age inequality Flashcards
Explanation 1
Women face double standards
Women face double standards
itzin
Women face double standards (itzin)
- Women face a double standard comparatively to men
- men’s status is directly related to employment whereas women’s status is linked to their reproductive cycle therefore meaning that in a patriarchal society, women’s status devalues after childbearing age
- Older women have a lower status purely due to their age
- Older women feel immense pressure to fight the signs of ageing
- Cosmeticisation
- More women from all backgrounds feel social pressure to partake and invest in these treatments
- Ageing men do not necessarily face the same pressures and the media industry sells a more glamorous version of male ageing than female ageing
Cosmeticisation
whereby women are encouraged to improve their appearance
explanation 2
Gender differences within the structure of the family leads to inequalities for women as they age
Gender differences within the structure of the family leads to inequalities for women as they age
brannen
Gender differences within the structure of the family leads to inequalities for women as they age (brannen)
- The Uk has entered an age of the beanpole family where the family household is just part of a network of kin reactions that increasingly consists of several generations
- As the vertical links between family generations are extended by increasing life expectancy, so the horizontal links within generations are weakening
- Pivot generations sandwiched between older and younger generations will often become carers for their parents.
explanation 3
Older women become excluded from media representations as they age
Older women become excluded from media representations as they age
sontag
Older women become excluded from media representations as they age (Sontag)
- There are double standards for women where women are made to adhere to how society wants them to look like (younger)
- Within the media, older women are usually replaced by a younger woman once you can see that they are ageing.
- Older women are less likely to be seen as news reporters, tv presenters etc whereas men can be seen to stay in their positions as they age for a longer time.
explanation 4
Expectation that women care for children is restricting
Expectation that women care for children is restricting
Oakley
Expectation that women care for children is restricting (Oakley)
- A comparison of women and children ‘conveys a picture of mutual dependence and interdependence and mutual oppression’
- women and children are interlinked and interdependent, the inequality they face and suffer are similar
- women are often responsible for caring for children and this restricts them
- 5 ways that children face inequality meaning that they are in a more disadvantaged position than women:
- Adults speak for children- a child’s voice is not heard
- Childhood issues are ignored in sociology unlike gender
- Children lack the same rights as adults
- Children have to conform to the demands of adults
- Society is ‘adult centred’
