Why Old Age is Harder for Women

"Leave me all of my wrinkles, don't take any away. It took me my whole life to get them." Anna Magnani

Longevity, considered a positive phenomenon at the individual level, is becoming critical at the collective level, in both society and the labor market. Ageism is a form of prejudice and devaluation of the individual, based on his or her age; in particular towards the elderly (1). Because of this prejudice, in 2020 being more than 45 years old can represent a stigma in Italian companies, and thus a source of discrimination. Studies in fact stress that ageism translates into managerial practices and organizational behavior that is hostile to over-45 workers, and appears to cause: an arrest in their professional development, if they have not reached a management position; difficulty for such workers to return to the labor for those who have been expelled; and a general lack of investment by the organization in engagement and motivation of senior employees, no longer considered wise and expert, but slow and inefficient (2).

This judgment that weighs on the identity of workers who have crossed the threshold of 45, contradicts the structural data for our country. On the one hand is the aging of the population: in Italy, like in other European countries, the historic inversion of the relationship between the old and the young in the population took place approximately twenty years ago; on the other hand is the legislative framework marked by the Fornero law of 2011, that drastically postponed the retirement age. In this context of general difficulties for aging people and workers, the data gathered by the DIS Observatory of SDA Bocconi stresses that the age stigma that weighs on professional identity has a greater incidence for women than for men (3). In this sense, we can speak of accumulation of disadvantages: being a female worker is in general more limiting than being a male worker; but being an over-45 female worker is even more limiting than being a young female worker.

So why does age create greater difficulties for women? The issue seems to come from the gender stereotypes that affect women as their age increases (4). As they age, women have to face not only some inevitable conditions in the life cycle of every human being (such as the loss of strength and health, weaker memory, etc.), but something else as well. Women suffer from the stigma of physical decline which makes them less socially attractive and desirable, and less professionally ready for changes in their roles and responsibilities. While there is still a widespread belief that men can be fascinating and interesting at any age, it is common to hear things like "she is still a pretty woman" or "she looks younger"; expressions that indicate how the norm for the reputation and social and professional consideration of women is the "beauty of youth". The dictatorship of beauty, according to the aesthetic standards of youth, spread and encouraged by mass media and the web, overwhelms everybody, men and women, old and young, but seems to condition older women in particular. Respect for certain aesthetic models and standards is subtly implied as an indispensable condition for success. And the need to accept that model, going against one's own physical and mental identity, is so strong as to make the market of beauty products and plastic surgery increasingly wealthy (5). During ageing, that often coincides with a strong hormonal change due to menopause, a vicious circle is created for women: on the one hand, the fight against physical ageing through the manipulation of one's body makes women mentally fragile; on the other, the aesthetic burqa and the consequent professional stigma make it difficult to succeed in maintaining serenity towards the physical changes that ageing entails.

All of this is effectively addressed in Proctor & Gamble's "Who are you calling old" video (6) produced to combat the stereotypes that affect women (but also men) over 50; it is the head, not the body that makes the difference, and it is the passion summoned to face the future that allows people to always have more plans than memories, and to age actively.

The challenge for companies and enterprises thus seems to be not only combatting the stigma of ageism, but also promoting "active ageing," that according to the definition given by the World Health Organization, is "the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security in order to enhance the quality of life as people age." (7)

(1)   R. Butler, "Combating ageism," in International Psychogeriatrics, 2009, 21(2), p. 211.

(2)   S. Cuomo, A. Mapelli, Engagement e carriera: Il peso dell'età, Milan, Egea, 2014.

(3)   S. Basaglia, C. Paolino, Z. Simonella, "Tra vecchi totem e nuova rottamazione. La gestione della diversità nelle imprese italiane," in Economia & Management, 1, 2015.

(4)   F. Rigotti, De senectute, Milan, Einaudi, 2018.

(5)   L. Zanardo, Il corpo delle donne, Milan, Feltrinelli, 2015.

(6)   "Vecchio a chi," Procter & Gamble https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO2FBvpMVLA.

(7)   WHO, Active ageing: a policy framework, aprile 2002 https://www.who.int/ageing/publications/active_ageing/en/; A. Walker, T. Maltby, "Active ageing: A strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in the European Union," International Journal of Social Welfare, 21, 2012, pp. 117-130.