Correctly used, ageism can apply to any age group that is suffering some form of bias. Current use tends to support the concept that it only applies to those that have reached their senior years. Senior years, I have found is also a variable if you take the job market, current anecdotal evidence would indicate that ageism begins around 45 years of age.
From that point on, the age of an applicant begins to influence the prospective employer. So if “senior years” begin at 45 and ageism becomes evident at about then we have a lot of seniors. Too bad collectively we have not made meaningful inroads into eradicating institutionalised ageism as it applies to the 0ver 45 years of age group.
In a recently released UN Report (World Population Prospects, The 2012 Revision) Australia had just over 14 million people aged between 15-59 (61.2% of population) by 2050 this will rise to 18.3 million (54.4%). The 60 plus age group in 2013 was 4.5M (19.8%) rising to 9.3M (27.6%) by 2050. By 2050, the 80+ will be 2.7M up from .875 million in 2013. So we are going to have a much larger population and a much larger section of these will be over 60 years of age. We therefore have a very big need to address the needs of a population that is getting older and if we are to succeed at this, we must eradicate the ageism that is institutionalised into our society.
Ageism exhibits just about everywhere. For some reason we have fostered a cult of irreverence and lack of respect for the older ones that we have in our group and this has led to a slow proliferation through our regulatory bodies that reinforces that position. All people should be able to work for as long as they want without suffering the constraint of an ageism culture, which is more often than not based on a completely wrong premise. Work is generally a matter of competency and experience. Some do it well and some don’t. To exclude participation based on a birth date is ridiculous.
We have a health issue with our older members. Too often they are not advised well enough on simpler treatments for ailments that occur later in life. Balance is often seen as a trait of older people and therefore not treatable. Rubbish!. We have media problems where drivers are identified by age when an accident occurs. Well that is not true, it only occurs when the driver is of senior years. You can either drive competently or you can’t, regardless of your age. We have the image issue where some how or other we are expected to maintain our bodies in a supreme state of glamorous acceptance regardless of how far they have travelled. What nonsense. Yes age does weary some bits and pieces, and they show it. Beauty takes many forms.
By far the most telling intrusion of ageism is the recently released report that found that many younger (temporarily) citizens of this country feel that seniors have nothing to contribute and are a drain on resources. In many other societies, including many in the West, that concept is so foreign that it is ridiculous. Most societies have a healthy respect for the wisdom of their aged members and embrace them in a protective caring universal envelope. Not for us this privilege, we have a fight on our hands and we had better man the gates, moats or whatever else we can in order to get probably the worst of the isms out of our systems.
Do you feel ageism is predominant in society? What experiences have you had? Tell us in the comments below…