What is ageism and how does it affect women?

What is ageism and how does it affect women? As International Women's Day approaches, University of Alberta professor Dr. Sherry Dahlke discusses self-ageism.

What is ageism and how does it affect women? Ahead of International Women’s Day this Sunday, University of Alberta professor Dr. Sherry Dahlke joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton’s Cory Edel to discuss something that often goes unspoken.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Cory Edel: What is self-ageism?

Dr. Sherry Dahlke: It’s internalizing negative stereotypes and beliefs about aging. It starts when we’re young. We start to have very negative beliefs when we’re children about older people. Even in Red Riding Hood, Grandma was a little old lady, so frail.

If we internalize those beliefs, we project negative beliefs about ourselves as we age, and we’re less likely to be healthy and we’re less likely to look into an illness and actually seek a solution for it.

In particular for women, there’s kind of a double standard. As men grow older and they’re graying, they’re distinguished, but women are old. There’s a whole industry, the anti-ageism, the anti-aging cosmetic industry that plays into that. Not to say that men are immune, but certainly there’s probably a greater burden on women.

Cory: How does self-ageism shape a woman’s career, decisions, personal growth and self image?

Dr. Dahlke: It can certainly shape your self image if you look in the mirror. Wrinkles are not something that is seen as positive. Instead of seeing it as a life well-lived, you see it as, “Oh, I’m old.” So you want to try to do something about that and you’re going to dye your hair. I stopped dying my hair because I had to walk the talk about saying that aging was a positive thing.

I’m not aware of any evidence that it affects career decisions, but certainly negative beliefs about aging affect how we consume and what we do. Whether we go to school, maybe you think, “I’m too old to go back to school” to get that education that you really wanted, or “I’m too old to achieve something,” would be one thing that’s standing in the way of career decisions.

Cory: Why is rejecting these beliefs key to living a more empowered and ageless life?

Dr. Dahlke: I think it’s really important to see aging along a continuum and that this is just part of life, part of a life well-lived. There’s always that opportunity to learn from our lives.

I really like an Eastern theory of harmonious aging that really views aging as that our value is not dependent on whether we’re working, what we look like, what we do, but aging is more about embracing life and embracing what we’ve learned. To be successful at aging is to embrace your life that’s lived and the wrinkles on your skin, the wisdom that you earned from all of your activities, and to look at it in a positive view.

Look for role models of aging. There’s also some work on blue zones and they suggest that some of the positive things for aging are movement, not necessarily exercise, but walking, eating a healthy diet, and being around friends.