge isn’t going away</h2>
<p>By 2050, there will be more than <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf">2 billion older people globally.</a> By 2035, there will be <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-population-projections.html">more adults 65 and older than children</a> under the age of 18 in the U.S. This unprecedented transformation can bring about doom-and-gloom projections. While these numbers are game-changing, aging demographics do not need to be destiny.</p>
<p>Such projections can also serve as a catalyst to action to create a society that values older people, fosters social and physical environments that are supportive for healthy aging, encourages intergenerational commonalities over intergenerational conflicts, and emboldens older people to take charge of their own health. However, this requires a commitment to programs and services that help older people maintain their health and functioning. </p>
<p>We want to envision a world where intimate relationships would be seen as natural at any age, most falls are preventable, technology is omnipresent to extend older adults’ health and well-being, and caregivers have support to maintain their valuable roles. Most importantly, we believe it is best for society as a whole if perennnials do indeed remain in vibrant, productive roles whether at home, in the community, or at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The age of the US is increasing, and with it, new expectations of health and happiness. Is the US prepared for the wave of baby boomers who will live long and want to be as healthy as they do?Marcia G. Ory, Regents and Distinguished Professor, Associate Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, Texas A&M UniversityBasia Belza, The Aljoya Endowed Professor of Aging, Director of the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging, University of WashingtonMatthew Lee Smith, Co-Director of Texas A&M Center for Population Health and Aging, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.