Women, Ageing and Inequality: A Feminist Perspective

Estes, Carroll L.; Johnson, Malcolm L.; Bengtson, Vern L.; Coleman, Peter G.; Kirkwood, Thomas B. L.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511610714.060

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The economic disadvantages experienced by older women have been documented in much research on gender and ageing (Arber and Ginn 1991;Estes 2005). More recently, differences in the social networks of older men and women have been construed as conferring a relative advantage on older women, who have been shown to have wider social and support networks than older men (Arber and Ginn 2005 ;Arber, Andersson and Hoff 2007;Russell 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interaction of age and gender in illness narratives

Seale

Charteris‐Black

2008

Ageing and Society

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Recognition of the greater capacity of older women to draw on supportive social networks has now supplemented an earlier focus of research into gender and ageing which portrayed older men as a 'privileged gerontocracy ' because of their greater access to financial resources and spousal care. This study of the experiences of cancer among people of three different age groups conducted a comparative keyword analysis of their narratives to consider the gender differentiation of a third resource : access to medical information and personnel. The analysed narratives were sampled from a large archive of research interviews. It was found that older men with cancer demonstrated a greater involvement with medicine as an expert system than younger men or women or older women. This stemmed from their social confidence when interacting with doctors and their interest in treating their illness as a ' problem ' to be fixed with medico-scientific solutions. Compared with younger men and women of all ages, older men were less likely to draw on informal social and family networks for support, or to discuss in a direct style the emotional dimension of illness experience. Our findings contrast with other studies that have reported linguistic disadvantage in older people in elderly care settings, which underlines the importance of context for linguistic studies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interaction of age and gender in illness narratives

Seale

Charteris‐Black

2008

Ageing and Society

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“…Health and wellbeing in later life has been shown to have variations between genders (Dwyer et al, 2000 ; Nagamine et al, 2019 ). Women experience life course inequalities relating to salary, pensions and lifestyle which all affect the way in which they age (Estes, 2005 ; Weissman & Russell, 2018 ). Significant cultural changes within the UK, reflecting similar changes across Western societies, mean that older women today are ageing in a different context to that of previous generations.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older Women Living Alone in the UK: Does Their Health and Wellbeing Differ from Those Who Cohabit?

2021

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With an increased prevalence of people living alone in later life, understanding the health and wellbeing of older women living alone in the UK is an important area of research. Little is known about health and wellbeing in this population and whether they differ from those who cohabit. This paper fills this research gap. Analysis was undertaken of Wave 8 of the Understanding Society Household Panel Survey, including variables such as internet use and volunteering. Differences were found between those who live alone and cohabit. Volunteering was a predictor of better health outcomes for those who lived alone but not for those who cohabit, despite similar rates of volunteering. Internet use predicted some better health outcome for those who cohabit but poorer for those who live alone. This suggests lifestyle factors vary in how they affect the health and wellbeing of older women, depending on cohabitation status.

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“…While it can be argued that recent identifications within the sensibility of postfeminism do argue for feminine sexual subjectivity rather than objectivity, this privilege is afforded only to privileged, young women (Gill, 2007;Jermyn, 2016). The sexually desiring older woman is still identified as shameful (Estes, 2005;Greer, 1991;Segal, 2014;Whelehan, 2010). Recently, sociologists have discussed the cultural similarities that may exist between older femininity and gay men (see Jones and Pugh, 2005) -not least the shared stigma of both gay male sexuality and older, female sexual desire.…”

Section: 'Shame Shame Shame': Gay Pride In the 1980smentioning

confidence: 99%