Women Growing Stronger with Age: The Effect of Status in the United States and Kenya

Abstract

Previous research suggests that there is a shift in the perceived balance of interpersonal power in the second half of life in favor of older women, towards equality between men and women. To see if this age shift in power is universal, a study of women in two cultures, the United States and Kenya, examined the effect of status on the shift. As an indirect measure of interpersonal power, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories were collected from 60 U.S. and 60 Kenyan women and rated by trained judges for aspects of the interpersonal power of the characters in the stories. In each country there were two groups of 15 women under age 36 and 15 women over age 44, one of higher and one of lower status. In both countries, only the higher status women showed the shift in power with age. That status modulated the shift in power with age in two different cultures is discussed in terms of the necessity for a resource base for power.

Personality Change in Women Physicians from Medical Student Years to Mid-40S

“…In both women and men, the centrality of the executive process in middle age is associated with a heightened sense of control, mastery, competence, and expertise (Neugarten & Datan, 1974). This growth in empowerment seems particularly true of those already economically advantaged (Todd, Friedman, & Kariuki, 1990). For professional men, longitudinal evidence for an agerelated shift from immature defenses (e. g., projection and denial) to mature defenses (e.g., sublimation, suppression, and humor) is provided by Vaillant's (1977) study of Harvard graduates.…”

The Shift in Power with Age

“…Some critics have argued that the nature of Card 4 "pulls" stories of gender inequality, even though there is evidence that older people do not tell such stories to this picture (Friedman, 1987;Gutmann, 1987;Neugarten, 1968;Todd et al, 1990). To test for this bias in younger people's stories, a pilot study was conducted in which 12 young women (age 20-30, mean age = 24) were asked to tell a story about a picture that depicted the woman in the foreground, looking away, and the man behind and looking at her.…”

“…The difference in power between women and men seems to change over the life cycle. Studies have demonstrated an increase in the perceived strength, confidence, and interpersonal power of women along with a decrease in the perceived power of men in older age groups (Friedman, 1987;Gutmann, 1987;Hesse-Biber & Williamson, 1984;Mitchell & Helson, 1990;Neugarten, 1968;Todd, Friedman, & Kariuki, 1990;Veroff, Reuman, & Feld, 1984).…”

Competing Discourses for Older Women: Agency/Leadership vs. Disengagement/Retirement

“…Thus, women may ''grow into'' an easy relationship with power and authority. Such a speculation is consistent with a few research findings: that aspects of personality (e.g., identity certainty, generativity, confident power) tend to increase among U.S. women as they move through the decades from their 30 s to their 50 s (Stewart, Ostrove, & Helson, 2001), that middle-class Arab women in Israel show an increase in their perceived power (particularly on the dimensions of security and inner strength) with age (Friedman & Pines, 1992), and that high-status women in both Kenya and the U.S. showed a shift toward increased perceived power with older age (Todd, Friedman, & Kariuke, 1990).…”