Old White Women

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Pages: 4

There is a clear set of differences in aging among whites and those with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Some of the factors that contribute to these differences include education level, literacy, and chronic disease. Food insecurity and inadequate housing may also result from an insufficiency in these factors. Though a lot of individuals struggle financially and socially in their old age, it is the ethnic elders who suffer the most. To expand further on unfortunate elders, women also experience this ill-fated process of aging. Overall, “being old and a member of a minority group, or to be an old white women, is to experience the political economy—the context of aging—in ways strikingly different than that experienced by older white males in the …show more content…
Because of this, women often have a difficult time experiencing fairness, equality, respect, and approval in their careers, politics, and their love lives. Because women typically live longer than men, they are also inclined to live without their spouses (Morioka-Douglas, 2011). Furthermore, women are amongst the most poor in the United States (Hillier & Barrow, 2015, p. 352). “Some of the major ways in which women’s lives are comprised in later life include lower wage histories, lower retirement incomes, divorced women are particularly vulnerable, lack of financial planning skills, need for public benefits, caregiving responsibilities, and inadequate housing” (Hillier & Barrow, 2015, p. 352). For women, financial instability may begin in middle age or possibly earlier. This incidence is one factor that is responsible for the continuous economic struggle in their later years. The double standard for aging gradually annihilates a woman’s feel for attractiveness, pride, and dignity. With the destruction of these important aspects comes an ongoing cycle of self-neglect. Ethnic elders are in a similar position to elderly women; elderly ethnic women battling the utmost unfortunate experiences. Some dynamics relating to their disadvantages are insufficient healthcare, decreased life expectancy, inadequate housing, escalated unemployment rates, and inadequate housing in rough