According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ageism is the “stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people on the basis of their age”. Ageism manifests itself in a myriad of forms, from micro-aggressions such as the promulgation of implicit ageist attitudes in popular culture, to more serious forms, including pervasive employment discrimination, biased health care, media caricatures and invisibility. For older people, ageism is an everyday challenge which marginalizes and excludes them from their communities.
Ageism is deeply embedded in our culture, and this stems from the belief that all members of a particular group - in this case older adults - are the same. Just like racism and sexism, ageism serves a larger socio-economic purpose: to legitimize and sustain inequalities between groups. Such negative ageist attitudes are widely held across most societies and are not confined to any one social or ethnic group. Research by the World Health Organization shows that ageism may even be more pervasive than sexism and racism.
A prominent issue in particular is ageism in the workplace, where older women particularly face the most challenges. Here, age discrimination persists even though older workers are not necessarily less healthy, educated, skillful and productive than their younger counterparts. Although awareness is currently being spread about the issue, not much has actually been done to really combat the problem. Strategies such as introducing campaigns to challenge the myths and inaccurate stereotypes about aging, the implementation of anti-discrimination laws and the abolishment of mandatory retirement ages can in fact prove to be viable solutions - creating opportunities for intergenerational teams in the workplace which may even result in the increased productivity and efficiency of society as a whole.
Apart from workplace discrimination, the promulgation and integration of ageist ideas and beliefs in our society also has harmful impacts on the health of older people themselves. Research by Levy et al shows that older adults with negative attitudes about aging may live 7.5 years less than those with positive attitudes. Ageism has also been shown to cause cardiovascular stress, lowered levels of self-efficacy and decreased productivity, according to the World Health Organization.
Today, there are around 600 million people aged 60+, and this number is predicted to reach up to 2 billion by 2050, with the vast majority of the older people living in the developing world. Therefore the acceptance and internalization of ageist ideas in our current society is inevitably an encumbrance to societal growth. Indeed, a notable change is required to combat the issue - and this must be fast.
Tackling ageism will require a new understanding of the process of aging by all generations. The dissemination of outdated (and unfortunately prevalent) ideas of older people as burdens on society and as obstacles in the process of societal growth need to be quashed. In order to combat the inequities of ageism, we need to really understand and appreciate the experience that comes with older age and the beauty of the process of aging itself. We should look up at the older people in our lives, absorb knowledge from them and care for their needs. We need to value them as an integral part of our society, instead of absent-mindedly discarding them because they are older. It is wrong for us to assume their contribution and value solely based on their age. Even if an older person may not be able to contribute in exactly the same way as a younger person, they may contribute meaningfully in another way, adding a unique dimension and depth.
It is my belief that ageism is in fact a hindrance to societal growth and development, yet it is still one of the most socially accepted and “normalized” of any prejudices, and is not widely countered like racism or sexism. We, as individuals and active global citizens must harbor the willingness to speak up about ageist generalizations and take active steps to ensure that neither we, nor the people around us succumb to believing in such stereotypical generalizations.
References
