In the 20th century, life expectancy in western societies increased by about 30 years – greater than was attained in the previous 5,000 years of human history. What used to be the experience of a few has now become the destiny of many.

Yet ageism is ingrained in the mindset of many. While many will readily profess that ageism is a dangerous attitude that undermines intergenerational solidarity, the reality is that most of us are ageists and the society we live in is permeated with ageism.

Ageism manifests itself in various ways and is often unintentional and well-meaning. There is often a notion that people cease to become persons by virtue of having lived a specific number of years. Some in the medical profession, for instance, may refuse to administer aggressive treatment to patients of a certain age because extending their lives is hardly worth the effort.

Elderly people themselves can often unknowingly behave like ageists when they solemnly declare that age is “all in the head”. The deferral or denial of the realities of aging only reinforces the stereotypes about old age.

What is really needed is a greater commitment for health schemes that promote the good management of the medical conditions that afflict old people.

But the most ruthless ageism is found in the workplace where some employers actively discriminate against their older workers. Inherent in our business culture is the assumption that it’s natural for older workers to move aside for the younger ones. Early retirement schemes are among the worst forms of discrimination against older workers who are initially ostracised and then often pushed out of working life in what can best be described as “effective dismissal”.

It is not surprising that those managers who promote these schemes are generally elderly people themselves, but who believe that they are never “too old”. The social psychologist Robert Butler describes these “exceptionalists” in a very graphic way: “These elders consider themselves the fortunate exceptions to society’s negative view of old people. While they think of themselves as vigorous, productive and useful to society, they imagine most of their peers to be in bad shape, useless and boring”.

The reality is that those who discriminate against their colleagues in this way do so because they are protected by their political or business patrons with whom they often communicate by nods and winks.

Another form of ageism is often practised by patronising politicians who never cease to praise the contribution that “our elderly people” give to society. To these politicians the old are just delightful as long as they limit themselves to attending the University of the Third Age and keep themselves busy looking after their grandchildren.

Early retirement schemes are a form of discrimination against older workers

As long as the bulging ranks of older people fail to exploit their great potential political clout with grass-root activism they will continue to be treated in a disgraceful patronising way by political leaders.

Legislation against ageism is unlikely to change the way society looks on the elderly. It is difficult to prove age discrimination in court. As far as I know, our Employment and Industrial Relations Act does not specifically list ageism as a form of discrimination. Laurie McCann, a senior attorney based in Washington, comments that “rarely is there a ‘smoking gun’ that shows an employer’s transparent intent to discriminate. And courts are often quick to dismiss age-related comments as stray remarks”.

The Gray Panthers is an American intergenerational organisation dedicated to bring together young, old, women, men, persons of all ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds for the promotion of social justice. In one of its publications, Network, it gives some guidelines as to how how society should act to stamp out ageism. These recommendations range from the amusing to the very profound.

“Quit complementing people on how young they look” is their first advice as this perpetuates the age-related barriers.

“Promote intergenerational job sharing, part-time hours, and no hiring or retirement to a plan based on chronological age” is yet another piece of their sobering advice.

But their best advice is a universal one that we will be wise to heed: “Fight ageism with two important weapons – knowledge and a willingness to approach every person, regardless of age, as an individual with unique strengths, weaknesses, options, and opportunities”.

The pervasive and dangerous mindset of ageism in our society must not be combated through a confrontation between the merits of youth with old age, but with the promotion of intergenerational solidarity.

jcassarwhite@yahoo.com

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.