Women Over 50

Psychological Perspectives
Women Over 50
Psychological Perspectives

Edited by

Varda Muhlbauer
Netanya Academic College
Netanya, Israel

and
Joan C. Chrisler
Connecticut College
New London, Connecticut, USA
Varda Muhlbauer Joan C. Chrisler
Netanya Academic College Department of Psychology
Kiryat Yitzhak Rabin Connecticut College
1 University Street 270 Mohegan Avenue
Netanya, 42365, Israel New London, CT 06320
Email: vardam@netvision.net.il USA
Email: jcchr@conncoll.edu

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006938388

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eISBN: 978-0-387-46341-4

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Foreword

It is truly remarkable that so little has happened in feminist studies in the last 20
years to rectify the dearth of psychological literature on older women. So it is with
great pleasure that I note the publication of this book, which addresses so many
of the needs that have gone begging for so long. But before I go forward to laud
this volume, I’d like to go back in time to my own first reckonings that there was
a great gap in the developmental story related to women’s lives.
As I celebrated my 40th birthday and finished my graduate studies in the late
1970s, I became especially sensitive to the issue of women and aging. I was
embarking on my dissertation research, which involved studying people between
the ages of 65 and 100, most of whom were women, who were living either in
their own homes, in retirement villages, or in nursing homes. As I did my literature
review, I was struck by the paucity of research on women once they had reached a
certain age. Like old soldiers, older women just seemed to fade away. From the time
they had left puberty and found a life mate, the developmental psychology story had
fewer and fewer episodes in each succeeding decade. What little was written tended
to focus on loss—appearance, reproductive capacities, meaningful activity, sexual
interest, mental stability, marital relationships, and, finally, cognitive capacities.
Women were said to endure the pain of the “empty nest,” menopause, loneliness,
widowhood, and depression. It seemed that there was nothing nice to say; so why
say much of anything at all?
In 1990 I wrote my article “Finished at 40” as a way of headlining the lack of
presence of maturing women in the psychology literature. The title characterized
the absence of both research and theory related to women’s lives and also the
perception that women’s growth and development had already stopped by age 40.
They were simply “finished,” that is “used up,” in the vernacular meaning of the
word. Although I knew that there was some hyperbole in my framing of the title,
I wanted the thesis to be provocative and to incite action. I hoped that feminist
psychologists (and others) would pay more attention to older women’s lives, and,
most especially, I wanted more favorable, creative, and productive images cast for
them.
As I myself was entering into this supposedly bleak and endless tunnel of loss,
I recognized strong and contrary feelings of energy and potential within me. I

v
vi Foreword

wasn’t going downhill; I was going up. Indeed I was about to enter a wonderful
new phase of my professional life. And I was not alone. Around me were my
friends and colleagues who were, for the most part, also vigorous, creative, and
enthusiastic about their lives. Also reinforcing this alternative vision for what
women might be were the data from my dissertation research. When asked what
their most wonderful time of life was, the overwhelming choice for my women
respondents was age 55. They loved that time, they said, because of their freedom
from worry and the need to care for children and husbands; they described their lives
at 55 as full of wealth, health, and activities galore. Some of them had interesting
jobs; many had leadership roles in religious, civic, and social organizations. They
traveled, learned new skills, and seemed to have a great deal of fun. Many relished
the fact that worries about getting pregnant were behind them, and they spoke
enthusiastically about their happy marriages, their grown-up children, and, most
especially, their grandchildren. Most of the women in my study continued to have
rewarding, active, and satisfying lives, although there were more challenges as they
reached their 70s, 80s, and 90s. I recall, however, that two of the most interesting
and intellectually lively participants were 90 and 100 years old, respectively.
Another research project involving women in their late 40s substantiated my
view that life was getting better, not worse. As part of a study of the de-
medicalization of menopause among the “patients-in-waiting,” I asked women
about their mood states at ages 20, 35, and at the present. For all of the partici-
pants, the least satisfying time of their lives was age 35 (Gergen, 1989). Apparently
being a “soccer mom” was not the wonderful period of life that some might imag-
ine. It helped to have a station wagon, but it didn’t take away the longing to be
free of some of the daily obligations that conspired against one’s sense of hav-
ing a personal identity or a personal life. Most were happy to have their children
growing up, although they did anticipate the future with some trepidation; this was
often brought about by their exposure to medical information about menopause
and aging.
Today, I think if I could change the title of my article, it would be “Finished
at 50,” in that menopause is now the more common marker for the disappearance
act. I might even be more optimistic and delete “finished” altogether. Since that
article was published, the public, developmental psychologists, and gerontologists
alike have concurred that 50 is the new 40; 60 is the new 50, etc. Middle age
has been extended as well, and nobody wants to claim they are old anymore.
There are many reasons for this recalibration, including better health care, “the
pill,” cosmetic surgery, women’s liberation from certain social expectations (thanks
to the feminist movement to a great extent), and a greater public acceptance of
gender equality, especially in the workplace. There is an expansion of women’s
roles to include a professional life as well as a family one. The “social clock” of
which Neugarten (1979) spoke has lost its Greenwich standard time. Parenting has
become a multigenerational activity, as have attaining educational diplomas and
changing career choices. Even sexual orientation is open for reconsideration in
later years. One’s social credit, at least for middle and upper middle class people,
is, I think, enhanced by the denunciation of “traditional roles.” Recently a friend of
 Foreword vii

mine got remarried, took her husband on an adventure tour to Egypt to celebrate his
75th birthday, and became the head of her condominium board, all while pursuing
her career as a painter; another has used her legal skills to adopt a child from
Europe at age 53; a third, a new grandmother, has quit her job as a doctor to spend
some time training horses and improving her dressage skills with her daughter. In
all of these cases, middle age has only given these women the courage to engage
in life to the fullest.
An exciting aspect of Women Over 50: Psychological Perspectives is that editors
Varda Muhlbauer and Joan Chrisler, are advancing similar viewpoints, sharing with
readers how blurred the age-group boundaries are and how women are defying
limiting role expectations. Another important virtue of this volume is that, in
itself, it creates a new climate for considering the meaning of aging. As people
are exposed to this message, they become more open to re-evaluating their own
lives and those of others with whom they live and work. Every promotion of
this more positive vision of aging is critical in shifting a formerly devastating
stereotype of the aging woman to one that is much more optimistic and powerful.
In my own case, I am editing an electronic newsletter called the Positive Aging
Newsletter (www.positiveaging.net) with Kenneth J. Gergen; in it we have set
about reconstructing the stereotype of aging so that it is a time of generativity
and strength. Instead of a downward spiral from a good life in youth and young
adulthood, through middle age, to old age, and finally to death, we redefine aging as
having an upward trajectory. To bolster our vision, we include material gathered
from the social and biological sciences, as well as from news articles, Web sites,
and books that find benefits and potentials in aging. Let others advertise the deficit
discourses; that’s not for us.
For me, “Finished at 40” was a clarion call for what I hoped would be a whole
new world of research and theory making within the psychological community. At
last, 16 years later, there seems to be a response. Women Over 50: Psychological
Perspectives is elaborating the benefits, as well as the challenges, to women as
they age. The authors advance the idea that this segment of the population should
be taken seriously in terms of their political and social power. They are not simply
patients waiting for the worst to befall them. Although it is extremely difficult to
shake the prevailing problem-centered approach to aging, I commend the authors
on their efforts, and wish them great success in this venture, now and in future
editions. I also thank the editors for inviting me to write this foreword, which has
encouraged me to reflect on this crucial period in my own development as a scholar
and as a woman.
Mary Gergen

References
Gergen, M. (1989). Talking about menopause: A dialogic analysis. In L. E. Thomas (Ed.),
Research on adulthood and aging: The human sciences approach (pp. 65–87). Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
viii Foreword

Gergen, M. (1990). Finished at 40: Women’s development within the patriarchy. Psychology
of Women Quarterly, 14, 471–493.
Neugarten, B. (1979). Time, age, and the life cycle. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136,
887–894.
Contents

Contributors ........................................................................ xi

Introduction ........................................................................ 1
Varda Muhlbauer and Joan C. Chrisler

1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 ....................................... 6

Joan C. Chrisler

2. Women and Sex at Midlife: Desire, Dysfunction, and Diversity ......... 26

Maureen C. McHugh

3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives ................................................. 53

Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

4. On the Move: Exercise, Leisure Activities, and Midlife Women......... 79

Ruth L. Hall

5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50: A

Gendered-Age Perspective ...................................................... 95
Varda Muhlbauer

6. Enjoying the Returns: Women’s Friendships After 50 ..................... 112

Suzanna M. Rose

7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood ..................................... 131

Liat Kulik

8. Women Over 50: Caregiving Issues ........................................... 147

Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

ix
x Contents

9. Work and Retirement: Challenges and Opportunities for

Women Over 50 ................................................................... 164
Judith A. Sugar

10. Empowerment: A Prime Time for Women Over 50 ........................ 182

Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

Index ...................................................................................... 204

Contributors

Rosalie J. Ackerman is a clinical and research neuropsychologist and adjunct

Professor of Clinical Psychology at Capella University. She has published many
dozens of articles and book chapters, and she developed an award-winning Web
site of resources for victims of domestic violence. She is best known for her work
on intimate partner violence, rehabilitation of patients across the lifespan, and
neuropsychological assessment, and she was instrumental in the development and
revision of the Ackerman–Banks Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Battery and
the Post-Assault Traumatic Brain Injury Interview & Checklist.
Martha E. Banks is a research neuropsychologist, retired clinical psychologist,
and former Professor of Black Studies at the College of Wooster. She has authored
dozens of articles and book chapters on violence against women, women with dis-
abilities, ethnic minority women’s concerns, and neuropsychological assessment
and treatment, and she was instrumental in the development and revision of the
Ackerman-Banks Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Battery and the Post-Assault
Traumatic Brain Injury Interview & Checklist. She is co-editor of the book Women
with Visible and Invisible Disabilities: Multiple Intersections, Multiple Issues, Mul-
tiple Therapies.
Joan C. Chrisler is Professor of Psychology at Connecticut College, where she
teaches courses on the psychology of women and health psychology. She has
published dozens of journal articles and book chapters on women’s health and
embodiment, and she is particularly known for her work on menstruation and
menopause, autoimmune disorders, body image, weight, and eating disorders. She
has served as editor of Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, and among her previous
books are From Menarche to Menopause: The Female Body in Feminist Therapy,
Lectures on the Psychology of Women, and Arming Athena: Career Strategies for
Women in Academe.
Florence L. Denmark is the Robert Scott Pace Distinguished Research Professor
at Pace University. She has published dozens of articles, books, and book chapters
on the psychology of women and social psychology, and she is best known for
her work on women’s leadership and leadership styles, the interaction of status

xi
xii Contributors

and gender, aging in cross-cultural perspective, and the contributions of women

to psychology. She has held leadership roles in many professional organizations,
including a term as president of the American Psychological Association, and is
currently the main NGO representative to the United Nations for both the APA and
the International Council of Psychologists. Her most recent books are Engendering
Psychology: Women and Gender Revisited, Violence in the Schools: Cross-national
and Cross-cultural Perspectives, and International Perspectives on Violence.
Mary Gergen is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at Penn-
sylvania State University—Delaware County. She has published extensively on
the psychology of women, narrative psychology, aging, and research methodolo-
gies. Her most recent books are Feminist Reconstruction in Psychology: Narrative,
Gender, and Performance and Social Construction: Entering the Dialogue. She
and her husband Kenneth J. Gergen currently edit the Positive Aging Newsletter.
Ruth Hall is Professor of Psychology at The College of New Jersey. She is a sport
psychologist and a licensed clinical psychologist. She is known for her research and
writing on sport and exercise, African American women, and sexual orientation.
She is co-editor of the book Exercise and Sport in Feminist Therapy: Constructing
Modalities and Assessing Outcomes.
Maria D. Klara is a doctoral candidate in clinical child psychology at Pace Uni-
versity, where she serves as Florence Denmark’s graduate assistant. Her clinical
experience is working with children and their families, and her research interests
include empowerment, resilience, and the role of grandparents in family dynamics.
Liat Kulik is Associate Professor of Social Work at Bar Ilan University. She has
published extensively on gendered aspects of every day life, and she is best known
for her work on power relations within the family, gender roles at work and at
home, work–family conflict, and the intergenerational transmission of attitudes.
Susan Lonborg is Professor of Psychology at Central Washington University,
where she teaches courses in health psychology, counseling, ethics, and the psy-
chology of gender. She has published extensively in her areas of interest: ap-
plied health psychology, counseling processes and outcomes, and women’s career
development.
Maureen C. McHugh is Professor of Psychology at Indiana University of Penn-
sylvania, where she teaches courses on the psychology of women and social psy-
chology. She has published dozens of articles and book chapters on gender issues,
and she is best known for her work on gender differences, feminist methodologies
and pedagogies, violence against women, and women’s sexuality. She recently
co-edited special issues on gender and violence for Sex Roles and Psychology of
Women Quarterly.
Varda Muhlbauer is a senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and
Business Administration at the Netanya Academic College, Israel. She has worked
extensively over many years in teaching, researching, and consulting regarding
 Contributors xiii

women’s issues from a feminist perspective. She was among the initiators of a
pioneering center in Israel that conducted programs designed to advance women
in the workplace and to aid women in distress. The center was based on principles
of feminist social psychology and utilized cognitive–behavioral interventions.
Suzanna Rose is Professor of Psychology and Director of Women’s Studies at
Florida International University, where she teaches courses on gender and social
psychology. She has published dozens of articles and book chapters, and she is best
known for her work on friendship, love scripts, gay and lesbian issues, and the ways
that gender, sexual orientation, and race affect interpersonal relationships. The
advice contained in her book Career Guide for Women Scholars has contributed
to the success of many women faculty.
Judith A. Sugar is Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of
Nevada—Reno, where she teaches courses on aging. As a life span developmental
psychologist, she has published dozens of articles and book chapters on aging,
cognition, and health, and she is best known for her work on quality of life in
frail elders, aging and memory, faculty retirement, and gerontology education in
universities and colleges. She has held many leadership roles in academia and
professional organizations.
Cheryl Brown Travis is Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Women’s Stud-
ies Program at the University of Tennessee—Knoxville, where she teaches courses
on the psychology of gender and social psychology. She has published extensively
on women’s health issues, particularly medical practice patterns, equity, and qual-
ity of health care delivery. She authored a pioneering two-volume text on Women
and Health Psychology; her most recent books are Evolution, Gender, and Rape
and Sexuality, Society, and Feminism.
Introduction
Varda Muhlbauer and Joan C. Chrisler

The shift in the cultural representations and real life experiences of women at
midlife is much more than a passing trend. Rather, it is the product of a substantial
transformation in the sociocultural construction of collective gendered-age iden-
tity, which has given rise to a blurring and diversification of both age and gender
roles. By moving away from the traditional sociocultural construct of middle-age,
the newly evolving gendered-age representations of women over 50 have gener-
ated positive meanings and more liberal behavior codes. This is a welcome move
toward a better-balanced representation of this age group of women.
As committed feminist researchers, we hold to the long-established claim that the
existing political constellation (i.e., male supremacy), which is clearly indicative
of an uneven balance of power, is at the core of the sociocultural representations
of both gender and age. Indeed the connection cannot be overstated. Our thesis
endorses Sampson’s (1993) assertions that representations, as evidenced in the
current discourse on power, constitute the foundations of what people have come
to accept as reality. Thus, the reconstruction of gendered-age representations of
women over 50, which defines a better and more equitable division of power and
greater personal and collective freedom, ultimately may lead to a fundamentally
changed reality.
The present cohort of women over 50 has benefited from the accomplishments
achieved in the wake of the massive societal changes of the last four decades,
including the feminist movement, the gay rights movement, and the sexual revo-
lution of the 1960s and 1970s and the more recent fight against ageism (including
the baby boomers’ refusal to see themselves as aging). The feminist movement
made major strides in the reconstruction of gender roles on a more egalitarian ba-
sis. This influential development facilitated the empowerment of women mainly
through educational and professional gains (Barnett & Hyde, 2001). Currently, as
part of the antiageist revolution, the empowered cohort of women in midlife is
rewriting its own collective identity (Ashmore et al., 2004) and thus expanding its
boundaries and experiences through discursive processes.
The current shift in the representations and lifestyles of middle-aged women
is marked, and already has spawned what might be called “a new middle-aged
collective identity.” A quick Internet search revealed the ways in which women in

1
2 Varda Muhlbauer and Joan C. Chrisler

midlife (a term with flexible boundaries) have differentiated themselves from “old
women.” Key words such as “elderly women” bring up different Web sites (often
medically oriented) than do key words such as “middle-aged women” or “women
over 50.” It was a pleasant surprise to discover how many sites intended for women
over 50 are concerned with romance, sex, friendship, and general joie de vivre.
Some of the nonacademic sites relate to an active sexuality, which is almost de
rigueur for this age group of women. The Internet thus provides a fine illustration
of what Mitchell and Helson (1990) referred to as the prime of life.
Transformative sociocultural discourse also has been successful in shifting the
focus away from menopause to other age-related issues. Moreover, menopause
itself has been given alternative interpretations that tend to reflect more closely
the authentic attitudes of women in this age group. Many women enjoy the new
freedom and possibilities that are open to them with the termination of the re-
productive phase of their lives. The fact that this is in sharp contrast to traditional
perceptions of menopausal women is another product of the overall transformation
of women’s place in society.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that women currently in midlife (however
they define it) differ considerably from midlife women of previous generations.
Personal recollections of our own mothers and other women in their generation
readily confirm this change. When middle-aged women today look at photographs
of their mothers, their response often is: “I can’t be the same age now that she
was in that picture . . . she looks so much older.” Of course, women of today are in
better physical health and wear more youthful fashions than women of yesteryear,
but the difference between us and our mothers is much more than meets the eye.
We have experienced a psychological makeover facilitated by the sociocultural
changes in gender equity.
It goes without saying that there is great variability within the generation that has
been privileged to undergo the cultural transformation that has bettered the quality
of our lives. Many women cannot claim achievements in power domains, either
institutional or personal, and, consequently, in well-being. However, on the whole,
aspects of the transformation seem to be inclusive enough to trigger the need to
take the pulse of this generation and raise questions related to all pertinent spheres
of women’s lives. We must remain mindful of the fact that women in midlife—
both collectively and individually—are being thrust into novel gendered-age roles
for which they have little training and about which they have scant information.
Therefore, we have invited feminist scholars to share their knowledge about midlife
women and to help us to think through the sum of what we know, and what we
need to learn, about the group at the center of this remarkable transformation.
The word “aging” typically brings to mind changes in the body—both superficial
(e.g., gray hair, wrinkles) and organic (e.g., chronic illness, infirmity). Thus, we
begin with several chapters that concern aspects of midlife women’s embodiment.
Joan Chrisler examines the available research on body image issues of women
over 50. She finds that the research that exists is generally not specific to this age
group and that how well or poorly women seem to adjust to age-related changes
in their bodies may depend on how the data are acquired. There is a lot yet to be
 Introduction 3

done to understand how satisfied midlife women are with their bodies and how to
assist those who are dissatisfied to learn to care for and about their bodies more
positively.
Maureen McHugh exposes myths and stereotypes about sex and romance at
midlife. She shows readers how to consider women’s sexuality in context and
explains why it should not be measured by androcentric standards. Sexual urges
and the need to give and receive affection do not disappear with age, and the
evidence shows that all most women need to enjoy active sex lives is a willing and
caring partner and their own ability to define for themselves what form lovemaking
will take.
Midlife is a time when many chronic illnesses are first diagnosed, and some of
those illnesses are more likely to be experienced by women than by men. Susan
Lonborg and Cheryl Travis review some of the recent research on women’s health
at midlife and put that work in the context of medicine’s historic neglect of women’s
health conditions. They offer a number of suggestions about the use of self-care
to prevent the development (or worsening) of chronic illnesses.
Self-care includes fun as well as work. Ruth Hall encourages us all to remember
that in her chapter on exercise and leisure activities. Exercise is an important
form of physical illness prevention, and it also helps to keep us mentally alert
and psychologically healthy. When today’s midlife women were children it was
considered unusual for girls and women to take up sports, and therefore we may
have to struggle at first before we get to the point where we enjoy our daily exercise
routines. If that sounds familiar, let Coach Hall give you a pep talk!
Exercise, sexual activity, and physical health all contribute to women’s well-
being and quality of life. Varda Muhlbauer shows us how expanded gender roles,
empowerment, self-confidence, positive media images and messages, and the en-
hanced freedom of self-definition that more liberal lifestyles provide can impact
the quality of life of middle-aged women. Women over 50 today have a greater
opportunity than previous generations could imagine to determine the course of
their lives and pursue their own aims. And we are seizing those opportunities!
Women’s lives at any age include varied roles and relational contexts. Suzanna
Rose examines the role of friendships in middle-aged women’s lives. The end of
childrearing often means more time to spend with friends, and, as we age, our
friends often become more dear to us. Yet, until recently, women’s friendships
were a neglected topic of research, and, even now, we know less about friendship
at midlife than we do about the role of friends in other age groups. Perhaps the
existence of the Red Hat Society will spark an interest in this topic. Wouldn’t that
be an interesting group to study?
Grandmotherhood is a role many women eagerly await, and it is often experi-
enced for the first time in midlife. Liat Kulik reviews the research on grandpar-
enthood, often referred to as a “roleless role” because its rights and obligations
are more open to interpretation than is true of many other roles. Some grand-
mothers rarely see their grandchildren and communicate with them infrequently
via telephone or e-mail. Others live nearby and are an important part of their
grandchildren’s lives, especially at holidays or when last-minute babysitters are
4 Varda Muhlbauer and Joan C. Chrisler

needed. Still others end up raising their grandchildren in their own homes. Little
is known about how contemporary grandmothers might differ from grandmothers
of previous generations in the way they create this role for themselves.
Midlife is often referred to as “the sandwich generation” because middle-aged
women often have caregiving responsibilities for children still at home (or for
grandchildren whose parents need help raising them) and for their own parents,
who maybe ill or disabled. Rosalie Ackerman and Martha Banks provide poignant
examples of busy midlife women whose lives were disrupted by the call to care
for a friend or family member who needed their assistance. The acts of giving and
receiving care are both beneficial and stressful. This chapter will help us to think
through ways to prepare for the caregiving that most of us will have to give and
receive as we age.
Midlife is usually the peak earning point of people’s careers and the time when
they accomplish the most. It is also the time when people begin to plan seriously for
retirement. Judith Sugar explains why so little is known about women’s retirement
planning and adjustment—after all, we can never really “retire” from our traditional
work as homemakers. She critiques the androcentric perspective of most of the
available research and exposes the sexism in retirement policies. This chapter is
a must read for any woman who hopes to retire, and it provides a blueprint for
activism to promote greater equity for all working women.
The life experience and self-confidence that women have earned by the time
they reach midlife are often experienced as empowering, and this empowerment
can be used effectively to make positive changes in one’s own life, in the lives of
others around us, and in the larger society. Florence Denmark and Maria Klara
review the feminist research on empowerment, explain how women can increase
their empowerment by working collectively, and suggest ways that midlife women
can use their empowerment for the public good. They provide inspiring examples
of what some empowered women over 50 have accomplished.
We are delighted that Mary Gergen accepted our invitation to provide a preface,
in which she reminisces about her own midlife empowerment and how it led to her
work on positive aging. Her article “Finished at 40” (which she says she would call
“Finished at 50” if she were writing it today!) is a feminist classic, and this book
would probably not exist if she had not led the way. We thank all of the authors
for their thought-provoking contributions to this volume; we have all learned a lot
from each other’s work. We hope that our readers will be inspired to expand the
literature by filling in the blanks we have identified and discovering the answers
to the questions we have raised. We look forward to reading the work to come and
to finding out how future generations of women over 50 will live out their lives.

References
Ashmore, R.D., Deaux, K., and McLaughlin-Volpe, T. (2004). An organizing framework
for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality. American
Psychologist, 130, 80–114.
 Introduction 5

Barnett, R.C., and Hyde, J.S. (2001). Women, men, work, and family. American Psycholo-
gist, 56, 781–796.
Gergen, M. (1990). Finished at 40: Women’s development within the patriarchy. Psychology
of Women Quarterly, 14, 471–493.
Mitchell, V., and Helson, R. (1990). Women’s prime of life: Is it the 50s? Psychology of
Women Quarterly, 14, 451–470.
Sampson, E.E. (1993). Identity politics: Challenges to psychology’s understanding. Amer-
ican Psychologist, 48, 1219–1230.
1
Body Image Issues of Women Over 50
Joan C. Chrisler

The CIA should hire as spies

only women over fifty, because
we are the truly invisible.
(Piercy, 2006, p. 1)

In her poem I Met a Woman Who Wasn’t There, Marge Piercy (2006) described a
common sensation experienced by midlife women: the transition from visibility to
invisibility. In cultures in which notions of beauty and femininity are closely tied
to youth, there comes a point when women, no matter how healthy, well groomed,
and nicely attired they are, can pass by without attracting the attention of men or
younger women. The point at which this happens no doubt differs for different
women, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it is around age 50 when women,
particularly women who had previously been praised as beautiful, suddenly realize
that no one is looking at them anymore. This realization is a shock, but then what
happens? Some women seem to react with relief—there is no longer any need to
dress up and make up in order to impress; they can relax and simply be themselves.
Other women panic—those who can afford it seek out cosmetic surgeons, personal
trainers, and others who earn a living that derives in large part from the fear of
aging. Is there any way to predict which women will react which way? How do
women feel about the changes that accompany aging? How well or poorly do they
adjust to those changes? These are some of the topics this chapter will address.

Youth-oriented Cultures
It can be a challenge to feel comfortable about aging in cultures where older
women are rarely seen, and those who are seen are celebrated primarily for their
“youthful” good looks (Chrisler & Ghiz, 1993). Although we are told that we are
only as old as we feel, the dearth of images of women over 50 in the media drive
home the message that women should either grow old “gracefully” by hiding the
signs of aging (Chrisler & Ghiz, 1993) or stay out of sight. Wolf (1991) interviewed

6
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 7

editors of North American women’s magazines who admitted that signs of aging
are routinely “airbrushed” from photographs through computer imaging, so that
60-year-old women are made to look 45. Lear’s, a U.S. magazine aimed at midlife
women (it’s slogan was “the magazine for the woman who wasn’t born yesterday”;
it ceased publication after only a few years), rarely published photographs of gray-
haired women (Gerike, 1990), and a content analysis (Nett, 1991) of Chatelaine, a
Canadian magazine for midlife women, showed that midlife women were absent
from the covers and the fashion and beauty sections and underrepresented in the
advertisements. The editorial decisions made by the magazines’ staff suggest that
even midlife women do not want to see images of midlife women. Perhaps the
editors are correct, but, if so, it is because the media shape women’s preferences.
Midlife women told McFarland (1999) that they are well aware that the media
create the beauty standards women espouse; even though midlife women have the
wisdom to realize that the images represent fantasy rather than reality, many of
them still wish that they could match those standards.
Most women in Hollywood films are in their 20s and 30s (Lauzen & Dozier,
2005). It is not uncommon to see older men paired romantically on screen with
women several decades younger than they are; for example, Clint Eastwood, Sean
Connery, and Jack Nicholson have continued to play romantic lead roles well
into their 70s. But as women approach midlife they begin to disappear from the
Hollywood scene. Some who have had cosmetic surgery can hang on to their
careers into their 40s, but eventually they find that there are few roles for them
unless they start production companies and develop film projects for themselves.
In the 2003 film Something’s Gotta Give Diane Keaton played a woman in her
50s who stole her daughter’s lover played by Jack Nicholson. It was both a shock
and a delight to see Keaton on the screen—beautiful, yet clearly showing signs
of age that had not been surgically altered. In a content analysis of the top 100
grossing Hollywood films of 2002, Lauzen and Dozier (2005) found that midlife
and older women were seen on screen significantly less often than their male peers.
As female characters aged, they were less likely to have goals or a purpose to their
lives; as male characters aged, they were more likely to have power.
The same invisibility of midlife and older women is found on U.S. broadcast
television. Over the years a number of content analyses (Gerbner et al., 1980;
Glascock, 2001; Vernon et al., 1991) of prime time television programming have
shown that the majority of female characters are 35 years old or younger, whereas
male characters are more evenly distributed across the age range—at least up to
the mid-50s. Davis (1990) found little gender difference in the number of female
(12.1%) and male (14.8%) characters over age 50, but Vernon et al. (1991) pointed
out that older men tend to be portrayed more positively than older women. The
invisibility of older women is as common in news and public affairs programming
as it is in entertainment programming. Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright
is the only older woman I regularly see on these programs, and it is not unusual
to find her on a panel with a number of men her age and older, usually being
interviewed by male journalists over age 50. Barbara Walters has managed to
continue her career well beyond the age when most women on television fade
8 Joan C. Chrisler

away, but she has had cosmetic surgeries over the years so that she does not look
her age. Mike Wallace, Jim Lehrer, and other older men are able to continue their
news careers as long as they like without altering their signs of aging, which are
interpreted by viewers as indications of their wisdom and experience.
Women over 50 also are neglected in both popular and scholarly literature. Most
books about midlife women are focused on menopause. A 1990 special issue of
Psychology of Women Quarterly (PWQ) titled “Women at Midlife and Beyond”
(edited by Violet Franks and Iris Fodor) was intended to encourage research on
the many aspects of midlife and older women’s lives. It is certainly true that more
research is available now than when the issue was published, but much of what is
available concerns women over 65. At the end of her 5 years as editor of PWQ,
Jackie White (2005) looked back over the articles she had published and found that
only 20% of those articles contained any data from women over 50. She concluded
that women over 30 are an under-researched population. As I prepared to write this
chapter I read a number of articles in which the body image of college students
was compared to that of a convenience sample of older women. “Older women”
was often broadly defined, for example, as women ages 30 to 84. It seems obvious
that concerns of women in their 30s will differ (at least to some extent) from those
of women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, but how are we to tell what those
differences are if researchers see any woman who is over 30 as “old”?
So what are women over 50 to think, and how are they to feel, about themselves
if they cannot see other women their age in magazines and newspapers, in films
and on television, or find their lives reflected in the contents of bookstore shelves
or the pages of scholarly journals? The focus on menopause as the paramount
issue of women in their 50s drives home the message that what is important about
midlife is the end of youth and fertility. Once women have passed reproductive
age, the culture seems to say, they are no longer interesting. No one cares about
them. No one wants to see them or hear what they have to say. As Piercy (2006,
p. 2) put it, “but to your prophecies only your cats will listen.”

What Is Body Image?

Body image can be defined as individuals’ appraisals of and feelings about their
bodies and bodily functions (Cornwell & Schmitt, 1990). Body image is a cog-
nition, an internal and subjective representation or map of physical appearance,
sensation, motion, and other bodily experiences (Pruzinsky & Cash, 1990). It en-
compasses such aspects as weight consciousness; satisfaction or dissatisfaction
with various parts of the body; proprioception, interoceptive awareness, balance,
and other bodily sensations; understanding of one’s skills and physical abilities;
and adjustment to changes in the body that result from injury, aging, or illness.
Body image is an important part of people’s self-concept and, as such, provides a
basis for our identity (Chrisler & Ghiz, 1993). It acts as a standard that influences
not only the way we think about ourselves, but also our ability to perform vari-
ous activities and the goals we set for the future (O’Brien, 1980). Although body
image does not alter from day to day, it should not be considered fixed or static
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 9

(Pruzinsky & Cash, 1990). It develops throughout life as a result of maturation,

sensory and behavioral experience, physical appearance, somatic changes, societal
and cultural norms, and the reactions of other people (O’Brien, 1980).
Until recently psychological researchers have all but ignored body image issues
of midlife and older women; most of their attention has been focused on adolescents
and young adults, perhaps because of the connection between a poor body image
and the development of eating disorders, or perhaps because researchers think that
attractive and active bodies are more important to younger than to older people.
The medical researchers who have investigated the topic have been primarily
concerned with the impact of surgery or chronic illness on body image. Midlife is
a time when people begin to be diagnosed in large numbers with chronic illnesses,
so that is certainly an important topic to investigate, but it does not represent the
only concern midlife women might have. Because of Western societies’ creation of
a strong beauty culture and insistence that women pursue an illusive beauty ideal
(Freedman, 1986; Saltzberg & Chrisler, 1995; Wolf, 1991), because of the tendency
in many societies to see youth and beauty as synonymous (Alderson, 1991), and
because of the tendency to define woman as her body (Greenspan, 1983) or woman
as her face (Sontag, 1979), one can expect to find women reporting body image
concerns as they adjust to bodily changes that are concomitant with aging.

Weight Consciousness
The body’s basal metabolic rate slows down with age, and is accompanied by a
decrease in lean body tissue and an increase in fat (Rodin et al., 1984). A study
(Young et al., 1963) of a large sample of midlife and older women showed an
increase in body fat composition after age 50. The mean percentage of body fat
in women in their 40s was 23%; it was 46% in women in their 50s, and 55% in
women in their 60s. Women tend to gain weight at each of the major reproductive
milestones (menarche, pregnancy, and menopause; Rodin et al., 1984), and the
average age of menopause in North America is 51 years. Furthermore, weight may
become redistributed during perimenopause, which results in larger breasts and
waist and increased fat on the upper back (Voda et al., 1991). To put it simply,
women should expect to gain weight and change shape as they get older, media
ideals notwithstanding.
A number of researchers have reported weight-related concerns among midlife
women. Wilcox (1996) surveyed women and men ages 20 to 80 about physical
health status and attitudes toward their bodies. Older women with greater body
mass index (BMI) reported more negative attitudes than did younger women or
age peers with lower BMI. Donaldson (1994) surveyed 180 women ages 40 to 59,
and found that weight status was the largest predictor of body image at midlife.
Disparaging oneself and “feeling fat” were particularly related to the salience of
body weight and shape, especially weight gain in the lower body. Lesbians were
less concerned than straight women were about lower body fatness. McFarland
(1999) conducted in-depth interviews with 10 midlife women about their body
image at various points in their lives. The women frequently brought up weight
10 Joan C. Chrisler

gain and loss, which they seemed to see as evidence of their competence and their
success or failure. Weight-related comments were made about both appearance
and health concerns.
Markey et al. (2004) surveyed 172 midlife married couples in the northeastern
United States for a study of family health. They reported that the wives were
much more dissatisfied with their own bodies than the husbands were with their
wives’ bodies. The wives estimated that their husbands were much less satisfied
than they actually were with their wives’ appearance, and the wives selected a
smaller body from the Figure Rating Scale (FRS) than their husbands did as the
ideal for women their age. Wives’ BMI was not strongly related to the husbands’
satisfaction with their wives’ bodies. This study is interesting in that it supports the
results of previous studies (Fallon & Rozin, 1985; Miller, 2001; Rozin & Fallon,
1988) that have shown a discrepancy between what body size and shape men think
is most attractive and what size and shape women think that men think is most
attractive. Men generally choose a larger body size for women than women chose
for themselves. If women allowed themselves to believe their partners when they
say “You look fine to me,” then women might feel more comfortable with body
changes that occur at midlife.
Although eating disorders are usually associated with adolescent and young
adult women, evidence of disordered eating has also been documented in midlife
women. As the studies reviewed are all cross-sectional, it is impossible to tell
whether the women in question had had eating disorders earlier in life or whether
their disordered attitudes and behaviors emerged in midlife in reaction to age-
related weight gain. Lewis and Cachelin (2001) reported that midlife women (ages
50 to 65) had higher scores on the Eating Disorders Inventory than did older
women (ages 66 and older). They found positive correlations between fears of
aging and attitudes and behaviors associated with disordered eating. Gupta and
Schork (1993) also reported a direct connection between aging-related concerns
and drive for thinness in a sample of 200 women (ages 30s to 50s) who were
surveyed at a shopping mall.
However, not all midlife women hold themselves to unrealistic weight standards.
Deeks and McCabe (2001) surveyed 304 women (ages 35 to 65) drawn from the
community in and around Melbourne, Australia. The found that the premenopausal
women selected smaller figures from the FRS than peri- and postmenopausal
women did in response to a question about how society expected them to look.
In a comparison of college students to a community sample of adults over age 39
from the southeastern United States, Lamb et al. (1993) found that women in both
age groups would like to be thinner, but the young women chose a much thinner
figure from the FRS as their ideal. These studies suggest that midlife women do
not think that they are expected to measure up to the ideal weight standards to
which younger women aspire. Furthermore, in a survey of 180 women (ages 18
to 60) Tiggemann and Stevens (1999) found that stronger feminist attitudes were
correlated with lower weight concern, and Stevens et al. (1994) reported that the
older Black women they surveyed were less likely than the older White women
to consider themselves overweight. The White women also chose a smaller ideal
body size on the FRS than the Black women did.
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 11

Body Esteem and Self-esteem

Body image is related to self-esteem in all age groups (Davidson & McCabe, 2005).
Tiggemann and Stevens (1999) found that weight-related concerns predicted low
self-esteem in women ages 30 to 49, but not in women over 50. Rackley et al.
(1988) reported that high self-esteem and positive body image were correlated in
a sample of midlife women. Other aspects that correlated with body image in their
sample were feelings of self-worth, internal locus of control, and ratings of physical
attractiveness. Stokes and Frederick-Recascino (2003) surveyed 144 U.S. women
ages 18 to 87, and found no age-related differences in body esteem. They did,
however, find that happiness predicted positive body esteem, which they measured
as sexual attractiveness, weight concern, and physical condition. Related results
were found by Fooken (1994) in her study of 60 German women ages 57 to 86.
Those with a more positive body image had greater psychological well-being and
were more likely than those with body image concerns to be sexually active. It is
interesting to note that one of Fooken’s body image measures was the question:
“How do you feel about being naked and nakedness?”
A large literature (e.g., Chrisler & Lamont, 2002; Hays, 1999; Pettus, 2001)
demonstrates the positive relations between physical activity and self-esteem and
body image. However, women with poor body esteem often avoid activities (e.g.,
exercise) and situations that might improve their well-being (McLaren & Kuh,
2004). For example, Segar et al. (in press) found that midlife women who endorsed
body shape motives for exercise were actually less physically active than those
who exercised for other reasons. In an exercise intervention study with women
ages 50 to 75, Shaw et al. (2000) found that, at baseline, percent of body fat was
associated with poor physical self-concept and negative perceptions of physical
appearance, but not associated with self-esteem. After the 9-month supervised
exercise program, however, decrease in percent of body fat predicted improved
perceptions of physical appearance, and the improvement was greatest in those
women who had had lower self-esteem at baseline. In addition to its contribution
to weight loss, exercise contributes to self-esteem and empowerment in a variety of
ways. Building cardiovascular fitness and developing muscles results in physical
strength, stamina, and increased energy. Enhanced fitness and strength contribute
to independence and well-being as women find that they can do more things for
themselves. Self-strengthening also reinforces self-efficacy, the belief that one is
able to do what one wants to do (Chrisler & Lamont, 2002). These benefits of
physical activity are important at any age, but perhaps even more so for midlife
and older women.
McKinley (1999) recruited a sample of women college students (ages 17 to 22)
and their mothers (ages 38 to 58) and surveyed them about their body image. The
daughters had significantly higher scores on measures of body surveillance and
body shame than their mothers did. There were no differences in body esteem
between the groups even though the mothers weighed more and were less satisfied
with their weight than the daughters were. Body esteem more strongly related to
daughters’ well-being than it did to mothers’. These data are interesting because
they speak to the multidimensionality of both body image and self-esteem. Midlife
12 Joan C. Chrisler

women can be dissatisfied with their weight, yet not ashamed of it. They can
feel good about themselves without experiencing the need to keep their physical
appearance constantly in mind. McKinley (in press) surveyed the same women 10
years later and found that the mothers’ (ages 48 to 68) body-esteem was relatively
stable, even though their BMI had increased and they were exercising and dieting
more. These data are consistent with some of the comments made by McFarland’s
midlife participants who said that they had learned to take care of their bodies
and to judge them less harshly; they drew their self-esteem primarily from their
accomplishments (McFarland, 1999).
McKinley (2004) also studied body esteem in a sample of 128 women ages
21 to 63, who were recruited from a list of subscribers to Radiance, a magazine
aimed at heavy weight women. Among the questions she asked them were items
about prejudice and discrimination against fat people and the need to seek social
justice remedies. Those who endorsed the need for social change in attitudes
toward fat people had higher body esteem and self-acceptance than did those who
only endorsed the need for individuals to learn to accept themselves regardless of
body size. In her in-depth interviews with 11 midlife Canadian women (ages 40
to 53) Banister (1999) heard comments from some women who actively resisted
cultural beauty standards by labeling them as oppressive. The results of these two
studies, combined with the findings of Tiggemann and Stevens (1999), suggest
that midlife women’s body esteem and self-esteem can be protected, at least to
some extent, if they have a high consciousness of social justice issues. If cultural
messages and societal strictures can be labeled as examples of sexism, ageism, or
sizism, they can be more easily rejected. Perhaps midlife women would benefit
from a revival of the consciousness-raising groups that were popular in the 1970s,
which would provide an opportunity to discuss oppressive constraints on positive
aging. Participants in such groups would no doubt come to the conclusion that the
personal is still political.

Appearance Dissatisfaction
Research on the psychology of appearance has shown that qualities of the face
are the most important determiners of attractiveness and that injury or illness that
results in scarring or mutilation of the face and neck is the most difficult for people
to accept (Bernstein, 1990). The Western beauty ideal demands a smooth, soft,
and blemish-free face, but skin changes that occur with aging make this more and
more difficult to achieve as the skin of the face and neck becomes drier and start
to flake, loosen, and crease. Wrinkles or warts may appear on the face and “age”
spot on the hands. In addition the hair may become thinner and grayer. The extent
of these changes varies among individuals due to both genetic and environmental
effects (Bernstein, 1990). Although the body image literature suggests that gradual
changes (such as those caused by aging) are easier to adapt to than sudden changes
(such as those caused by injuries) (Pruzinsky & Cash, 1990), such adaptation may
be easier said than done for women, especially for those who have been closest to
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 13

the beauty ideal, than it is for men due to the prevalent double standard of aging
(Bernard, 1981; Sontag, 1979).
In a study of 268 adults (ages 18 to 80) from the southwestern United States,
Harris (1994) found that signs of aging in both women and men were considered
unattractive, but especially so in women. The participants expected women, more
so than men, to take steps to conceal signs of aging as they appeared, and the women
who participated in the study were significantly more likely than the men were
to use (or to expect to use in the future) age concealment products or techniques.
Harris’ study is particularly interesting because, in addition to the attitudes survey,
she asked participants to read scenarios in which midlife characters either did or
did not make use of age concealment techniques. The participants judged those
characters who tried to conceal their age more harshly than those who did not (i.e.,
they gave them higher ratings on such adjectives as “conceited,” “foolish,” “vain,”
“pathetic”), and this was true even for those participants who themselves practiced
(or expected to practice) age concealment. McFarland’s participants mentioned
gray hair, wrinkles, double chins, and facial hair as signs of aging that they disliked
(McFarland, 1999). Although some of the women were resigned to or philosophical
about the changes, others worried that signs of aging could threaten their economic
security by making it more difficult for them to get or keep a job, and they may be
right about that given Harris’ findings.
McLaren and Kuh (2004) reported high rates of body dissatisfaction among
their sample of Canadian women in their 50s. When the researchers controlled
for BMI, they found that body dissatisfaction was higher in women with higher
socioeconomic status. Women with high socioeconomic status are likely to have
the resources (e.g., time to exercise, money for cosmetics and surgery) necessary
to allow them to approach the cultural beauty standard. Thus, we should not be
surprised that they would worry more than other women about deviating further
from the standard as they age. Yet, body dissatisfaction at midlife has been doc-
umented even in groups that are relatively protected from mainstream cultural
beauty standards. Platte et al. (2000) surveyed a sample of Old Order Amish in
rural Pennsylvania and found that older people (ages 45 to 66) were significantly
more likely than younger people (ages 14 to 22) to report body dissatisfaction.
Older women also tended to overestimate their body size.
However, not all studies show dissatisfaction with appearance at midlife. Deeks
and McCabe (2001) reported that the older women in their sample (ages 35 to
65) were not more dissatisfied with their bodies overall than were the younger
women, and Ross et al. (1989) reported that healthy older people (ages 62 to 79),
although more conscious of their physical appearance than younger people (ages
17 to 28), actually evaluated their bodies more positively than the younger people
did. In a survey of 678 women (ages 16 to 70) in the United Kingdom about their
grooming rituals, Toerien et al. (2005) found that women over 50 were much less
likely than younger women to remove their body hair, which suggests a willingness
to deviate from the beauty standard. Davidson and McCabe (2005) reported that
women in their 30s and 40s obtained higher body dissatisfaction scores and made
more attempts at body concealment than did the younger and older women in their
14 Joan C. Chrisler

sample. The older women were less likely than the younger ones to engage in
appearance comparisons, which suggests greater contentment with (or, at least,
greater acceptance of) their bodies. The older women who were very concerned
about other people’s evaluations of their appearance were more depressed and
anxious than the other women their age. In her interviews with 32 women ages 28 to
63, Giesen (1989) learned that single women were more likely than married women
to believe that they were becoming more attractive and sexually appealing with age.
Donaldson (1994) reported that the participants in her sample (ages 40 to 59)
had neutral to positive body image. They generally agreed that they were attractive
to themselves and to others. Foerster (2001) conducted in-depth interviews with
seven healthy women (ages 60 to 67), most of whom said that they were more
accepting of themselves on a variety of dimensions than they had been earlier
in life. The women referred to “making peace with” and “learning to like” their
bodies (p. 42). Five of the women said that they were generally satisfied with
their bodies, and three noted that their body image was better now than it had
been when they were younger. When Foerster asked specifically what the women
liked and disliked about their bodies, they mentioned disliking wrinkles, sagging
skin, changes in their hair, knee problems, and extra weight around the abdomen;
however, the majority said that they did not think about their looks very much. All
said that they got positive appraisals of their appearance from others, especially
their partners and friends. The women (ages 40 to 53) in Banister’s study expressed
similar mixed messages (Banister, 1999). Some spoke of being surprised to see
reflections in mirrors or shop windows that look older than the women themselves
feel. One recalled saying to herself: “My God, I look like my mother!” (p. 530).
Another said: “If I look at myself, especially early in the morning [and see] all
those wrinkles and saggy places, then I think, ‘Gosh, I guess I am getting older!’”
(p. 530). Yet another said: “. . . when I compare women my own age to women
who are really young the young women’s faces look so bland in a sense. . . . Life
hasn’t written its story on their faces” (p. 527).

Functional Dissatisfaction
Body image is as much about how the body functions and feels as it is about how
the body appears to others, yet psychological researchers have focused much more
on the body’s ornamentality than its instrumentality. Although there are multidi-
mensional measures of body image, in the research reviewed for this chapter the
most common measures were the FRS, the Body Esteem Scale, and the Objectified
Body Consciousness Scale, all of which are appearance-focused. Yet, we know
that aging-related changes in functionality begin to be noticed in midlife, and thus
may affect midlife women’s body image in various ways. Changes that accompany
aging or the onset and course of chronic illness may require the use of devices
such as hearing aids, eyeglasses, pacemakers, or canes. These affect both one’s
appearance and bodily experience, as do surgical scars, limps or stiffness that re-
sult from injury or arthritis, hot flashes, imbalance, or side effects of medications
(Hyman, 1987).
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 15

Changes in physical ability lead to restrictions in social and personal activities,

which often result in lower self-esteem (Roberto & McGraw, 1991), as well as al-
terations in body image and self-concept. Osteoporosis is an example of a common
disorder of older women that has physical, psychological, and social consequences.
The fear of falling and fracturing a bone can cause women to restrict their activities
(Roberto, 1990). Changes in body image have also been documented in women
with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (Cornwell & Schmitt,
1990). Body image disturbance was worse in the arthritis patients and more clearly
related to the disease process, as the women reported that their major problems
were due to mobility restriction. Body image disturbance in lupus patients was
more closely related to the side effects of their medical regimen, and they reported
that their major problems were fatigue and the need to avoid the sun. Cancer
surgery, radiation treatments, and chemotherapy often cause fatigue, disfigure-
ment, hair loss, and other physical changes that require psychological adjustment.
Researchers have described body image issues in head and neck cancer (Bernstein,
1990), intestinal cancer (MacRitchie, 1980), breast cancer (e.g., Kriss & Kramer,
1986; Spencer et al., 1999), and uterine cancer (Schumacher, 1990). Allen and
Wellard (2001) conducted in-depth interviews with four older women (ages 69 to
79) who recently had undergone cardiac surgery and now had large scars on their
chests as a result of the sternotomy incision. The women reported that prior to the
surgery they had been worried that they would be ashamed of the scars, that their
partners would find them ugly, and that it would be difficult to find clothing that
would conceal them. In retrospect, they were psychologically unaffected by the
scars; health-related concerns were much more important to them.
Much of the psychosocial literature on breast cancer is informed by the as-
sumption that mastectomy is psychologically devastating to women, much more
so than any other type of amputation would be (Chrisler, 2001). This reflects the
American cultural obsession with women’s breasts and the belief that breasts are
central to womanhood (Latteier, 1998). Thus, clinicians and American Cancer
Society volunteers focus their efforts on body image issues, encourage women to
apply makeup and wear feminine apparel after surgery, and urge women to have
breast reconstruction surgery for mental health reasons (Kasper, 1995; Wilkinson
& Kitzinger, 1993). However, in their review of the literature, Meyerowitz and
Hart (1995) found that women with breast cancer do not report more distress than
do women with other types of cancer or than do men with cancer. Women’s main
concerns are more likely to be survival, obtaining the best medical advice they
can, worries about cancer recurrence, and questions about strength and physical
ability after cancer treatment. Recent studies (Pecor, 2004; Spencer et al., 1999)
of women who have been treated for breast cancer indicate that younger women
exhibit more distress, more body dissatisfaction, and more sexual and partner-
related concerns than do midlife and older women. There is some evidence that
Black women are less distressed (Pecor, 2004) and Latinas have more body image
disturbance (Spencer et al., 1999) than others after breast cancer surgery. Pecor
(2004) theorized that older married women are more secure in their relationships
and that older women in general, having experienced menopause, have learned to
cope with bodily changes. Younger women are also, no doubt, more vulnerable to
16 Joan C. Chrisler

demands that they pursue the beauty ideal, and, before surgery, they had a better
chance than midlife or older women of approaching it.

Menopause
The very fact of menopause requires an alteration in body image. Whether the
cessation of the menstrual cycle is greeted with sadness, indifference, or relief it
changes the way we think about our bodies (Chrisler & Ghiz, 1993). In addition,
the physical signs (e.g., vaginal dryness, dry skin, thinning hair) that typically
accompany menopause can affect body image. Vasomotor instability (e.g., hot
flashes, night sweats) might make a woman feel that her once reliable body is out
of control (Chrisler & Ghiz, 1993). How easily women adjust their body image in
response to perimenopausal changes remains unclear, as most of the research on
body image at midlife concerns weight and other aspects of appearance and body
esteem.
Perimenopausal women in the United States have been depicted by the media
as “diseased, hormone deficient, sexless, irritable, and depressed . . . and as passive
victims of their changing hormones” (Golub, 1992, p. 215). This view has been
encouraged by physicians and the pharmaceutical industry since the development
in the 1960s of hormone replacement therapy (HRT; in earlier years—estrogen
replacement therapy or ERT). Most books and magazine articles about menopause
have examined the topic from a biomedical perspective, and, over the years, have
suggested that HRT would keep women youthful, attractive, and both physically
and mentally healthy (Chrisler et al., 1989; Gannon & Stevens, 1998). Although
the promises of youth and beauty were debunked early on, beauty and health
have since been conflated in our contemporary consumer culture, and television
advertisements in the 1990s that featured supermodel Lauren Hutton (and other
less known but attractive models) urging viewers to ask their doctors if HRT is
right for them have no doubt perpetuated these old notions without naming them
specifically. When the results of the Women’s Health Initiative trials demonstrated
that HRT is less beneficial (and for some women even harmful) than had been
widely thought, many peri- and postmenopausal women stopped (or decided not to
start) using HRT. However, it had been used primarily by well-educated, upper and
upper-middle class women, those women who were, perhaps, closest to the cultural
beauty standard and most interested in approaching it. In Deeks and McCabe’s
2001 study, for example, only 18.4% of the peri- and postmenopausal participants
reported current HRT use; another 3.9% had tried it but discontinued use.
Studies (Dillaway, 2005; Elson, 2002; Foerster, 2001; Maoz et al., 1970;
Neugarten et al., 1968; Theisen et al., 1991) of women’s attitudes toward
menopause generally indicate ambivalence, or a mix of positive and negative atti-
tudes. The realization that the fertility years are over is a stark reminder of aging
for some women, and attitudes toward menopause are tied up with attitudes toward
aging in general. The negative aspects that women have reported include the onset
of aging, loss of fertility, loss of femininity, worries about emotional disturbance,
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 17

worries about physical health, concerns about age-related changes rendering them
unattractive or invisible, and a general sense that menopause has come too soon.
Positive aspects of menopause that women have reported include no further need
for contraception, no more menstrual periods, and a general sense of freedom
from reproductive-related cares. It is interesting that younger women tend to have
more negative attitudes toward menopause than older women do (Foerster, 2001;
Neugarten et al., 1968). Foerster’s participants (in their 60s) said that they had had
negative expectations of the menopausal transition, but found that it was not so
bad in retrospect. Some reported few, if any, physical symptoms; others reported
“some symptoms or changes in appearance but were not bothered by them” (p. 42).
The older women in Neugarten et al.’s classic study provide support for Margaret
Mead’s concept of “postmenopausal zest.” They described postmenopausal women
as “feeling better, more confident, calmer, and freer than before” (Golub, 1992,
p. 216). In fact, most researchers report that women say that the worst thing about
menopause is not knowing what to expect. It seems reasonable to predict that
women with more positive (on balance) attitudes toward menopause would have
an easier adjustment to menopause-related changes in body image, but there are,
as yet, no data available to support or refute this hypothesis.

Midlife Body Image in the Context of Women’s Lives

It is not surprising that when researchers ask women of any age how they feel
about their bodies the women will respond with negative comments. The illusive
beauty ideal and the cultural expectation of feminine modesty may combine to lead
women to rate themselves toward the lower end of the scale when they evaluate
their bodies, and this may be especially true on questionnaires that present women
with a series of body parts. If women are asked “How satisfied are you with
your thighs? With your nose? With your legs?”, the demand is clearly for less than
complete satisfaction. Even women who tend not to focus on their looks may think,
“Well, my thighs are rather large, my nose could be cuter, etc.” But if women in
qualitative studies of midlife and aging routinely bring up body image concerns,
that might be more persuasive evidence that body image issues are a problem.
Several recent studies suggest that body image issues are not near the top of the
list of midlife women’s concerns. Burns and Leonard (2005) conducted in-depth
interviews with 60 midlife Australian women: 20 born between 1951 and 1956,
20 born between 1941 and 1946, and 20 born between 1931 and 1936. They began
the interviews with an interesting strategy: the women were asked to think of
their lives as a book and name the chapters. The chapter titles typically concerned
turning points in life. It is interesting that the word “contentment” often appeared
in the midlife chapter. The women saw midlife as a more satisfying time of life
than most times in their past. It was described as a “break-out” time for women
to try new things and leave behind old routines. Midlife represented more gains
than losses and was considered to be a time of lowered stress due to children
leaving home, retirement from jobs, and “living my own life at last” (p. 274). The
18 Joan C. Chrisler

women stressed the importance of self-actualization at midlife, and some actively

questioned the traditional feminine gender role. Femininity might include beauty
standards, but there was no mention of these in the article, which suggests that
comments about bodily changes were not a common theme in the interviews.
Arnold (2005) surveyed 23 U.S. women ages 50 to 63, who were asked to write
narratives in answer to a series of open-ended questions. Several of the questions
could have provided space for women to raise body image concerns: “As you think
about your life now, compared to your life in your 40s, in what ways (if any) has
it changed?”, “In what ways (if any) do you think you are different in the way you
think and feel about things?”, “Can you identify any specific life change events that
have contributed to your current sense of self?”, “As you think about the future,
what are the things that concern or worry you the most?” (p. 637). Only two partic-
ipants mentioned menopause as a life change event. The most prominent themes
Arnold identified were “stepping out of the mold” (e.g., taking risks, dropping role
demands, ignoring “shoulds”), “letting go” (e.g., of unrealistic expectations, of the
need to acquire material goods), “walking in balance” (e.g., reordering priorities,
seeking spiritual fulfillment, trusting oneself), “moving in new directions” (e.g.,
finding outlets for creative self-expression, finding new energy and zest for living,
embarking on new careers), “redefining relationships” (e.g., moving away from
stereotypical role boundaries, negotiating intimate relationships in more authentic
ways), “freedom to be” (becoming more self-assured, making one’s own choices),
and “time as a precious commodity” (e.g., recognizing that life is finite and fragile,
becoming more selective about how to spend one’s time). None of the examples
Arnold reported concern body image or body esteem explicitly, yet several themes
are clearly related to a new (or increased) self-acceptance that might include the
body. Learning to ignore shoulds, letting go of unrealistic expectations, finding
new energy, making one’s own choices, realizing that life is finite, and being more
self-assured all should lead to greater acceptance and appreciation of the body one
has and less time spent thinking about and pursuing an illusive beauty ideal.
The results of the Burns and Leonard (2005) and Arnold (2005) studies make
an interesting contrast to Banister’s in-depth interviews with 11 midlife Canadian
women (ages 40 to 53) in which they were specifically asked about their changing
bodies (Banister, 1999). Banister’s participants provided the same mix of positive
and negative comments that have been reported in the attitudes toward menopause
studies. The women commented that they’ve gained weight, that the menopausal
body “is unfamiliar again” (p. 527), that “things are falling” (p. 526), and that
they feel “different” (p. 529). They spoke about their growing awareness that life
is finite, which Banister connected to their “loss of youthful appearance, loss of
youthful energy, and loss of fertility” (p. 529). Yet the comments of the individual
women often showed more body acceptance than the general themes might suggest.
One said: “Now in some ways I am influenced by our culture . . . in other ways I’m
pretty happy with my body” (p. 526). Another said: “There’s a bit more weight
here and there, but I feel that my body looks good for being 52” (p. 526). One of
the main themes in the interviews was “caring for self,” which referred to physical,
psychological, and spiritual self-care. The women said that they were learning to
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 19

question social norms and cultural expectations, to put their own needs first, to
put time and effort into taking care of their bodies, and to reflect on being a part
of nature. These comments are similar to those made by Arnold’s and Burns and
Leonard’s participants, and, again, they indicate a blend of bodily acceptance and
self-redefinition that suggests that the women are adjusting well to changes in their
body image.

Authenticity
The comments made by the participants in the qualitative studies reviewed above
suggest a midlife striving for authenticity. Some reasons why women value break-
ing out, redefinition of self, and the freedom “to be” are that the growth in wisdom
and self-confidence, the loosening of role demands (e.g., grown children, retire-
ment), and, yes, even the invisibility associated with midlife allow for greater
choice and flexibility in how one spends one’s time and energy. The realization
that life is finite, which accompanies midlife and is especially associated with
menopause and diagnoses of chronic illness, has the benefit of focusing the mind
on a reorganization of priorities that allows women to put their own needs first and
decide how to live their own lives. A conscious reorganization provides the perfect
opportunity for midlife women to decide to take care of their bodies (e.g., by feeding
them properly, allowing adequate time for rest, scheduling a massage) rather than
to torment their bodies (e.g., by chronic dieting, compulsive exercise, scheduling
a facelift) in an increasingly hopeless attempt to approach the beauty ideal.
Beauty rituals are time-consuming activities. Jokes about how long women take
to get ready to go out are based on the many tasks that women do (and men do
not) when they are getting dressed, and with age these rituals are more demanding
(Saltzberg & Chrisler, 1995). It takes time to pluck eyebrows, shave legs, mani-
cure nails, apply makeup, and arrange hair. Women’s clothing is more complicated
than men’s (especially at midlife when body shape changes make “foundation gar-
ments” necessary if women wish to wear fashionable clothes). Although all women
know that the “transformation from female to feminine is artificial” (Chapkis, 1986,
p. 5), we conspire to hide the amount of time and effort it takes, perhaps out of fear
that other women do not need as much time as we do to appear beautiful (Saltzberg
& Chrisler, 1995). To be artificial, of course, is to be inauthentic. To choose to be
authentic is to gain time (and money!) for more important or pleasurable pursuits.
Yet to turn one’s back on the beauty ideal after years of pursuing it is easier
said than done. Cultural messages that to “age gracefully” is to “age successfully”
(Calasanti et al., 2006) merge with messages that promote the importance of beauty
and thinness for women of all ages to encourage midlife women to “pass” as
young for as long as they can (Ostenson, 2004). Passing, whether it refers to
light-skinned African Americans “allowing” others to assume they are “White” or
lesbians wearing mainstream attire and keeping quiet about their personal lives so
that others will assume they are heterosexual, can involve one-time, temporary acts
(e.g., lying about one’s age on a job application, getting a botox injection) or an act
20 Joan C. Chrisler

or series of acts with long-term implications (e.g., regularly coloring one’s gray
hair, getting a facelift). Regardless of whether passing is applauded (“you look
so young for your age!”) or denigrated (e.g., people who conceal signs of aging
are pathetic; Harris, 1994), it is an inauthentic act, a denial of a person’s identity,
experience, and maturity (Ostenson, 2004). A preoccupation with passing will not
help women to experience the striving for authenticity reported by the midlife
women in the qualitative studies discussed above; in fact, it might hinder their
ability to relax into living their own lives.
Cultural messages about beauty and femininity overlap, as the former is gen-
erally considered to be a prerequisite for the latter. Therefore, feminine women
may place more emphasis on beauty (Gillen & Lefkowitz, in press) and may have
a harder time adjusting to bodily changes at midlife. Pliner et al. (1990) reported
a correlation between high femininity scores and greater appearance orientation
in girls and women ages 10 to 79. Pecor (2004) found that women with higher
femininity scores reported more distress and poorer psychosocial adjustment after
breast cancer surgery than did women who were classified as masculine or androg-
ynous, and Mahalik et al. (2005) included subscales on “thinness” and “investment
in appearance” in their new Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory. Cultural
messages about femininity also encourage inauthenticity in interpersonal relation-
ships (e.g., women should fake orgasms and express interest in whatever topics
or hobbies interest their partners), and Gillen and Lefkowitz (in press) found that
women college students who were less instrumental and more inauthentic in their
relationships also had more negative attitudes toward their bodies.
It would be interesting to know whether high femininity predicts more body
image concerns at midlife, and there is some evidence to support this notion. For
example, lesbians (Donaldson, 1994) and feminists (Tiggemann & Stevens, 1999)
express less weight concern that other women do, and they are also probably more
likely than heterosexual nonfeminists to question traditional gender roles and gen-
dered expectations. Perhaps Black women are less likely to consider themselves
overweight (Stevens et al., 1994) and less distressed after breast cancer treatment
(Pecor, 2004) because Black women are more likely than White women to behave
androgynously. Latinas, on the other hand, are generally thought to be more tradi-
tional in their gender role attitudes, and that might account for part of the reason
why they have been shown to be more distressed than Black and White women after
breast cancer treatment (Spencer et al., 1999). In addition, participants in the qual-
itative studies (Arnold, 2005; Burns & Leonard, 2005) mentioned that as they aged
they increasingly questioned (and resisted) the traditional feminine gender role.

Conclusion
Much remains to be learned about body image issues and adjustments of women
over 50. What little we know is concentrated on weight and appearance; much
less work has been done on functional changes and on the menopausal transition.
There are hints that women who are in better health, who are in stable long-term
relationships and/or are sexually active, and who are more nontraditional in their
 1. Body Image Issues of Women Over 50 21

gender role orientation will have a more positive body image at midlife. However,
these relations need to be tested directly.
Furthermore, the research on midlife and older women rarely includes longi-
tudinal data or samples large enough to contrast cohorts with each other. In most
cases there is no way to know if women in their 50s differ from women in their 40s,
60s, and 70s. It is also impossible at this point to tell whether data about women
in their 50s today would differ from data about women who were in their 50s 20
years ago or those who will be in their 50s 20 years from now. Women who are
currently in their 50s and 60s were impacted strongly by the Women’s Liberation
Movement, and, therefore, one might expect them to be less traditional in their
attitudes, more comfortable with themselves, and more willing to resist cultural
messages that they should take steps to conceal signs of aging and pass as younger
than they are. One can only wonder about how women in their 20s and 30s today,
the so-called postfeminist generation, will cope with aging. They came of age in
a time of hyperconsumerism, where there is a “cure” for almost everything and
where women are expected to be both beautiful and high achieving. Only time will
tell how they will confront signs of aging.
It is interesting that the quantitative studies of body esteem and appearance
concerns yield different information than do qualitative studies that address midlife
and aging more generally. Perhaps what we need are mixed method studies in which
both standardized scales and interviews or focus groups are used. This might help
us to understand how focused women are on bodily changes and concerns and, if
negative body image is an important issue for them, to provide clues about how to
design appropriate interventions.
Like most things in life, aging is neither all good nor all bad. Experience, mat-
uration, development, lifecycle transitions, and even invisibility are both benefits
and challenges. Midlife, with its focus on finding balance and reorganizing pri-
orities, can be the perfect time to stop fighting our bodies and learn to appreciate
them. Our stretch marks, scars, gray hairs, and extra pounds are proof of who we
are and what we’ve been through to get where we are. Let us embrace the bodily
changes we like as well as those we do not, resist the impulse to alter ourselves
in inauthentic ways, and take good and gentle care of ourselves so that our bodies
will last long enough for us to gain even more wisdom and experience. Let us not
waste the precious time we have left in trying to be what we are not.

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2
Women and Sex at Midlife: Desire,
Dysfunction, and Diversity
Maureen C. McHugh

Are women likely to experience more sexual and relationship satisfaction in midlife
than in earlier periods of their lives? Which women are, and why? Does a woman
experience heterosexual partner sex more positively when she is no longer respon-
sible for birth control or parenting? In what ways, if any, do the sexual relations of
aging lesbians improve over time? Are women who are autoerotic more likely to be
in touch with their own sexual desire than women who are dependent on partners
for sexual arousal and activity? Is sexual authenticity an important component in
the positive sexual response of older women? These are examples of possible re-
search (and personal) questions that cannot be answered at this point. Researchers
have not typically investigated the possible positive sexual feelings and experi-
ences of women at midlife. Rather, the literature has focused almost exclusively
on the possible declines in sexual activity and desire allegedly experienced by
women as a result of declining hormones. The research on women and sexuality
at midlife both reflects and reifies the negative cultural views and disease-oriented
medical perspectives on aging that are present today in many societies. The current
research is reviewed acknowledging the degree to which limited perspectives on
women’s sexuality has limited our understanding of the sexuality of women at
midlife and beyond.
The idea that women’s sexuality declines at midlife, adversely affected by
menopause, is widely held by the general public and by many professionals. Mid-
dle age is a developmental stage marked by changes at multiple levels, and many
women report changes in their intimate relationships, as well as in sexual interest,
responsiveness, and behavior. Menopause, the cessation of the menstrual cycle
and the declining levels of estrogen, is only one aspect of the changes that occur
in middle-aged women’s lives. Menopause occurs during the 40s and 50s when
other aging processes also occur, when the woman’s roles and family structures
are often changing, when her partner, if she has one, is also aging, and when she is
viewed differently than younger women in her culture and society. Thus, there are
many potential influences on women’s intimate relationships and sexual responses
at midlife. A substantial amount of the research on women’s sexuality in midlife
and beyond has focused on the role of menopause and has been conducted from
within the medical or biological position. Research conducted from the biomedical

26
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 27

perspective emphasizes the relationship between declining hormones and declines

in women’s sexual desire, activity, and satisfaction. A medical perspective on
women’s sexuality has been increasingly emphasized, as researchers investigate
pharmaceutical “solutions” to women’s sexual “problems.”
Critics (e.g., Koch et al., 2005; Wood et al., in press) have pointed out that
the dominant perspective is based on a medical or physiological model of the
human sexual response cycle and upon the assumption that sexual desire is the
component in that cycle that is most influenced by hormonal factors. Although
many have linked changes in women’s sexual responsiveness at midlife to declining
hormones, an increasing number of researchers have criticized the biomedical
perspective on menopause and declining sexual response (e.g., Koch et al., 2005;
Morokoff, 1988; Tiefer, 1995; Voda & George, 1986). Existing models tend to
emphasize the physiological aspects of desire and minimize the importance of
contextual factors (Basson, 2002; Kaschak & Tiefer, 2001; Wood et al., in press).
In contrast, the feminist and social interpretive perspectives emphasize the ways
in which sexuality is influenced by other factors including relationship quality and
sociohistorical context (Koch et al., 2005). The research on the sexual desire of
women in their 50s is reviewed here from a feminist perspective.
To suggest that the sexuality of women at midlife is a function of menopause
homogenizes women. Even the documented biological effects of menopause are
experienced in a particular sociohistorical context, and women’s experience of
them is by no means homogenous. Women’s understanding of both menopause and
sexuality impacts their constructions of their own sexual experiences as satisfying
or problematic. In this chapter I emphasize the contextual factors that influence
women’s constructions of and experiences of menopause and sexuality at midlife.
My review also emphasizes the variability in women’s sexuality in midlife and
beyond and the possibilities presented by women’s accounts of their own lives.

Declining Hormones and Women’s Sexuality

Physical Effects of Menopause
Sexual enjoyment may be impacted by the physical changes that occur as estrogen
levels decline. One of the main effects of reduced estrogen levels is a reduction
in vaginal lubrication. After menopause, it often takes longer to become moist
during sexual arousal. However, it is important to realize that vaginal dryness
at this, or any, age may simply be an indication that the woman is not ready
for intercourse. With insufficient lubrication, penetration may be uncomfortable
or painful, and intercourse may lead to irritation or infection (Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective, 2005). During the menopausal transition, the vaginal walls
generally become thinner, drier, and less flexible, and they may be vulnerable
to tears and cracks. Some medications, such as antihistamines, may contribute
to vaginal dryness, and soaps, sprays, and perfumed toilet paper can irritate the
vulva (Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, 2005). As vaginal tissue becomes
28 Maureen C. McHugh

thinner, penetration may result in bleeding. Vaginal dryness and hot flashes, two
conditions that occur along with declining estrogen, have been linked to declining
sexual responsiveness (McCoy et al., 1985).
Both mental and physical health can impact sexual functioning. As women
age, various health conditions may impact their sexual response. Menopause-
related problems, such as heavy bleeding or urinary leaking, can adversely impact
women’s sexual interest and experience. Additional physical problems that can
impact sexual interactions were outlined by Diokno et al. (1990) based on research
with individuals 60 years of age or older: decreased mobility, incontinence, use of
sedatives, and a history of heart attacks. Other health problems experienced as a
result of aging, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, can also affect lovemaking
or sexual interest. Women may feel less sexual as a result of chronic or acute
illnesses due to pain or fatigue. Arthritic disease may hamper sexual activity. In
both research and clinical practice it is important to consider the impact of specific
health problems rather than simply attributing women’s problems or symptoms to
aging or menopause (Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, 2005).

Women’s Sexual Problems at Midlife and Beyond

The incidence of sexual problems is high among women of all ages (Leiblum &
Pervin, 1980), and women report increased sexual problems during the menopausal
years (Bachmann et al., 1989; Leiblum, 1990). When women’s sexual problems
are defined as discontent or dissatisfaction with any emotional, physical, or rela-
tional aspect of sexual experience, many women report that they have a “prob-
lem” (McHugh, in press). In a national survey of more than 2500 women, 99% of
women reported experiencing at least one of the 23 sexual problems listed (Ellison,
2001). Not only are there many problems, but there are many different causes and
contributing factors for women’s sexual problems (McHugh, in press; Williams,
2001).
Cole (1988) reported on clinical interviews with 100 women who were clients
at a Menopause Clinic; 85 of the 100 women reported at least one sexual problem.
Common problems included: vaginal dryness, loss of clitoral sensation, and de-
creased frequency of sex. Some of the reports from women suggest a loss of desire.
For example, women reported a loss of sex drive and interest, loss of enjoyment,
inability to become aroused, and lack of responsiveness. Some women reported
problems with masturbation as well as with partner sex. Similarly, Leiblum (1990)
reported that menopausal women in her study reported a decline in interest and
desire and problems attaining orgasm. Some women in each study reported the
experience of dyspareunia, that is, painful intercourse. The anticipation of painful
intercourse may interfere with relaxation and inhibit desire. In the research re-
ported by Diokno et al. (1990), 40% of the men said that they were having erectile
problems, and 9 to 10% of men and women said that they were having difficulty
with intercourse. Diokno et al. also found that sexual activity decreases with age.
In their sample of senior (60+) individuals, 66% of men, but only 32% of women,
reported that they were sexually active. In an early study conducted by the Center
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 29

for the Study of Aging at Duke University (Pfeiffer et al., 1972) declines in sex-
ual responsiveness were reported by both men and women. In that large study of
biologically and socially advantaged individuals born before 1900, respondents
indicated a substantial decline in sexual interest and activity; 6% of the men and
33% of the women reported not being interested in sex, and 12% of the men and
40% of the women reported no longer engaging in sex.

Declines in Women’s Sexual Desire

A common conclusion is that women experience a decrease in sexual desire as
a result of menopausal declines in hormones. For example, McCoy and David-
son (1985) investigated changes in sexual interest and coital frequency of a small
group of married women enrolled in a longitudinal study. The sample included
women who were premenopausal, perimenopausal, and menopausal. Participants
kept daily records of menstrual and coital events, gave regular blood samples, and
were interviewed at 4-month intervals until they were menopausal. At each inter-
view, participants rated their sexual experience, their symptoms, and their sexual
responsiveness for the past 30 days. The data indicate that menopause impacted lu-
brication and that coital frequency declined with menopause. The data also indicate
that sexual interest, as indicated by reported sexual thoughts or fantasies, decreased
with menopause; 14 of 16 participants reported such a decrease. In a related study
McCoy et al. (1985) studied a sample of White, middle-class, and highly educated,
middle-aged, perimenopausal women. The respondents reported changes in sex-
ual response as the fourth most common change they had experienced. Almost
one-half of the respondents reported that their current sexual response seemed
“different.” Experiencing less desire was the most commonly reported change
(54%), but 15% reported experiencing more desire. Approximately one-quarter of
the respondents reported each of the following changes: more enjoyment with a
partner, less enjoyment with a partner, and more difficulty experiencing orgasm.
Based on regression analyses, the authors reported that marital status and vaginal
dryness predicted changes in sexual desire and sexual enjoyment, and age was
also a significant predictor of changes in sexual enjoyment. Menopausal status,
however, did not predict any of the dependent variables of sexual desire, sexual
enjoyment, or experience of orgasm. Rather than emphasizing the physiological or
hormonal aspects of aging, the authors argued for the development of multiple and
more integrated approaches to the study of women’s sexuality across the lifespan.
Dennerstein et al. (1999, 2001) used a longitudinal analysis and structural equa-
tion modeling to disentangle the effects of change in menopausal status from the
effects of age on sexuality. Their longitudinal study (Dennerstein et al., 2001)
began in 1991 with a random sample of 2000 Australian women aged 45 to
55 years. Eight years later, the sexuality responses of women who had passed
through the menopausal transition were compared to those of women who re-
mained premenopausal and women who were postmenopausal for the same length
of time. The menopausal group reported a significant overall decline in sexual func-
tioning, especially in sexual responsivity. During this phase, the partner’s problems
30 Maureen C. McHugh

with sexual performance increased significantly, and women’s positive feelings for
the partner declined significantly. Frequency of sexual activity and sexual desire de-
creased most in the menopausal phase. The longitudinal study confirms the earlier
structural equation model finding that both age and menopausal status contribute
to declines in women’s sexual functioning. Although both analyses confirmed the
effects of aging and menopause, the authors stressed that women’s relationships
with their partners had a particularly powerful effect on women’s sexual desire, a
fact that is often lost in discussions of sexuality and aging.
To challenge the biomedical model, Mansfield et al. (2000) asked a sample of
505 White, married, middle-aged women about their sexual responses and their
own understanding of any changes. The women were recruited from the Tremin
Trust Research Program and from the 1963 graduating class of Douglass College.
Postmenopausal hormone users were not included. Forty percent of the respon-
dents indicated some change in their sexual response. The changes were primarily
decrements in desire, arousal, enjoyment, and/or decreases in the frequency of
sex and orgasm. The majority of those who reported changes reported: desiring
sex less (64%), having sex less often (57%), desiring more nongenital touching
(55%), and finding arousal more difficult (53%). The women attributed changes
involving a decline in their response to physical and emotional changes as related
to menopause, whereas increases in responsiveness were attributed to changing
life circumstances.
Note that the researchers who reported declining levels of sexual activity and/or
desire in midlife did not report that this was the case for all of the women in their
samples. Variability, including the fact that some women experience increases in
desire, can be found in the literature (Dennerstein et al., 2003; Hallstrom, 1977;
Hallstrom & Samuelson, 1990; Mansfield et al., 1998; McCoy & Davidson, 1985),
and not all researchers have reported a significant decline in women’s sexual
response during midlife. Increases in sexual response or a lack of substantive
changes have been reported (Bachmann et al., 1989; Dennerstein et al., 1997).
For example, no significant changes in pre- or postmenopausal sexual responses
of middle aged women were reported by the women in Cutler and colleagues’
study (Cutler et al., 1987). Women aged 33 to 56 were recruited from the Bay
area for a study of menopause and responded to a 31 item questionnaire that
assessed their sexual desire, sexual response, and sexual satisfaction in relation to
steroid levels in the perimenopausal period (Cutler et al., 1987). Questions about
frequency of masturbation, intercourse, sexual thoughts, and arousal, and items that
concerned satisfaction, pleasure, orgasm, distress, dysfunction, and dyspareunia
were examined in relation to changes related to the menstrual cycle. Women did
not report a decline in arousability; most reported that sexual arousal occurred
in every sexual episode. The overwhelming majority (86%) did not experience
deficits in lubrication, and dyspareunia was rarely encountered. No recent change
was perceived by the respondents in frequency of fantasies. However, women with
low estradiol levels did report a decline in frequency of intercourse.
Similarly, a longitudinal study of married women living in a Swedish city showed
evidence for stability of sexual desire through the premenopausal period (Hallstrom
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 31

& Samuelson, 1990). The research involved data collected from a representative
sample of 800 middle-aged, married women (from cohorts born in 1914, 1918,
1922, and 1930) who were interviewed twice, 6 years apart. Hallstrom and Samuel-
son (1990) reported on the changes in sexual desire for a subsample of 497 re-
spondents who lived with their partner at the time of both interviews. Present level
of sexual desire was assessed using a single item: Respondents characterized their
desire as absent, weak, moderate, or strong. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents
indicated the same level of sexual interest at both interviews, and very few women
indicated an absence of sexual desire. After the age of 50, no respondents reported
strong sexual interest, and increasing proportions of women reported little or no
sexual desire. By the age of 60, 39% reported no sexual desire. Over the 6-year pe-
riod, a change of sexual desire was reported by 37% of the women, 27% reported
a reduction in sexual interest, and 10% reported an increase. The data indicate
some regression to the mean for respondents who had indicated either strong or
absent sexual desire at Phase 1 of the study. Respondents who reported strong
sexual interest in the first interview later indicated a decline in interest; at the same
time, one-half of those who indicated a lack of interest at Phase 1 had regained
a weak to moderate sexual desire. A small number of women who indicated a
strong, moderate, or weak sexual desire at Phase 1 reported an absence of sexual
desire at Phase 2. The results of this study again suggest that for these cohorts of
married women, middle-age is characterized by stability of sexual interest rather
than by decline, although there was a trend toward decreasing sexual desire for the
older cohorts. The declines that were observed were associated with relationship
or mental health issues. Similar findings of stability of sexual desire were reported
for a comprehensive longitudinal study of sexual behavior in healthy older men
and women by the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at
Duke University (George & Weiler, 1981). Inconsistencies in the literature may
be the result of sample differences, including cultural and sociohistorical context,
age or health effects, and socioeconomic status, or may result from differences in
how researchers define or measure sexual desire and response.
In the recently published text, Kliger and Nedelman (2005) reported on their
multiple approaches to research on women’s sexual desire and self-esteem. They
collected survey data from 408 women in the 50 to 95 age range across the United
States, facilitated 10 focus groups with 100+ middle aged and senior women,
and conducted in depth interviews with 55 women in this age group. They were
interested in how older women age sexually, how women define and perceive
sexual desire, and their experiences of sexual desire. Kliger and Nedelman (2006)
found that desire tends to diminish with age; more than one-half of their sample
experienced a drop in desire, but 40% said that their desire was the same as ever
or was even greater. A very small number of respondents did not know what their
current level of desire was. The results of this research, although they indicated
a loss of desire for many women, may also be interpreted as favoring stability in
level of sexual desire.
In an exhaustive review of research on this topic Myers (1995) reported that,
although hormones do appear to be important for some aspects of postmenopausal
32 Maureen C. McHugh

sexuality, hormonal factors only account for a small portion of the variance in
the published studies. Myers argued that, based on her meta-analysis, the research
from 1972 to 1992 does not support the thesis that women’s hormones explain
much of the variance in women’s sexual response at midlife. Myers commented
on the lack of methodological quality in the literature, including the inadequacy
of measures, failure to include control groups, and confounding of variables, and
she encouraged researchers to expand their definitions of sexuality, to be more
complete in their descriptions of methods and results, and to be more attentive to
context.

A Critical Perspective on Research on Women’s

Lack of Desire
Measuring Desire
How do we conceptualize, define, and measure sexual desire in women? Myers
(1995) commented on the inadequacy of our measures, and called for more stan-
dardization to allow comparisons between samples. In some studies, a single item
was used to assess sexual desire; this is clearly inadequate. It is also problematic
to use sexual activity as an indicator of desire because, as Kinsey et al. (1953) sug-
gested, coital frequency may reflect men’s loss of desire rather than women’s. Al-
ternatively, low or decreased coital frequency may be the result of postmenopausal
women not having a partner or having a woman partner. Thus, there may not be very
close correspondence between women’s experience of desire and the frequency of
particular forms of sexual activity or women’s levels of satisfaction. Furthermore,
women may initiate or respond to sexual activity from a state of sexual neutrality
(Basson, 2002).
In some studies the measures of sexual desire might reflect an androcentric bias.
For example, sexual desire is sometimes operationalized as the number of fantasies
or sexual thoughts an individual reports. However, research indicates that women’s
fantasies are less frequent than men’s (Ellis & Symons, 1990). In a community
sample of women aged 40 or older, more than one-half of the participants reported
no fantasies or one or fewer fantasies (Cutler et al., 1987). Tolman (2001) chal-
lenged contemporary constructions of sexuality as limited, male-centered models
for health and normalcy and argued that women’s experience and understanding
of sexual desire differs from that of men. Basson (2002) similarly reviewed evi-
dence that women’s sexual desire is experienced differently than men’s. Schwartz
and Rutter (2000) contended that, for men, who usually initiate the cultural sex-
ual script, their own desire is a sexual cue, but, for many women, the partner’s
sexual desire is the cue for women’s own desire. Women learn to experience their
partner’s desire as erotic (Schwartz & Rutter, 2000). The research on sexual de-
sire and response in midlife women also reflects heterosexual bias. Researchers
have neglected the study of midlife lesbians, and often fail to consider autoerotic
activities.
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 33

Desire is sometimes seen as synonymous with arousal, but this may be more
valid for men than for women. In physically healthy men, genital engorgement is
assessed accurately by the individual and this sensation is enjoyed. In women, how-
ever, accurate awareness of genital engorgement is lacking. Recent research has in-
dicated that women generally do not separate “desire” from “arousal,” and women
care more about subjective arousal than they do about physiological arousal. Jill
Wood, who studies the sexual responses of women at midlife, found that, although
women could distinguish between desire (an interest in sexual activity) and arousal
(physical and emotional changes that indicate a readiness for sex), they often used
these terms interchangeably. She concluded that women do not conceptualize de-
sire in the same way that researchers have and that women do not distinguish
between arousal and desire unless specifically asked to do so (Wood, personal
communication, September 30, 2004).
The pharmaceutical industry has recently reported similar findings. Referring
to the failure of Viagra to impact women the same way as it impacts men, the New
York Times (Harris, 2004) reported that Pfizer had recently found that men and
women have a fundamentally different relationship between arousal and desire.
Women’s sexuality was found to be more cognitively complex and less genitally
focused than men’s. Although Pfizer’s researchers viewed this as a disconnect in
women between genital changes and mental changes (Harris, 2004), one might
also say that the fact that the production of physiological changes in the genitals is
enough to impact men’s sexual response suggests a simple mechanical response
in men.
Tolman (2001) wrote that desire is part of women’s embodied and relational
self, and she argued for its importance in the understanding of women’s sexuality.
Desire connects us to our bodies and, at the same time, connects us to another
(Tolman, 2001). Yet, women’s desire may not be acknowledged, and it is often
seen as dangerous in an androcentric culture that emphasizes men’s desire and
women’s responsiveness. These issues can be seen as contributors to women’s
inability or reluctance to admit to their own sexual desire: “When one is treated
as the object of the desires of others, and treats oneself as such, the ability even to
know one’s own needs and desires is undercut” (Tolman, 2001, p. 199).
Koch (1995, 1997) argued that sexual responding is a complex physiological,
psychological, and sociological process. Many social, cultural, religious, and eco-
nomic factors can affect sexual desire in women. Women may have different and
multiple motives for being sexual rather than simply the biologically based de-
sire that many models of sexuality theorize. Women have reported being sexual to
enhance emotional closeness and commitment, to express attraction and attractive-
ness, and to share physical pleasure (Basson, 2002). Women’s experience of low
levels of desire might result from intimacy problems, the nature of sexual stimuli
and stimulation, environmental triggers, and psychological factors that allow or
do not allow arousal. A sexual response cycle that incorporates these factors was
suggested as an alternative by Basson (2001, 2002), who identified a number of
affective, cognitive, and genital feedback loops in women that can contribute to or
interfere with sexual “arousability.”
34 Maureen C. McHugh

What Is Dysfunctional?
The biomedical approach is based on the disease concept, and it labels dissatisfac-
tion and deviation from the norm as dysfunction. Women who do not engage in
normative quantities of sexual activity are labeled pathological and dysfunctional
(Ogden, 1999; Tiefer, 2001b). The standards established to distinguish between
functional and dysfunctional behavior, like definitions of desire, are often based on
youthful, heterosexual men’s expression as the central criterion of “good” sexual
response (Mansfield et al., 1998). Conceptions of function and dysfunction are
grounded in biological perspectives of sexuality, which do not consider women’s
unique sociocultural position with regard to sexual desire and expression (Richgels,
1992). For example, criteria for the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire fail to
consider the ways in which women’s sexuality is repressed and criticized. Further,
Richgels argued that the norms for women’s sexual response have varied greatly
through history, and have generally not corresponded to women’s actual experi-
ences. Norms for healthy or satisfying sexuality for older women based on the
experiences of older women have not been established. Feminist sexologists (e.g.,
Irvine, 1990; Tiefer, 1995) have urged researchers to use measures that focus on
women’s pleasure. Others have suggested that menopause actually represents, for
some women, the opportunity to define their sexuality based on their own desires
and needs rather than on soicocultural expectations of reproduction and the sat-
isfaction of marital duties (Barbach, 1975; Conway-Turner, 1992; Laws, 1980).
Bancroft et al. (2003) have questioned whether we should label older women as
dysfunctional when they have less sexual interest than they had when they were
younger. They argued that the label of sexual dysfunction should rely heavily
on the woman’s own construction of her sexuality, rather than on the researchers’
standardized criteria for what constitutes functional and dysfunctional sex. Midlife
women may be sexually satisfied despite any sexual changes they experience (Avis
et al., 1995; Bancroft et al., 2003). Across four studies reviewed by Bancroft et al.,
only one-third to one-half of the women who were defined as having a problem
by the research criteria regarded themselves as having a problem. Lessened sexual
response did not concern most of the older women (Koch et al., 1995; Bancroft
et al., 2003). As long as couples still are sexually active, and it is not unpleasant,
the pairs believe that they are meeting a requirement of marriage (Schwartz &
Rutter, 2000). In research conducted by Osborn et al. (1988), English women did
report having sexual problems. However, their conceptions of the sexual problems
differed from the operational definition of the researchers. For example, lack of
emotional well-being and emotional feelings during sexual interaction with a part-
ner were more important determinants of sexual distress from the women’s point
of view. These discrepancies between the respondents’ and the researchers’ con-
ceptions of problems emphasizes the question: Who gets to define or determine
who has a sexual problem? Who sets the criteria for having enough or too much
sexual activity or desire?
Is absence or reduction in sexual desire or sexual activity a dysfunction? The
question “When is it appropriate to call a pattern of behavior a sexual problem or a
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 35

dysfunction?” has been raised repeatedly (Bancroft et al., 2003; McHugh, in press;
Tiefer, 2001b). Bancroft et al. (2003) found no significant relationship between
age and self-defined “problems.” In their research, it was younger women who
were more likely to report nonpleasurable sex, sexual anxiety, and pain during sex.
The authors suggested that, in at least some cases, inhibition of sexual desire is
an adaptive mechanism (Bancroft et al., 2003). This may be because the greater
experience and confidence that comes with aging mean that women are more likely
to refuse nonpleasurable sex and less likely to be sexually anxious.
According to Koch et al. (2005) midlife women tend to be sexually satisfied
regardless of the sexual changes they report. The effects of aging on the levels of
sexual interest of women in their study were not a cause of concern. Sexual thoughts
were reported less frequently by older women, but that was not necessarily seen as
problematic. Older women seemed to have more sexual problems (as defined by the
researchers) but less distress over them. The women who were not having partner
sex were older and masturbated more frequently; they reported more distress about
their relationship or lack thereof, but not about their own sexuality. This finding is
consistent with Conway-Turner’s conclusion that quality of intimacy, more than
frequency of sexual intercourse, is important to African American senior women
and positively related to their sexual self-esteem (Conway-Turner, 1992).
Laumann et al. (1999) reported that 43% of American women suffer from a
sexual problem, yet the problems encountered were most often associated with
mental health, relationship problems, and various aspects of the quality of life
than with physiologically based desire and arousal. The women’s levels of distress
about their relationship and their own sexuality were related both to their physical
and mental health. Their own physical health was a direct determinant of women’s
feelings about their own sexuality; older women with lubrication problems reported
marked distress about their own sexuality.
The research reviewed above reiterates the importance of conceptualizing the
sexual problems of women differently than those of men. The findings also sug-
gest the importance of the contextual factors. Women’s well-being, physical health,
level of education, and relationship to their partner predicted whether they were
experiencing distress. Factors about the relationship including communication,
intimacy, and respect are good predictors of women’s sexual satisfaction (Koch
et al., 2005). “While it is good to encourage older couples to maintain and foster
their sexual intimacy, should we be encouraging older women to regard them-
selves as dysfunctional because they have less sexual interest than when they were
younger?” (Bancroft et al., 2003, p. 502).
Foucault (1978) viewed desire as socially constructed rather than merely per-
ceived; in his theory desires are not biological entities, but are produced within
social practices and cultural discourses. From this perspective sexual desire is a
cultural product, and it is produced or constructed differently in different societies
and historical periods. Richgels (1992) reviewed the history of cultural perspectives
on women’s sexual desire or lack thereof from the Victorians’ denial of women’s
sexual feelings to contemporary prescriptions of “sex experts.” She argued that
modern views in which women’s lack of desire is seen as dysfunctional are as
36 Maureen C. McHugh

limiting as the Victorian conception of women’s desire as disease. Currently so-

cial and medical views privilege heterosexual intercourse and men’s sexual desire
as normative, rendering women’s sexual pleasure, especially in the form of self
pleasuring and lesbian partner sexual interactions, invisible, dysfunctional, and
devalued (Richgels, 1992).

The Medicalization of Desire

Following the financial success of Viagra, the pharmaceutical industry instigated
a search for a new market for their drug: women. Tiefer (2001a) and Moynihan
(2001) have revealed the drug industry’s attempt to repeat the medicalization pro-
cess so successful with men’s sexuality with regard to women’s sexuality. Tiefer
alerted us to the construction of the new diagnosis “female sexual dysfunction”
(FSD). She exposed this process as a rush to medicalize women’s sexual problems
in order to turn women’s sexual problems into drug company profits. Multiple
arguments against such a medicalized view of women’s sexuality can be read in A
New View of Women’s Sexual Problems, a volume edited by Kaschak and Tiefer
(2001). The contributors contest a medicalized view of sexuality and challenge
the reduction of women’s sexuality to a series of movements, muscles spasms, or
moving parts.
Currently, the industry’s search for a cure for women’s sexual problems is fo-
cused on hypoactive sexual desire, defined as persistent and pervasive inhibition of
sexual desire (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Assessment of hypoactive
sexual desire assumes an accepted standard of normal sexual appetite (Richgels,
1992).
Richgels (1992) views the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire as a cultural
construction that contributes to the control of women’s sexuality. She argued that
this diagnostic label fails to view women’s sexuality in the context of contemporary
American culture in which men’s sexuality is privileged. According to Richgels,
medical and psychological labels fail to consider women’s experience of sexuality
not only as pleasure, but also as possible danger (Vance, 1984).
In an attempt to find a pharmaceutical solution to the diagnosed problem of
hypoactive sexual desire, testosterone, the hormone that allegedly fuels men’s
sexual appetite, is being investigated for its ability to increase sexual desire in
(postmenopausal) women. Procter and Gamble began a public relations campaign
touting the benefits of the experimental testosterone patch. In the British Medical
Journal, Moynihan (2004) revealed that Procter and Gamble had designed, funded,
and even conducted themselves the research that “documented” the effectiveness
of the patch in increasing the sexual responsiveness of surgically menopausal
women. The research was reported in the mainstream press, but was not submitted
to the standard peer review required for scientific publication. Moynihan’s critique
regarding the press reports of the effects of the patch include: exaggerating the
benefits of the patch; inflating the pool of potential candidates (to all women with
low sexual desire); minimizing the potential for harm from hormone use; ignoring
the issue of conflict of interest when the supporting research is supplied by the
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 37

producer of the product. To date, no pharmaceutical treatment for women’s sexual

response “problem” has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The adoption of a pharmaceutical/medical approach to women’s experiences has
limited, distorted, and pathologized women’s sexuality. Tiefer and her colleagues
(Kaschak & Tiefer, 2001; Tiefer, 2001a) have exposed the medicalization of sex-
uality as an active process, even a strategy, devised by groups with political and
socioeconomic interests best served by the medical model. The New View Cam-
paign (Kaschak & Tiefer, 2001; Working Group on Women’s Sexual Problems,
n.d.) has enumerated several problems with the medicalization of sexual desire.
The medicalization of a condition is to make it a disease, the cure for which, a
pharmaceutical prescription, becomes the first line of defense. The seemingly neu-
tral and scientific language of “disease” can offer a palpable relief to those who
secretly worry that their sexuality is inadequate. People respond to the diagnosis
of a disease with relief because the diagnosis of the problem suggests that it is
located within the individual’s biochemistry. The individual (patient) then relies
on the efficacy of the medicine rather than relying on life circumstances or lifestyle
changes, which might have either prevented or alleviated the condition in the first
place.
The medical model erases the relational context of sexuality. The medical em-
phasis on sexual physiology and performance reinforces narrow definitions of
sexuality, and it diminishes styles of sexuality that do not focus on genital arousal
and orgasm. The medical model and its practitioners ignore women’s complex
sexualities, and give women more reasons to feel insecure. Further, subscription to
the medical perspective is likely to result in less emphasis on sex education efforts,
and may cause insurance companies to endorse pharmaceutical solutions and to
limit reimbursement for counseling (Tiefer, 2001b). The emphasis on physiologi-
cal functions and pharmaceutical solutions may contribute to the media, medical
practitioners, and patients ignoring social and cultural factors. Under the medical
model, factors that are more likely to be sources of women’s sexual complaints
(e.g., relational issues, sexual ignorance, or fear) are downplayed and dismissed
(McHugh, in press).
A medical perspective on women’s sexuality may fail to address differences
among women, as it generally ignores the implications of inequalities created by
gender, race, class, and sexual orientation (Working Group on Women’s Sexual
Problems). The medical model ignores diversity, reducing all women to a single
set of physiological responses, symptoms, dysfunctions, and causes. In contrast,
feminist approaches within sociology, sexology, and psychology recognize that
women are not a homogenous group and that women’s sexuality is not a single
or simplistic phenomenon. Conceptions of desire, attraction, arousal, and satis-
faction are complex constructions that develop in a sociohistorical context, and
are impacted by race/ethnicity, age, religious orientation, geographic region, so-
cioeconomic class, age cohort, and even neighborhood (McHugh, in press; Tiefer,
1995) A medical model that views genital and physiological processes as identical
across women (and as basically the same for men and for women) ignores the
implications of inequalities related to gender, social class, ethnicity, and sexual
38 Maureen C. McHugh

orientation. Women over 50 are a diverse group whose sexuality and intimate
relations are multifaceted and dynamic.

The Context of Women’s Sexuality

Women of the 1950s
The research reviewed above documented that declines in sexual activity and
desire may not be easily applied to the current generation of women in their 50s.
The research on women’s sexuality at menopause reported in the 1980s describe
data based on women born in 1935 or earlier, who came of age in the 1950s.
Those respondents, if still living, would be in their 70s or 80s today. As previously
mentioned, the literature that stresses physiology as the basis for women’s sexual
desire emphasizes universals and fails to consider the sociohistorical or cultural
context of women’s experience.
Women’s sexual experiences can best be understood in the cultural context of
their lives. Women in their early 50s today were born in the 1950s. Although
they were born in a socially conservative era, they came of age in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, a time of alleged sexual liberation. Born in 1952, I am from
this generation, the generation of so-called “free love.” My generation had access
to the birth control pill in our late teens and to legal abortion for most of our
reproductive lives. Some of us took Women’s Studies or assertiveness classes,
attended consciousness-raising groups, and participated in the women’s health
movement. Some of us held mirrors to our genitals to learn about our bodies, and
many of us owned copies of the original Our Bodies Ourselves (Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective, 1976). Women in their 50s today have generally benefited
from the Women’s Health Movement. We lived through multiple epidemics of
sexually transmitted diseases, and were adults when awareness of AIDS surfaced.
Our experiences of intimacy and desire, and our constructions of our sexuality as
middle-aged women is probably different from those of our mothers at age 50.
My mother, for example, was born in 1924, came of age during World War II,
and turned 50 in 1974. Even after having returned to school in her 50s and having
earned a college degree and a Women’s Studies certificate, she chooses not to
speak about sex.
A woman’s sense of herself as a sexual being, her thoughts about the meaning of
sex, and her awareness of her own sexual desire are all constructed in a particular
sociohistorical context. Each generation has to define itself sexually, and young
people continually rewrite the sexual stories told by their elders (Trafford, 1995).
Sexual practices and the terms used to label them are dynamic rather than static.
Sexual experiences and practices are impacted by changing times, and yet is there
is also continuity to the human experience. Although she acknowledged that in
the second half of the twentieth century Western societies have experienced the
consequences of wide spread contraceptive practices, the economic emancipation
of women, feminism, and sexual liberation on an unprecedented scale, Fonatana
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 39

(1994) critiqued the belief that the problems we are confronting today are radi-
cally new ones, unknown in previous generations. There are both continuities and
differences in the experiences of generations.
Even within a specific historical era women’s experiences are diverse. Women’s
sexuality is impacted by a number of factors, including geographic region, class,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, and history of violence. Older women, like younger
women, vary enormously in their sexual desire, arousal, and experience of or-
gasm (Leiblum, 1990). The context of her life also influences what a woman
knows/thinks about menopause and aging.

Relationship Context
Research has demonstrated that marital status is an important predictor of de-
creased sexual activity (Mansfield et al., 1995). Kinsey et al. (1953) attributed the
decrease in coital frequency of a couple to the male partner’s declining interest
in sociosexual activities. Because older women often have even older partners, it
is not safe to assume that decreased sexual activity is related to women’s desire,
much less related to women’s hormone levels. Thus, Bachman (1990) concluded
that the sexual activity of a heterosexual woman is dictated by the availability,
functioning, and desire of her male partner.
In the Midlife Survey (Mansfield et al.), marital status, not menopausal status
predicted desire and enjoyment; the longer the marital relationship, the less desire
and enjoyment was reported. Furthermore, being married rather than single was
associated with a decline of sexual responsiveness, but menopausal status was not.
In other research, women’s sexual activity also was strongly related to marital
status (Diokno et al., 1990), and women indicated that their husbands were the
reason they were no longer engaging in sexual activities (Pfeiffer et al., 1972).
Decreases in sexual desire were associated with a poor relationship with one’s
spouse, with life stress events, and with mental disorder, major depression, and
use of psychotropic medicine (Hallstrom & Samuelson, 1990). Similarly, Bancroft
et al. (2003) reported that, in their large study of heterosexual women aged 20 to 64,
age had only a modest effect in predicting sexual distress regarding the relationship
or one’s own sexuality. Lack of emotional well-being and emotional feelings during
sexual interaction with the partner were more important determinants of sexual
distress. In a number of well-designed studies factors associated with the quality of
life and aspects of the relationship have been shown to predict sexual satisfaction
for women (Koch et al., 2005).
Other researchers have reported a strong positive correlation between sexual
satisfaction and relationship satisfaction for the middle-aged and older women in
their samples; sexual satisfaction has also been positively correlated with passion-
ate love (Traupmann et al., 1982). This research suggests that when relationship
satisfaction is low, so is sexual satisfaction. As previously cited, Mansfield et al.
(1995, 1998) concluded that marriage, rather than menopausal status, was associ-
ated with sexual response declines. Youthful men’s sexual experience may continue
40 Maureen C. McHugh

to serve as the sexual norm that both women and men use to judge the quality of
their sexual response.
For many women desire is experienced in the context of a relationship. Their own
desire is experienced in relation to their attractiveness to a partner. Thus, their desire
mirrors their partner’s desire. Schwartz and Rutter (2000) suggested that women
are trained to value commitment, and they may rely less on erotic stimulation, and
more on relationship satisfaction, as the basis for sexual arousal. Some widows
have said when their spouse died, their desire faded; yet other women have found
desire in a new relationship. Older women’s descriptions of their needs and desires
in a qualitative study by Wood et al. (in press) suggested that some women had
internalized a cultural ideology that privileged their male partner’s needs over
their own. Some women were disappointed with their partner’s technique and had
experienced sex as unsatisfying and work-like, but the women felt an obligation
to attend to their partner’s needs. Other women reported that they avoided sex to
protect their partner from the embarrassment of erectile dysfunction. The women
generally did not have the ability to express their own sexual desires and needs. The
quality of the women’s relationship with their husbands was the most frequently
cited influence on their own experience of sexual desire.
Marital relationships, as well as the individuals in them, go through devel-
opmental changes over time. Relationships need to grow and develop as do the
individuals involved. There may be an ebb and flow to marital sexual relations
that is not considered in culturally prescriptive norms. According to Schwartz and
Rutter (2000), declining sexual activity among older adults may be more related
to the length of the relationship and habituation than to aging. “Couples evolve
into partners rather than lovers” (Schwartz & Rutter, 2000, p. 132). The sex lives
of 50- and 60-year-old newlyweds resemble the sex lives of younger couples more
than they do the sex lives of long-married couples of the same age, and their ac-
tive sex lives follow the same pattern of eventual decline (Blumstein & Schwartz,
1983). In most marriages, sex becomes less frequent, but not less pleasant, over
time (Schwartz & Rutter, 2000).
Relationship conflicts have been noted as a common source of sexual problems
(Leiblum, 1990). Women have reported various relationship problems, including a
lack of spontaneity, initiative, or romance. Complaints about the personal hygiene
and appearance of the partner are not uncommon (Leiblum, 1990), and couples
with well established sexual routines may find that they no longer elicit much
excitement or interest. Butler and Lewis (1976) reported that relationship issues,
including boredom, too much togetherness, illness, or problems with hygiene, may
be expressed as pain during intercourse, perhaps because pain is a more acceptable
“excuse” for limiting sexual activities.
In their study of women’s sexual response at midlife, Mansfield et al. (1998)
found that the 40% of women who reported changes in their sexual response re-
ported less sexual interest. Women indicated that they wanted more fulfilling sex-
ual relationships. The women wanted to become more passionate, more interested
in sex, more romantic, more affectionate, more communicative, more sexually
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 41

responsive, more desirous of sex, more initiating, more fun, more creative, less
boring, more loving, and less inhibited. They wanted their husbands to be more
communicative, more romantic, more affectionate, more fun, more passionate,
more loving, more creative, and less boring. The biomedical approach, with its
focus on changes in physiological responsiveness, has ignored women’s stated
desire for more communication and affection in their relationships.
Women’s sexual functioning has been shown to be impacted by partner factors,
such as presence of a partner, feelings toward the partner, and partner’s health
(Dennerstein et al., 2001). The research by Dennerstein et al. (1999, 2001) con-
firmed the effects of aging and menopause, yet the authors stressed that women’s
relationships with their partners had particularly powerful effects on women’s
sexual desire. In research by Ellison and Zilbergeld (as cited in Ellison, 2001) the
top three items associated with satisfying sex for women were: feeling close to
a partner before sex, emotional closeness after sexual activity, and feeling loved.
Similarly, Byers (2001) presented empirical research that indicates that relation-
ship satisfaction is the most important contributor to women’s sexual satisfaction,
more important than the types of sexual exchanges such as oral sex, the consistency
of orgasm, and the expression of affection, which are all important determinants of
women’s sexual satisfaction. An earlier study of 100 married couples (Frank et al.,
1978) showed that, although 80% of the couples labeled their marriages and sexual
relationships as satisfying, 43% of the men and 63% of the women reported arousal
or orgasmic difficulties. High levels of additional concerns were also indicated,
such as lack of interest or inability to relax (Frank et al., 1978). These and other
descriptions of women’s sexuality confirm the perspective that women’s sexual
satisfaction is connected to the relationship context. Ellison stated that her survey
results support the following conclusion: that women associate sexual satisfaction
in relationships with closeness, love, acceptance, and safety, and that the sexual
problems and concerns of women often center on intimacy and relationship issues.

Partners Using Viagra

A few researchers who recognized the importance of relationships to women’s
experience of sexual desire and satisfaction have examined the impact of Viagra
use by male partners on heterosexual women’s sexual experiences. Potts et al.
(2003) drew on interviews with 27 women, age 33 and 68, in a New Zealand study
to identify issues and concern for women regarding their partners’ use of Viagra.
Most women reported that use of Viagra had altered some aspects of their sexual
relationship, including increased frequency of intercourse, prolonged duration of
sexual relations, and less experience of nonpenetrative aspects of intimacy. These
effects were not always desired by women; even women who had a generally pos-
itive reaction saw the increased frequency of coitus as a drawback. Some women
reported discomfort, pain, and cystitis. Similarly, Riley and Riley (2000) found
that one-half of women partners of Viagra users expressed a preference for activ-
ities other than penile–vaginal sex. Like the women interviewed by Wood et al.
42 Maureen C. McHugh

(in press), the New Zealand women reported “putting up” with sex and engaging in
coital sex when they did not desire it. Both sets of authors commented on the prob-
lems women had negotiating with their partners concerning when to have sex and
in which type of sexual and intimate activities to engage. Although some women
have had difficulty negotiating with their partners regarding the use of Viagra, other
women have used Viagra as the occasion to speak out about women’s sexuality
and to offer critical comments on the medical industry (Loe, 2004).

Lesbian Couples
The heterosexual bias in existing research on older women’s sexual functioning
has often been criticized. The research that suggests that length of relationship
predicts the frequency of sexual relations and that satisfaction with the relationship
predicts sexual satisfaction is all based on heterosexual couples. In a unique study
of menopausal lesbians, Cole and Rothblum (1991) concluded that lesbians are
more positive about sex than their heterosexual counterparts are. The sample
of 41 sexually active lesbians willing to talk about sex may not represent the
population of menopausal lesbians, but the results suggest that sexual orientation
is an important consideration in women’s sexuality at midlife. For example, the
respondents in the Cole and Rothblum’s study did not report declines in sexual
satisfaction and activity.
Winterich (2003) used a qualitative approach to examine the social aspects of
women’s sexuality after menopause in a sample that included both heterosexual
and lesbian women. She found that, in some cases, both lesbian and heterosexual
women had active and fulfilling sex lives. For her participants, although changes
in desire or orgasm or vaginal dryness might have occurred, their sexual relations
and satisfaction were not negatively affected. Open communication with their
partners and a flexibility regarding sexual repertoire was present in the sexually
satisfied couples, regardless of orientation. Among the women who reported sexual
problems, heterosexual women described issues that were related to the cultural
constructions of menopause, gender roles, and heterosexual sex. For example,
some of the heterosexual women reported faked orgasms, partners’ complaints
about their vaginal dryness, and an inability to talk to their partners about what
they wanted. Although some of the lesbians did report sexual problems, they
also reported the ability to discuss their needs and issues with their partners.
Several lesbian and heterosexual women were not having sex for a variety of
reasons, including not being in a relationship, healing from past trauma, and current
relationship problems.
In addition to including nonheterosexual options for sexual pleasure, Winterich’s
(2003) research emphasizes the need to consider how women view menopause
rather than just to focus on menopause as a problem, or as the cause of sexual
dissatisfaction. In women’s own accounts of sex after menopause, the status and
quality of relationships and their own and their partner’s health were important
factors for both lesbian and heterosexual women.
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 43

Cultural Attitudes Toward Women’s Bodies

and Attractiveness
In our society, older women and their bodies are frequently denigrated or ren-
dered invisible, and it is the norm for women to be dissatisfied with their bodies
(Banister, 1999; Koch et al., 2005). We often fail to see older women as sexy and
sexual. Others have critiqued the double standard of aging, that is, the cultural
belief that women become less attractive and less sexually appealing as they age,
whereas men do not (Bernard, 1981). Women’s sense of themselves as attractive
has been demonstrated to impact their perceptions of sexuality. Frequency of sex-
ual behaviors is related to ratings of attractiveness and body satisfaction in some
research (Faith & Schare, 1993). Anderson and LeGrand (1991) found that women
with unfavorable evaluations of their bodies engaged in a more restricted range of
sexual activities than did those with a favorable attitude. Women with poor body
images reported more problems with sexual desire. Fooken (1994) found that, for
the West German women in her sample, a positive body image helped to main-
tain satisfactory levels of sexual desire. In the research conducted by Klinger and
Nedelman (2005) over 50% of women listed negative changes in their body image
as the primary factor in decreased sexual desire. The authors reported that women
who continue to feel positive about themselves as sexual beings adjusted well to
their altered bodies.
Women’s body image has an impact on their sexual desire, experience of or-
gasm, sexual enjoyment, and frequency of sexual relations, but not on their sexual
satisfaction. Koch et al. (2005) reported that the more a woman perceived herself
as less attractive now than 10 years ago, the more likely she was to report a decline
in sexual desire or frequency of sexual activity. The more attractive she perceived
herself to be, the more likely she was to experience an increase in sexual desire,
orgasm, sexual enjoyment, or frequency of sexual activity.
According to Taylor and Sumrall (1993), many of the accounts they collected
from 66 spirited women over 40 concerning women’s sexuality at midlife and
beyond shatter the stereotypes that the public and the media hold about older
women and their bodies. Although women often experienced wrinkles, weight
gain, and other bodily changes, most of them did not spend their time and money
trying to recapture their youth. Research indicates that, although body dissatis-
faction remained stable across the age range of 20 to 84, related behaviors, such
as body monitoring, appearance anxiety, and self-objectification, declined with
age (Tiggerman & Lynch, 2002). For some women, maturation includes move-
ment away from concerns about culturally valued beauty, femininity, and sex
appeal.
Giesen (1989) explored 32 women’s perceptions of their own attractiveness,
femininity, and sex appeal, currently and in relation to 10 years ago. The respon-
dents ranged in age from 28 to 63 and were both married and single. The findings
indicate that attractiveness was defined by physical attributes, femininity by be-
haviors and traits, and sex appeal was defined equally by physical features and
44 Maureen C. McHugh

behaviors. Marriage mediated the degree to which older women viewed them-
selves as attractive and sexually appealing.
Single women, but not married women, viewed themselves as having grown
more attractive, feminine, and sexually appealing as they aged. Single women saw
themselves as having grown more attractive and more sexually appealing over the
past 10 years, and they saw the peak years of women’s attractiveness as occurring in
the early 30s to early 50s. Older married women saw women’s peak attractiveness
as occurring in their early 20s.

Other Contextual Factors

Recent feminist analyses of women’s sexual problems have emphasized the lack
of sexual information, cultural attitudes and messages, family and work stress,
partner and relationship issues, and psychological factors such as depression and
anxiety (Kaschak & Tiefer, 2001; McHugh, in press). Life stressors and other con-
textual factors including cultural prescriptions regarding sexual activity in later
life are likely to impact women’s sexual functioning at midlife (Mansfield et al.,
1995). The women in the research conducted by Wood et al. (in press) reported
that stress from various parts of their lives was an important determinant of sexual
desire. Dennerstein et al. (2001) reported that social factors, including educa-
tional level, experience of stress, and daily hassles, affected sexual functioning.
Laumann et al. (1999) emphasized the impact of mental health and quality of life
on the experience of sexual problems. The three most often reported (negative)
sexual experiences of the respondents in the Ellison and Zilbergeld study were be-
ing too tired to have sex, being too busy, and having lower sexual desire than they
wanted to have (Ellison, 2001). Candib (2001) similarly reported that her clients,
who are low-income, multiethnic women, often express a lack of interest in sex,
and report “not feeling anything.” She suggested that the cause of their problems
is not biology, but the lived experience of working two jobs, doing child care, and
managing a household. Working women are often too tired to be interested in sex,
according to Candib (2001). Thus, the ultimate solution to women’s sexual prob-
lems may be more time, less stress, better education, and more attentive partners
(Shah, 2001).

Variability and Possibility

Gynocentric Research
Androcentrism, the valuing or privileging of men’s experience, has repeatedly been
acknowledged as problematic in the conceptualization of women’s sexual desire
and response. In her discussion of the heterosexual bias in our constructions of
women’s sexuality Marrow (1997) labeled the maps of the sexual journey pro-
vided by popular culture as “faulty, showing a freeway to heterosexual marriage,
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 45

penile–vaginal intercourse, childbearing and a loss of sexuality in old age” (p. xi).
Others too have commented on the cultural emphasis on being pleasing and acces-
sible to men. Daniluk (1998) presented exercises and other techniques for “helping
women to extricate themselves from the oppressive shoulds and should nots . . . of
our dominant sexual scripts” (p. 231). She argued that our culture does not have
ways of constructing sexual expression that “affirm women’s sexual agency and
the diversity of their sexual feelings and desire” (p. 221).
Researchers’ conceptions of sexual desire and response may or may not cor-
respond with or include women’s own construction of their sexual desire and
response. For example, the responses that women gave to open-ended questions
about sexuality caused some researchers to begin to include questions about non-
genital as well as genital sexual expression (Mansfield et al., 2000). Research that
uses interviews, narratives, or other approaches to study women’s experience of
sexuality from their own points of view does not produce accounts that correspond
to Masters and Johnson’s sexual response cycle (Masters & Johnson, 1966). The
response cycle of Masters and Johnson does not address the relationship context
of sexual experiences; yet women’s experience of sexuality is more relationship-
oriented and less genitally focused that men’s (Conway-Turner, 1992; Peplau &
Gordon, 1985). Women appear to desire greater intimacy than men do (Tiefer,
1995), and they value physical affection and nongenital intimacy more than men
do (Blumstein & Schwartz, 1983; Mansfield et al., 1998). Consistent with this per-
spective, the New View campaign has called for research and services “driven not
by commercial interests, but by women’s own needs and sexual realities” (Working
Group on Women’s Sexual Problems, n.d.).

Hetero-normative Prescriptions
The universalizing and homogenizing aspects of the biomedical approach may
have detrimental effects on women and on the sexuality research agenda. Al-
though women want to be informed about what to expect, the presentation of
certain outcomes as likely can become prescriptive or self-fulfilling. As Irvine
(1990) pointed out, sex is a social product; it is negotiated and constructed through
discursive practices, including educational texts as well as advertising and self-help
manuals. Sexuality is organized through regulation and definition. The conception
that hormones are responsible for a decline in sexual desire and activity may re-
lieve some women, but can become an expectation in others that is negative and
self-fulfilling. On the other hand, in attempting to overcome the cultural belief that
older women are not sexual, psychologists’ and others’ encouragement to remain
or become passionate (Sheehy, 2006) may be experienced as pressure to engage
in unwanted sexual activities. To document and publicize norms regarding older
women’s sexual response is sometimes to provide a cultural prescription. Women
may be criticized when their sexual desire exceeds cultural expectations (Ogden,
1999), and they may be labeled dysfunctional when their interest in sex falls below
the (androcentric and youthful) norms. It can feel like a no-win situation.
46 Maureen C. McHugh

Sexual Authenticity
Miller (1976) argued that sexual authenticity is a key feature of women’s psy-
chological health. She identified sexual authenticity as the ability to bring one’s
own real feelings of sexual desire and sexual pleasure into intimate relationships.
Authenticity distinguishes women who feel disoriented in their aging bodies from
women who are confident and sexually secure. Alternatively, Tolman (2002) refers
to a similar concept, sexual subjectivity, which is to experience oneself as a sexual
being, to be in touch with one’s own sexual desire. Several authors (e.g., Martin,
1996; Richgels, 1992; Tolman, 2002) ) have noted that it is a challenge in an
androcentric society for women to exercise sexual agency, that is, the ability to
recognize and act on one’s own desire and to experience sexual pleasure. Women’s
ability to recognize their own sexual desire and to negotiate on their own behalf
was also emphasized in recent approaches (e.g., Wood et al., in press; Potts et al.,
2003; Kliger & Nedelman, 2006). Women’s ability to act on their own behalf (also
called negotiated sexual agency) was identified as a core variable in women’s ex-
perience of sexual desire in qualitative research conducted with postmenopausal
women (Wood et al., in press). Thus, the application of homogenized prescrip-
tions and androcentric standards to women’s sexual desire and response works
against the goal of helping women to be in touch with themselves and to be com-
fortable with their own levels of desire and activity. Researchers may contribute
to women’s experience of sexual authenticity at midlife by examining women’s
own conceptions and experiences of desire and by emphasizing the variability and
potential of women’s sexual experiences rather than assuming a physiologically
based, homogenized, and declining sexual desire.

Variability
Kinsey et al. (1953) emphasized the variability in the human sexual response and
noted that diversity is the single most identifiable aspect of sexuality. Leiblum
(1990) observed that women, at all ages, vary enormously in sexual desire, sexual
satisfaction, orgasmic experience, and arousability. Similarly, Kliger and Nedel-
man (2005) argued that there is not a single best or right way for women at any age
to express their sexuality. The women they surveyed reported multiple and diverse
sexual responses. Many older women have a fulfilling, exciting, and creative life
without any sexual desire or sexual activity, whereas others report increased appre-
ciation for sensual experiences as they age. In each of the studies reviewed above
there was at least a small percentage of women for whom desire increased in the
senior years, and, for others, desire remained as a steady state. Kliger and Nedel-
man (2006) concluded that sexual desire waxes and wanes over time. The changes
women experience in sexual desire and activity may relate to other aspects of their
lives or may have no clear trigger or influence (e.g., stress levels, ages of children).
At age 50, as at all other ages, women may express their sexuality in varied ways.
Variability is experienced by both married and single, heterosexual and lesbian
 2. Women and Sex at Midlife 47

women (Kliger & Nedelman, 2006). A similar conclusion can be reached by read-
ing the personal accounts collected by Taylor and Sumrall (1993). They present
stories, personal accounts, and poems written by women over 40 about women’s
sexuality at midlife and beyond. Their text attests to the diversity of women’s expe-
riences. The new edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves (Boston Women’s Health Book
Collective, 2005) also enumerates some of the experiences of women as they age
including increased sexual desire, changes in sexual preference, feeling removed
from sexual practices and urges, finding alternatives to traditional relationships,
appreciating a non sexual sensuality, and recognizing an awakening of old feelings.
Ellison (2001) similarly concluded that women can experience sexual pleasure in
a variety of ways. Each woman has the capacity to respond sexually in a variety
of ways, and she is likely to experiences changes during her lifetime in how she
experiences her body, her relationships, and her sexual desire. Women’s sexual-
ity at all ages is multifaceted, complex, and dynamic. To evaluate the adequacy
of women’s sexuality against a single standard or on a single dimension seems
senseless.
Several recent texts concern the variability and the dynamic nature of women’s
sexuality over the lifespan and encourage women to respect their own experience,
rather than to subscribe to normative and pharmaceutical prescriptions. Kliger and
Nedelman (2006) and Sheehy (2006) emphasized women’s passion and diverse
sexual options after 50, explicitly counteracting the homogenized view of older
women as lacking in desire and desirability. Some women at midlife are more
self-actualized and more willing to explore, and perhaps redefine, what feels right
sexually rather than conforming to a coitally focused model of sexuality (Mansfield
et al., 2000; Tiefer, 1995). Cole (1988) encouraged therapists to provide women
with permission to have different, more mature kinds of sex lives and to help women
to develop an expanded view of sexuality and sensuality. The Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective (2005) encouraged women to recognize that lovemaking
may become more enjoyable when they no longer are concerned with pregnancy
and have more privacy at home. Some women enjoy lovemaking more as a result
of years of a committed relationship. Some women, such as Betty Dodson, have
relationships with younger men. Others have sexual relationships with women for
the first time.
Viewing women’s sexuality from androcentric, heterosexist, and biomedical
perspectives has limited the types of research questions we have asked, and has
impacted the methodologies employed in the conduct of research. Challenges to
existing research paradigms have suggested new research questions and strategies.
Future research on the sexual experiences and feelings of women at midlife might
entertain multiple perspectives and allow for positive changes as well as declines
or loss of function. Increasingly theorists are recognizing the need to conduct gy-
nocentric research on women’s experience and to recognize the variability among
women. Researchers, like the women they are studying, might increasingly exam-
ine the sexual possibilities that arise from developmental transitions in women’s
lives.
48 Maureen C. McHugh

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3
Living Longer, Healthier Lives
Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

Contrary to popular images that portray a bleak future, important life tasks and
accomplishments characterize the lives of older women. Midlife women are more
likely than not to work full-time, and some will earn the highest salaries of their
careers. A high percentage of women in public service or elected office are in their
50s and 60s. Bernadine Healy was in her late 40s when she became the first woman
to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health and later became Director of
the American Red Cross. Diane Feinstein was in her late 50s when she was the first
woman elected to the U.S. Senate from California; she has subsequently served
three terms. Women beyond menopause energize the planning of community parks
and greenways projects and serve on school boards. Increasingly older women
are likely to run a small business and to provide jobs and paychecks for others.
Older women support daughters and sons in transition to adult identities, and, not
infrequently, rear their own grandchildren when their adult children suffer illness
or economic reversals. Older women have developmental tasks involving their
own generativity, values, and significant relationships. They write textbooks, learn
new languages, and become articulate advocates for causes of all sorts. These
examples of active, vital women run counter to common stereotypes of older
women. Therefore, the purposes of this chapter are to examine major findings
concerning the health status of women in their 50s and 60s and to explore the
health challenges and opportunities this population may experience. Given societal
notions about menopausal women, we begin our discussion with the menopausal
transition.

Menopause Stereotypes and Estrogen Solutions

Despite the general pattern of productivity among older women and the experience
of coming into one’s own, media images of older women tend to be negative (Ros-
tosky & Travis, 1996, 2000; Travis, 1993). These cultural messages collectively
treat women as different or “Other” (Hare-Mustin & Marecek, 1988; Memmi,
1965). Women are seen as obscure, mysterious, unpredictable, and potentially
dangerous. In an implied contrast with men, who are seen as normal and rational,

53
54 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

women are understood to be “naturally” more closely tied to their biology. Such
a cultural understanding leads readily to the idea that women, their experience,
emotions, and behaviors, are best understood in terms of biology, especially repro-
ductive biology. As women age, it is women’s flagging biology that is perceived
as the problem, and this perception provides a cultural context that supports hor-
mone replacement and estrogen supplements. Popular books and magazine articles
promised women they could be “feminine forever,” if only they retained their es-
sential biological profile. Thus, a ready “cure” for the negative stereotypic aspects
of menopause has traditionally involved replacement of reproductive hormones,
particularly estrogens (Chrisler et al., 1991).
Early reports about the health benefits derived from estrogen replacement of-
ten were based on self-selected women who sought out treatment and on women
who were initially healthier than women who did not seek hormones as preventive
medical care. Because participants in these studies differed initially on important
health status indicators, later findings that they continued to experience different
health outcomes cannot be attributed to hormone replacement. One large-scale
study (Luoto et al., 2000) showed no differences in the incidence of acute myocar-
dial infarction (i.e., heart attack) between women using estrogen and those who
had never used estrogen supplements. The same study revealed that hopes that
estrogen might protect aging women against brain atrophy were unfounded.

Heart Health and Estrogen

The Women’s Health Initiative Hormone Replacement Therapy Trial cast an even
more skeptical view of the benefits of hormone replacement. The Women’s Health
Initiative of the National Institutes of Health (launched in 1991 under the leadership
of the Director, Bernadine Healy) targeted the prevention of heart disease as a ma-
jor objective. The 15-year program involved clinical trials to examine, among other
questions, the effects of hormone replacement therapy. Recruitment of women into
the clinical trial began in 1993 and continued through July 1998. One thought was
that women with preexisting heart problems might be a group especially likely
to benefit from estrogen interventions. Preliminary reports from this large-scale
randomized clinical trial surprised researchers because there was a threefold in-
crease in venous embolisms (i.e., blood clots) among women with preexisting
heart disease who were taking hormone replacement (Rossouw, 1999). The study
remained in operation for another 3 years, but was stopped in July 2002 because
women receiving hormone replacement continued to have notably more cardiac
and stroke events than did women in the control arm of the trial. Another arm of
the trial involved only women who did not have preexisting heart problems and
who were initially healthy at the beginning of the study. This arm of the study was
stopped in 2004 when it became apparent that healthy women with no prior heart
condition received no benefit. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute con-
cluded that estrogen plus progestin should NOT be used to prevent heart disease;
it has no benefit in preventing heart disease and increases the risk of breast can-
cer and blood clots. Women with preexisting heart conditions also should not use
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 55

estrogen plus progestin replacement; it increases the risk of heart attack and blood
clots. (Summaries of these reports are available on the web from the National Heart
Lung and Blood Institute of NIH at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/docs/w-
health.htm.)

Breast Cancer and Estrogen

The Women’s Health Initiative monitored thousands of women administered hor-
mone replacement involving estrogens and progestin. This study focused on 16,000
women over 50 who were followed for 5 years. The group receiving replacement
hormones had nearly a 25% greater risk of developing breast cancer; these can-
cers were more likely to be larger and more invasive than cancers detected among
women taking placebos (Chlebowski et al., 2003). Related reports are consis-
tent in identifying hormone replacement as increasing the risk of breast cancer
(McPherson, 2004; Million Women Study Collaborators, 2003; Writing Group for
the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators, 2002). It is frustrating and infuriating
that 25 years ago evidence confirmed just such a risk between estrogen replacement
and uterine cancer and suggested that a similar risk existed for breast cancer (Jick
et al., 1980; Mack et al., 1976). Yet an entire generation of women was encouraged
to pursue estrogen regimens that surely contributed to the incidence of cancer and
death. Perhaps even more troubling is the observation that many physicians and
researchers today are still looking for ways to continue hormone replacement ther-
apy “safely.” More specifically, they suggest that a significant problem with the
Women’s Health Initiative research was that the women sampled were too old; that
is, they should have started hormone therapy earlier in their lives. The question
remains: How many more women must die prematurely before this dangerous
treatment is finally stopped?

Heart Disease
Most people believe the cultural stereotype that heart disease is a man’s disease.
However, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women as well as for men in
Western societies. For example, in 1995, over 300,000 women were hospitalized
specifically for acute myocardial infarction, and over 1.5 million women were
hospitalized for chronic ischemic heart disease. In fact, for well over a decade the
total number of women hospitalized with some type of cardiovascular condition
has been consistently greater than the number of men. This gender pattern has been
documented annually from 1990 through 2000 in the National Hospital Discharge
Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (Travis, 2005).
Women in general do not worry as much about heart disease as they do about
breast cancer, though heart disease kills many more women. Furthermore, many
women have been guided by physicians’ beliefs and assumptions that whatever
risk they have of heart disease could be handled by estrogen replacement therapy
after menopause.
56 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

Gender and Treatment

Although heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United
States, most of the 5.7 million procedures on the heart recorded in 1998 were
performed on men. Access to care, diagnostic strategies, and preferred treatments
also appear to differ markedly by gender (Healy, 1991; Travis et al., 1993; Wenger,
1985, 1987). A number of studies suggest that these gender patterns are the result
of biased decision making. Tobin et al. (1987) reported that abnormal diagnostic
findings in nuclear exercise testing resulted in significantly more referrals for car-
diac catheterization for men than for women with similar abnormal signs. Another
study indicated that women in selected Maryland and Massachusetts hospitals were
less likely to undergo diagnostic angiography or coronary artery revascularization
than were men (Ayanian & Epstein, 1991) A similar study of patients enrolled in
the Survival and Ventricular Enlargement Study for the years 1987 to 1990 (1842
men, 389 women) showed that the health care history of women prior to the initial
myocardial infarction indicated a less aggressive management approach than that
observed for men (Steingart et al., 1996).
But aren’t “things different now”? As a partial answer to this question, detailed
records of patients’ diagnoses and procedures were examined for trends over the
12-year period from 1987 to 1998. Coronary artery bypass graft (commonly known
as bypass surgery or CABG) is one marker by which to track issues of the quality
of care and medical decision making with respect to gender. The most frequent
and key diagnostic conditions associated with bypass surgery are chronic or acute
ischemia (i.e., restriction or shortage of blood supply), angina, and acute myocar-
dial infarction. As diagnostic and surgical methods have become more widely
available, bypass surgery has been increasingly viewed as useful, and treatment
of heart disease has become more aggressive. This is particularly true for male
patients.
There has never been a particularly aggressive or active surgical approach to
heart disease if the patient is female, even when women’s medical conditions are
similar to those of men who receive surgical treatment. Approximately 600,000
bypass surgeries were performed in the United States in 2002, an increase of about
83% over the number performed a decade earlier. The vast majority of those were
performed on men. Among patients with key diagnoses, over 50% of men versus
only 27% of women had bypass surgery (Travis, 2006).
A number of factors might explain why women tend not to receive bypass
surgery. One possibility is that women are older, and physicians and family mem-
bers may think that there is less potential benefit from aggressive treatment. Of
course, if this were the case, then age would be a covariate for procedures performed
on men as well as on women. Other explanations might lie in the possibility that
women have more preexisting health conditions (e.g., diabetes) that could com-
plicate surgery. Statistical analysis of approximately 10 million patient records
over a decade indicated that factors such as older age or comorbid conditions did
not account for gender differences. Overall, men were twice as likely to have by-
pass surgery as were women with comparable medical profiles. This result was
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 57

particularly evident for women in relatively young age groups (40s and 50s), when
angina was a primary diagnosis, and in the presence of any chronic health condi-
tion (e.g., diabetes or hypertension) (Travis, 2005). Thus, gender stereotypes and
sex discrimination continue to affect decisions about the treatment of midlife and
older women with cardiovascular conditions.

Breast Cancer
Cancer is overall the second leading cause of death among women of all ages,
and it accounts for nearly one-quarter of deaths from all causes. However, among
women 45 to 75 years, it is the leading cause of death (American Cancer Society,
2005). Although it was once rare among women, lung cancer is now one of the
more common forms of cancer among women of all ages. Roughly 80,000 U.S.
women are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and nearly an equal number of
women die of lung cancer each year (American Cancer Society, 2005). Most of
these cases are caused by cigarette smoking, as about 20% of American women
smoke (American Cancer Society, 2005; Wolberg, 2004). Notably, rates of cancer
vary among White women and Women of Color. Rates of death for all types of
cancer are consistently and dramatically higher among Black women than among
other race—sex groups (American Cancer Society, 2005).
Although deaths from lung cancer are the most common form of cancer among
women, the most dreaded form surely is breast cancer. Approximately 200,000
women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year (American Cancer Society,
2005). Fortunately, about 60% of these cases are detected early, when the tumors
are fairly small and localized or in situ (i.e., no involvement of other types of
tissues, organs, or lymph nodes). When breast cancer is detected and treated at this
early point, 10-year survival rates are very high; estimates range from 72 to 92%
(Fletcher et al., 2005; Romero et al., 2004; Solin et al., 2005). As with most major
diseases, age is the biggest risk factor for cancer, thus annual mammograms after
age 50 are one of the best forms of prevention. Another factor is family history.
However, inherited genetic risk accounts for only about 3 to 5% of all breast cancers
(Eccles & Pichert, 2005). Short of a genetic screening test, the best indicator of an
inherited gene problem is early age of onset. Heritable breast cancers often emerge
before women reach menopause, whereas onset at an older age, by itself, conveys
little definite information about genetic factors. Thus, having a family member
who developed breast cancer at age 75 is not a strong indicator of an inherited
genetic problem.
Beyond risks associated with the general processes of aging, a major risk factor
for breast cancer is the lifetime exposure to estrogens; the more estrogen, the more
breast cancer. It has long been known, for example, that women are at greater
risk for breast cancer if they have experienced an early start to menstruation (first
menses before age 13) or if they have late menopause (after age 50) (McPherson,
2004). In addition, direct prospective evidence exists for a positive link between
58 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

levels of estrone and estradiol (forms of estrogen) (Toniolo et al., 1995). Replace-
ment estrogens during menopause are an example of this, and have already been
discussed. The potential cancer risk from exogenous estrogens during the years
of normal menstrual cycling (ages 13 to 50) is difficult to assess, as virtually all
women are also producing their own estrogens at the time.

Coping with Breast Cancer

There are several dimensions and styles of coping; broadly these are social, be-
havioral, emotional, and cognitive. Women should not feel constrained to adhere
solely to one style; the more important consideration is to do what works for the
individual woman in her particular circumstances. Social support and interpersonal
relations play an important role in coping with any major life stressor, and research
has shown that talking about a negative experience tends to reduce overall anxiety
and also tends to reduce anxiety responses during future exposures (Lepore et al.,
2000).
Behavioral and instrumental coping can include learning more about treatment
options, developing patient–physician interaction skills, building relaxation skills,
adhering to a general wellness lifestyle for diet and exercise, and practicing good
sleep management skills. In consultation with an oncologist and family members,
cancer patients typically make a number of decisions about treatment. Depend-
ing on the stage of breast cancer, there may be decisions following surgery about
whether or not to pursue chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or some combination.
Once primary treatments are completed, patients additionally may have the choice
whether or not to pursue adjuvant drug therapy, and, if so, the type of drug inter-
vention to be used. Coming to a physician visit prepared to ask specific questions
and prepared to negotiate differences of judgment about treatment may foster a
greater overall sense of competence for the woman and more equanimity about
eventual outcomes and side effects of treatment (Jahng et al., 2005).
Styles of coping may also vary with respect to emotion. For example, some
women experience and express anger, anxiety, or grief, whereas other women
reduce their emotional responsiveness. One should remember that coping and ad-
justment evolve and develop with the course of disease and treatment; variation in
emotional expressiveness may be useful and appropriate at different times. Man-
aging beliefs and cognitions is another dimension of coping. Some women may
actively work at maintaining positive beliefs and thoughts about their treatment,
for example, by generating self-labels such as “survivor.” However, arbitrarily ap-
plying a label such as “survivor” may function to silence some women by forcing
them to deny continuing struggles and inner uncertainty. Cognitive coping strate-
gies frequently limit intrusive negative thoughts and avoid catastrophizing. A belief
system that characterizes the impact of cancer as comprehensive and permanent
may contribute to a sense of helplessness and depression (Barnefski et al., 2002),
whereas taking things one step at a time may help to contain negative thoughts and
emotions.
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 59

Bone and Joint Disease

In addition to cardiovascular disease and cancer, women may experience a number
of other chronic conditions; among the most common are diabetes, bone and joint
disease, asthma and other breathing-related illnesses, gastrointestinal disorders,
and immune system disorders. Each of these illnesses has the potential to alter the
quality of women’s lives in the fifth and sixth decades; although all are important,
we focus here on bone and joint disease.
Bone is a living tissue, which is continuously built and reabsorbed. Cancellous
bone is found in the wrist and spine and has a fairly rapid rate of turnover, whereas
cortical bone is located in the arms and legs and has a slower rate of cell activ-
ity. As they age, many women suffer from a number of potentially debilitating
joint diseases; among the most common are osteoporosis and arthritis. Osteoporo-
sis is a skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and increased porosity
of bone tissue (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005a), whereas the
term “arthritis” actually refers to a collection of more than 100 different inflam-
matory diseases that affect the joints and surrounding connective tissue (Arthritis
Foundation, 2005).

Osteoporosis
Eighty percent of individuals in the United States diagnosed with osteoporosis are
women; currently at least 10 million Americans have this disease, and another
34 million are at risk for developing it by virtue of their low bone mass (Office of
the Surgeon General, 2004). The fact that osteoporosis is the source of the greatest
number of fractures in the elderly is perhaps the most health-impairing aspect of
this disease. Unfortunately, osteoporosis is both underdiagnosed and undertreated,
even in those women who have already suffered at least one fracture. According
to the Surgeon General, about 1.5 million people a year suffer an osteoporosis-
related fracture, most often in the hip, spine, or wrist; of those with hip fractures,
20% will likely die within a year, and another 20% will end up confined to a
nursing home (Office of the Surgeon General, 2004). Clearly, women in their
50s and 60s may benefit not only from early screening, diagnosis, and treatment,
but also from health promotion behaviors initiated earlier in their lives. Women
are encouraged to ensure that they routinely obtain the recommended amounts
of calcium in their diets, engage in a regular program of weight-bearing activity,
and request osteoporosis screening (i.e., bone density tests) following any bone
fracture. Unfortunately, recent research suggests that strikingly few—18%—of
female Medicare patients over age 67 receive either bone density screening or
medication following diagnosis of a fracture, despite the fact that treatment of
osteoporosis significantly reduces the risk of subsequent fractures (Office of the
Surgeon General, 2004). Though it is possible that many older men with fragility
fractures do not receive postfracture screening for osteoporosis (Kiebzak et al.,
2002), we cannot help but wonder whether health care practitioners would fail to
60 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

provide the gold standard of care for fractures in older adults (Gardner et al., 2002;
Hajcsar et al., 2000) if osteoporosis were a condition diagnosed more often in men
rather than in women.
Bone density can be measured, but testing with the most reliable equipment is
expensive. Health fairs often offer ultrasound imaging of the heel that produces a
quick score, but it is not particularly accurate. Dual X-ray absorptometry (DXA)
is the most accurate test. DXA involves a large machine that uses two X-ray beams
that are passed through the bone, and typically focuses on the spine and/or hip.
Calcium intake and physical activity throughout life are recommended to prevent
osteoporosis. The National Institute of Health Consensus Panel on Calcium con-
cluded that a daily intake of 1500 mg of calcium is recommended for older women,
but this intake is seldom met (National Consensus Development Panel on Optimal
Calcium Intake, 1994). Natural food sources high in calcium include most dairy
products that often are restricted in efforts to control weight or cholesterol. Dark
green vegetables typically contain notable levels of calcium; less commonly rec-
ognized sources include fruits such as cantaloupes, dried fruits, and many berries.
Nutritional supplements of calcium are widely available, but the plethora of for-
mulations can be puzzling. For example, although calcium in the form of carbonate
and citrate is absorbed at about the same rate, calcium citrate may be better for
people with reduced stomach acid (Office of Dietary Supplements, 2006). Prescrip-
tion supplements have gained increasing recognition in recent years. Some of the
commonly prescribed bisphosphonates are risedronate (Actonel), r alendronate
(Fosamax), r and etidronate (Didrocal). r Most of these block the action of osteo-
clasts that breakdown bone for resorption. Alternative pharmaceutical approaches
may use SERMs (special estrogen receptor modulators); side effects associated
with SERMs seem to mimic those of menopause, such as hot flashes. Low bone
density is associated with more fractures, but the extent to which fracture risk is
causally reduced by these pharmaceutical interventions remains to be determined.
For example, surveys might indicate a greatly reduced risk of fracture among those
taking the medication, even though the medication raised actual bone density only
slightly. Whether these studies suffer from the same flaws as the early estrogen
replacement studies is, of course, a concern. Women who seek care and follow
prescription regimens simply may have better overall health, diet, and lifestyle
than those who do not. Thus, the beneficial outcomes of lower fracture may be due
as much to lifestyle health as to prescription medications.

Arthritis
Joint diseases constitute the leading cause of disability among American adults
and, unfortunately, arthritis rates also increase with age. The rate of arthritis among
women age 75 and older is more than five times the rate in women 18 to 44 years of
age (National Center for Health Statistics, 2003). Among the most common forms
of arthritis are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus,
gout, and fibromyalgia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005b). Of
these joint diseases, only gout is diagnosed less frequently in women than in men.
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 61

Arthritis represents a significant health issue for women in that it is the leading
reason for activity limitations in this population (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2005b). Osteoarthritis, characterized by pain and restricted movement
occurs most frequently in the knees, hips, spine, and hand. About one-half of all
women over the age of 65 experience some pain and some activity limitations asso-
ciated with this condition (National Center for Health Statistics, 2003). In contrast
to the localized nature of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic inflam-
matory joint disease most likely caused by a faulty immune response. In addition
to eroding bone and cartilage, which causes pain, swelling, and redness in the
joints, this inflammatory process can also affect other organs. Patients coping with
arthritis conditions have a variety of medical and behavioral treatment strategies
available to them. Numerous prescription and nonprescription medicines may be
used to treat the pain and inflammation associated with these conditions; however,
it is important to note that pharmacotherapy is not without side effects or risks. Pa-
tients with advanced osteoarthritis may wish to consider joint replacement surgery.
Although arthritis-associated pain is often a barrier to exercise, women often find
low-impact activities (e.g., water aerobics, swimming) to be both physically tol-
erable and health enhancing methods of coping with a chronic musculoskeletal
condition. Along with exercise, weight management is also essential for reducing
stress on weight-bearing joints.

Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Disease

Fortunately, the brain is a highly adaptive piece of equipment. Not only is it the
command center for motor, sensory, and cognitive functions, it has the capacity
to modify or reorganize itself; cortical circuits can be repaired, and new networks
of circuits can be integrated, to allow modified function in response to many
different traumas. There are things that women can do to enhance or maintain their
brain health. Exercise has been found in animal studies to increase the number
of tiny blood vessels in the brain, the number of synaptic connections, and even
the development of new neurons (Kramer et al., 1999; van Praag et al., 1999).
This means that the brain is more efficient, plastic, and adaptive in the context
of physical activity. There seem to be differences in the prefrontal and frontal
brain regions of physically fit versus unfit humans, and recent clinical trials with
humans have shown that problem solving and focused attention are both improved
by exercise (Colcombe et al., 2004). Maintaining general physical fitness and
daily aerobic exercise are the two best ways to keep brain plasticity and health. In
addition, there is some evidence that reducing low-density cholesterol may promote
better circulation to the brain and slow cognitive decline (Jick et al., 2000). One
way to reduce cholesterol is to reduce the intake of trans or hydrogenated fats
(e.g., fried food, prepared snack cakes) and to increase the intake of foods with
polyunsaturated, unhydrogenated fats that contain omega essential fatty acids, such
as unsaturated vegetable oils (Morris et al., 2003). To this end, the old maxim that
fish is brain food may not be far from the truth. Another old saying—“use it or
62 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

lose it”—also may be pertinent to the maintenance of sharp cognitive function.

Social stimulation and interaction is one way to keep cognitive functions active,
but this may be difficult for older people with limited mobility whose older friends
also have limited mobility. Although heart health has been widely adopted as an
important goal of lifestyle behaviors, the same cannot be said for brain health.
Nevertheless, it is important because there are a number of risks to brain health as
people age.
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the more common of several forms of de-
mentia, most of which are characterized by memory impairment, inability to recall
or appropriately use words in speech, problems of judgment, and motor impair-
ment. Age is the single greatest risk factor for AD, but it is not limited to the
extremely aged and infirm. It usually begins in the 40s and 50s, signaled initially
by memory lapses and later substantial impairment of attention and speech and
eventual confusion and helplessness. Although lapses of memory or difficulty in
finding the right word happen to everyone, for those with AD these lapses interfere
with the ability to perform daily functions, such as finding one’s toothbrush. Odd
or idiosyncratic words may be substituted for the word that cannot be retrieved.
In addition poor judgment may lead to impulsive or extravagant behavior, which
makes individuals with AD more vulnerable to financial scams. The prevalence
of AD in the year 2050 is estimated to be roughly 13 million, nearly triple the
number of current cases (Hebert et al., 2003). The functional changes in mem-
ory and judgment are the result of structural changes in the brain. These include
deterioration of brain synapses, the growth of neurofibrillary tangles (i.e., twisted
and super-coiled protein fragments inside brain cells), and the buildup of amyloid
plaque around brain cells, synapses, and in brain blood vessels (Gylys et al., 2004;
Sayre et al., 2005). However, as with most correlational research, one does not
know if amyloid and similar proteins cause the problems or instead are responses
that reflect the brain’s efforts to cope with other forms of stress or trauma.
The most general risk factor for AD is age. There appears to be more than one ge-
netic precursor that may contribute to early or to late onset, but genetic inheritance
is thought to account for only about one-quarter of AD cases. Because higher levels
of aluminum have been found in the brains of patients already diagnosed with AD,
there has been some concern that aluminum could be a causal factor. Aluminum is
widely present in the environment; common sources include some antiperspirants,
processed flour in cake and pancake mixes, and processed cheese. Drinking water
is probably the most widely dispersed source of human exposure to aluminum.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Office of Dietary Sup-
plements, 2006) notes that aluminum is widespread in the environment, and most
people intake 30 to 50 mg per day; however, less than 1% of the amount ingested is
actually absorbed. Most public concern about aluminum and AD has been focused
on cookware or beverage containers. However, beverage containers are usually
coated with a polymer that would inhibit such exposure. There may be leeching
of aluminum from cookware, but it is most likely to occur in the cooking of high
acid foods, such as tomatoes. Less widely noted is the possibility that deficiencies
in other trace minerals, such as magnesium and phosphorous, may contribute to
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 63

increased levels of aluminum. Because magnesium and phosphorous have antiox-

idant effects that could lower the retention of aluminum, one wellness lifestyle
pattern is to insure adequate ingestion of magnesium and phosphorous. Dietary
sources of magnesium include whole grains, nuts, and leafy vegetables, whereas
sources of phosphorous include fish, poultry, meat, eggs, and milk. Unfortunately,
general antioxidants, such as vitamin E, are not prevalent in brain tissue, and it is
difficult to make a general prescription in favor of prescription of antioxidants as
protection from AD (Vinia et al., 2004).

Coping with Chronic Disease

Women may experience any number of different chronic diseases that can re-
sult in chronic pain, impaired mobility, activity limitations, relationship stress, or
psychological distress. Clearly, it is important to identify those health promoting
and coping strategies that may prove beneficial to women encountering symptoms
and consequences of chronic illness. Coping strategies and interventions may be
primarily patient-centered or more inclusive of the woman’s romantic partner or
family system. Patient-centered coping strategies are frequently categorized as one
of five types (i.e., emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, social sup-
port, spiritual coping, and cognitive restructuring or meaning making) (Aldwin &
Yancura, 2004), although it is important to note that social support and spiritual
coping actually contain elements of both emotion- and problem-focused coping.
Emotion-focused coping strategies are those that involve either expressing emo-
tion or engaging in withdrawal, disengagement, or avoidance. Whereas talking
about emotions is often considered a positive coping strategy (Lepore et al., 2000),
emotional avoidance and withdrawal strategies most often result in more negative
health outcomes (Aldwin & Revenson, 1987) and more distressed moods in pa-
tients with chronic disease (Kozora et al., 2005). It is also important to note that the
relationship between emotions and health is a complex one; for example, weekly
measures of both negative affect and positive affect have been associated with lev-
els of pain in women with chronic pain conditions (Zautra et al., 2005). The same
study indicated that women with higher levels of overall positive affect (e.g., deter-
mined, active, inspired) tended to report lower levels of pain in subsequent weeks;
however, weekly increases in pain and stress were also associated with increased
negative affect (e.g., nervous, scared, irritable). In summary, Zautra et al. suggested
that high levels of positive affect tend to characterize patients who are more resilient
when confronted with both increased pain and interpersonal conflict. In an inves-
tigation of positive emotions and health, Richman et al. (2005) found that higher
levels of hope and curiosity were associated with a decreased likelihood of having
or developing any of three common chronic diseases. They suggested that these
positive emotions may have protective effects on health, in contrast to the adverse
health behaviors (e.g., smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, decreased phys-
ical activity) typically associated with negative emotions, such as anxiety, anger,
and depression. In their examination of the associations between socioeconomic
64 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

status (SES), negative emotions, and physical health, Gallo and Matthews (2003)
proposed that low-SES environments are often stressful, thereby reducing indi-
viduals’ “reserve capacity to manage stress” and increasing their vulnerability to
negative cognitions (e.g., pessimism, hopelessness) and emotions (e.g., anxiety,
depression, worry). In summary, constructive emotion-focused coping strategies
should ideally provide opportunities to identify and experience positive emotions
(e.g., determination, hope) and also help women to identify and practice methods
of coping with those negative emotions that may occur in the context of chronic
illness or pain. Positive emotions are generally an indicator of hope and the reso-
lution of doubt. However, one would not want to demand that women have only
positive emotions; so-called negative emotions such as anger can also energize
positive actions.
In contrast to emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping strategies are
directed at understanding and solving health-related problems. Typically, these
methods of coping involve information gathering and planning, strategies that
require some degree of activity on the part of the patient. Problem-focused coping
methods, particularly information seeking, have been associated with more positive
health outcomes (i.e., slower disease progression, fewer symptoms) and improved
health-related quality of life (Ransom et al., 2005). Unfortunately, as women age,
their risk for other health-compromising conditions (e.g., heart, respiratory, and
joint diseases) may increase; in turn, these chronic health problems can potentially
limit their ability to engage in some of the more active forms of problem-focused
coping (e.g., exercise, relaxation procedures).
Patients are often encouraged to use social support as a source of coping with
illness, however, it is important to note that the relationship between social support
and health outcomes is somewhat complicated (Aldwin & Yancura, 2004; DiMat-
teo, 2004). Several studies suggest that social support from family and friends
may boost patients’ adherence to treatment via a number of different mechanisms,
most notably, by encouraging optimism (Brissette et al., 2002; Symister & Friend,
2003), reducing depression and isolation (Brown et al., 1989; Goodenow et al.,
1990; Symister & Friend, 2003), and providing practical (or tangible) assistance
(DiMatteo, 2004; Wallston et al., 1983). The results of a recent meta-analysis of
the social support and treatment adherence literature indicate that “[f]unctional so-
cial support has stronger effects on adherence than does structural social support,
suggesting that the mere presence of other people does not matter as much as the
quality of relationships with them” (DiMatteo, 2004, p. 212). It is not surprising,
then, that health professionals have become increasingly interested in relationship
(Badr & Acitelli, 2005; Manne et al., 2006) and family-based coping interventions
(Martire et al., 2004). The goals of these system-based interventions are ideally to
improve patient health outcomes, reduce illness symptoms, enhance psychological
well-being, and provide empathy and support (Martire et al., 2004), yet, to date,
there are relatively few empirical investigations of the outcomes of such interven-
tions in comparison to individual patient-oriented approaches. In a review of just
12 family-based intervention studies, Martire et al. (2004) found that five of 12
investigations demonstrated clear advantages associated with social support, most
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 65

notably in the areas of pain severity, sickness impact, psychosocial adjustment,

and communication between patients and their family members. Only one of 12
studies confirmed a clear advantage associated with individually oriented inter-
ventions; specifically, rheumatoid arthritis patients reported greater self-efficacy
and reduced fatigue when attending a patient education program than when par-
ticipating in a program that included their partners or spouses (Riemsma et al.,
2003).
Although more research on the short- and long-term effects of family-based cop-
ing interventions is warranted, one couple-focused group intervention for women
with early stage breast cancer suggests a particular advantage to this approach.
In a study of 238 women randomly assigned to either a 6-week couple-focused
intervention or the usual patient-focused care, researchers found that women who
experienced more physical impairment or who rated their partners as unsupport-
ive benefited more from the couple-based program (Manne et al., 2005). Women
who participated in the group intervention for couples not only reported signifi-
cantly less distress at the end of the program, but also appeared to demonstrate a
longer-term reduction in symptoms of depression. According to the authors, one
advantage of the couples-based intervention may be that it allows the partners to
discuss with one another the effects of the disease (i.e., breast cancer) on their
relationship and daily life.

Accommodating the Limitations Associated

with Chronic Disease
Although the aforementioned individual coping strategies are clearly designed to
ameliorate or minimize the negative effects of chronic illness, some women will
undoubtedly require environmental accommodations as well. In a recent study of
work limitations and accommodations for chronically ill employees, investigators
identified three distinct areas for work adjustment: physical work demands, cogni-
tive work demands, and social work demands (Munir et al., 2005). In their survey
of 610 supervisors, the authors found that, although depression had the largest
impact on all three work demand categories, patients with depression were the
least likely to receive a cognitive work adjustment. In contrast, employer work
adjustments were readily available to employees whose illnesses (e.g., muscu-
loskeletal conditions) required accommodation of their physical work demands. It
is interesting that those patients with chronic illnesses other than musculoskeletal
conditions were more likely to experience work limitations due to generic symp-
toms of illness (e.g., fatigue) than limitations due to disease-specific symptoms,
and employers’ work adjustments to the cognitive demands of the job were most
likely to occur in response to employees’ disclosure of illness.
Although individuals with disabilities have a legal right to reasonable accom-
modations in most public, educational, and employment settings (Americans with
Disabilities Act, 1990), one barrier to seeking such accommodations may involve
the perceptions of the patients’ illness. For example, one qualitative study of young
66 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

female survivors of hemorrhagic stroke showed that these women often expressed
concerns about how they might be perceived by others. More specifically, women
in the study were clearly aware that stroke is typically viewed as a disease of
old age and that “disabilities worth taking seriously are readily visible” (Stone,
2005, p. 293). Despite the possibility of such misperceptions, women who find
themselves in need of disability accommodations should be encouraged to pur-
sue whatever mechanisms are available to improve both their quality of life and
personal functioning. Such accommodations might include, but are not limited to,
work station adjustments (i.e., ergonomic improvements) and other adaptive equip-
ment, improved accessibility, and schedule modifications that will allow for time
and access to required health care. Because women’s work lives often contribute to
their sense of psychological well-being, as well as their financial stability, women
should not be pressured to take early retirement or disability until all avenues of
workplace accommodation have been explored.

Informational Support
As mentioned previously, problem-focused coping strategies have been frequently
linked to improved health outcomes in women. Information seeking represents one
such problem-focused approach to coping. Women who have been diagnosed with
chronic diseases or conditions often benefit from access to current information
about their conditions and available treatment alternatives. Such information is
often found from one of three resources: the woman’s own health care provider(s),
support groups, and print or electronic media. Women with chronic illness ideally
will have the opportunity to develop collaborative working relationships with their
treatment providers, an issue to which we will return later in this chapter. Disease
or condition-specific support groups often provide another important source of
information and social support for patients. Although many communities have
health information libraries associated with either their local universities or medical
centers, the Internet is rapidly becoming a primary source of health information
for patients (Bansil et al., 2006) who are dealing with a wide range of chronic
diseases.

Community Resources
Whether women are focused primarily on health promotion and disease preven-
tion or are already having chronic health problems, there are a growing number of
community resources available for information, education, and support. In some
communities, women may avail themselves of the resources of a local commu-
nity health library; in others, health information may be obtained from county
health departments or health care facilities. Those women who have experience
with and access to the Internet can find a plethora of information related to health
promotion, disease prevention, and the treatment of acute and chronic illness. For
example, both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) maintain Web sites with links to important health and illness infor-
mation for consumers as well as for their health care providers. Many organizations
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 67

concerned with education about and prevention of specific diseases (e.g., arthritis,
heart disease) have established websites that provide comprehensive information
for newly diagnosed patients and their families. Finally, the Internet is home to
many electronic support groups that are often established to provide informational
and social support for those diagnosed with specific diseases (e.g., inflammatory
bowel disease, breast cancer). Women who enter the name of a specific disease or
health topic in an Internet search engine (e.g., Google) are likely to find dozens, if
not hundreds, of links to websites with information related to their topic of inter-
est. As information becomes more readily available online, women may encounter
conflicting information and recommendations, which requires some structure or
strategy for evaluating the accuracy and usefulness of the health care recommenda-
tions available to them via this medium. One such strategy might involve gathering
information from multiple Internet sources, compiling a list of recommendations,
and then discussing this information with health care providers to determine the
best course of treatment for the individual woman.
As mentioned previously, informational support is often an important compo-
nent of problem-focused coping. Women who possess up-to-date, accurate infor-
mation about their illnesses not only may find themselves more empowered to
manage their health or illness, but also to advocate for more collaborative and
satisfactory relationships with their health care providers.

Planning and Managing Health Care

Whether concerned about health promotion and prevention or the diagnosis and
treatment of acute or chronic disease, women must be prepared to manage effec-
tively their relationships with health care and insurance providers. This can pose
a particular challenge for those women who conform to traditional gender role
expectations of agreeableness, acquiescence, and passivity; sometimes it is more
effective to be insistent, steadfast, and gritty. For example, when receiving yet
another wait-and-see recommendation from her doctor, one woman laid down in
the waiting room floor and refused to move until her symptoms were properly
diagnosed; as it turned out, she had a ruptured appendix.

Patient–Provider Relationships
Beginning in adolescence, women are more likely than men to utilize the health
care system (National Center for Health Statistics, 2003). Women ages 45 to 64
average more than eight physician contacts per year compared to about six per
year for men. It is not surprising then that a number of researchers have examined
women’s experiences with health care and health care providers. One nationwide
study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on Women’s Health
(2003) indicated that women were twice as likely as men to report negative feelings
about the patient–provider relationship. More specifically, 25% of women believed
that their physicians “talked down to them,” and 17% reported that their physicians
68 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

suggested that their health problems were “all in their heads.” According to a special
task force report of the American Medical Association, women are more likely
than men to have their symptoms attributed to “overanxiousness”—a psychological
problem—even when medical test results suggest the presence of an organic (i.e.,
physical) problem (Task Force, Ethical and Judicial Affairs, American Medical
Association, 1991). Physicians may also tend to underestimate women’s (and
patients of lower socioeconomic status)1 understanding of medical terminology
as well as their interest in receiving technical information, which results in a
gender disparity in the technical complexity and specificity of information given
to patients (Sprague-Zones, 1995). It is not surprising, then, that women are more
likely than men to change physicians, perhaps in large part due to problems in the
patient–provider relationship.
Women over 65 participating in focus groups reported that, although their phys-
ical health needs were generally met, a number of areas of the patient–provider
relationship might otherwise be improved (Tannenbaum et al., 2003). Among these
were women’s desire to feel validated as active participants in their health care,
the importance of recognizing women’s aging-related concerns and anxieties, and
the need for greater information sharing and education in the patient–provider re-
lationship. The women who participated in that study were particularly interested
in learning more about diet, exercise, and other health maintenance strategies as-
sociated with successful aging, yet they believed that time, accessibility, and con-
tinuity of care represented significant barriers to obtaining effective health care.
More specifically, women suggested that their providers did not always have suffi-
cient time to listen to and address their health care concerns or to provide detailed
information about the normal aging process. Although patient satisfaction and pa-
tient adherence to medical regimens have been found to be improved by a good
patient–provider relationship (Carlson & Skochelak, 1998),2 the fundamental goal
always should be to improve the quality of care patients receive. Positive nonver-
bal behavior, optimistic talk, and social conversation may contribute to an overall
good feeling about the encounter, but they should not substitute for technical com-
petence or for thorough understanding of the patients’ symptoms and concerns.
Similarly, general sociable conversation should not be used to avoid recognition
of or resolution of possible disagreements. Fortunately, effective patient–provider
communication has been shown to be associated with improved health outcomes
in breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and peptic ulcer disease (Kaplan et al.,
1989).

1
The similarity of patterns for women in general and for anyone in a lower socioeconomic
status supports the point that gender is a status or class variable and not simply a personal
attribute.
2
Research has suggested that female physicians may engage in more interactive question
asking and dialogue (Bertakis et al., 1995; Roter et al., 1991). However, this is sometimes
confounded with the area of specialization, for example, pediatrics.
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 69

Consent to Treatment
Women with acute or chronic disease often face a number of important decisions
concerning their treatment. Although advances in technology afford women more
opportunity than ever to collect independent information about available treatment
alternatives, treatment decisions ultimately develop in the context of an individ-
ual patient’s relationship with her health care provider. Consequently, informed
consent to treatment becomes an issue of paramount importance.

Informed Consent to Treatment

In contrast to the popular view that treatment consent is the signing of a document,
informed consent is more accurately viewed as “a process by which a fully informed
patient can participate in choices about her health care. It originates from the
legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and
from the ethical duty of the physician to involve the patient in her health care”
(Edwards, 1998, p. 1). The informed consent process should enable women and
their health care providers to engage in a collaborative treatment relationship, one
that is in direct contrast to the historical conception of paternalistic physicians who
independently make decisions that they believe to be in the best interests of their
patients.
True informed consent involves a voluntary decision to accept a particular treat-
ment and occurs when a woman is free from coercion or unfair inducements. It is
a process of communication and exchange. Medical ethics require that patients be
informed about and consent to treatment (American Medical Association, Council
on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, 2004; delCarmen & Joffe, 2005). Failure to engage
in this process can be considered legally to be battery and/or negligence. A number
of specific elements are included in full informed consent; these include the fol-
lowing: (a) receipt of a diagnosis; (b) proposed treatment, goals that the treatment
may accomplish, and the likelihood of achieving those goals; (c) potential risks
and side effects of the proposed treatment; (d) alternative treatments, regardless
of cost, as well as the potential risks and side effects of alternative treatments; and
(e) the possibility of doing nothing or waiting, and the problems outcomes of such
a course.
Unfortunately, there continue to be gaps between what health care providers
believe about informed consent and their actual consent-related behaviors. For
example, research on the reading level of informed consent documents included in
clinical treatment trials suggests that few informed consent documents are actually
written at the average reading level of adults in the United States, that is, the
eighth grade level. In fact, nearly one-half of the informed consent forms reviewed
required a college level reading ability (Reidenberg, 2005). These data suggest
that the mere fact of a patient’s signature on an informed consent document does
not necessarily imply that she has been fully informed of the treatment to which
she has presumably “consented.” Fortunately, there is a growing call among health
70 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

care professionals to view informed consent as a process rather than as a form to

be signed (King, 2005; Yamalik, 2005) as well as to be mindful of the cultural
contexts in which individual patients make decisions (Simon & Kodish, 2005). One
might argue, then, that empowering women truly to engage in informed consent for
treatment means that, as a society, we must work to ensure that all people, regardless
of gender, race, culture, and class have a range of treatment options readily available
to them. Similarly, health care providers must create an environment in which
patients are invited to ask questions about proposed treatments and treatment
alternatives. This is particularly important for those women who, by virtue of
gender socialization or education, may be otherwise hesitant to indicate they do
not fully understand the information provided to them.
A frequent, but seldom discussed, aspect of informed consent is consent to
the involvement of observers or trainees. One common practice, referred to as
“shadowing,” allows others to observe treatment, for example, during surgery. The
observers often are medical interns or residents, and the observation’s benefit is
to the trainee, not to the patient. If the student, intern, or other paraprofessional is
to engage in any examination of the patient or engage in any procedure involving
the patient, this should be clarified in advance. Patients should be informed of,
and allowed to give or withhold consent, to such observation, and they should
receive assurance that the observer has in fact completed appropriate training.
Further, consent to allow other unnamed individuals to be involved in treatment
should extend only to procedures directly and specifically related to the condition
for which the individual is receiving treatment. The possible ways in which this
practice may be misused can be surmised from denials issued by hospitals that
they have never allowed, or no longer allow, questionable practices to occur as a
result of such blanket consent. Observation or shadowing can allow, for example,
representatives from pharmaceutical companies to be present during surgery and
other treatment; in most instances, such individuals do not have medical training.

Advance Directives
Given the ethical and legal climate in health care today, women are strongly en-
couraged to anticipate and plan for the possibility that they, at some point in the
future, may not be capable of providing informed consent for medical treatment. A
number of legal documents have been designed to assist patients in communicat-
ing their wishes should such circumstances arise. More specifically, women of all
ages—but particularly those in midlife—are advised to prepare advance directives
for health care. Generally, three types of advance directives are available: a living
will, a durable power of attorney for health care, and a do-not-resuscitate (DNR)
order. Such documents are intended to provide patients’ families and health care
providers with specific instructions about future treatment and to identify those
who have been legally authorized to make treatment decisions on behalf of the
patient.
One type of written document, the living will, describes for family members and
health care providers the types of medical care the patient wants to receive in the
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 71

event of a terminal illness or a permanently unconscious state (Geller, n.d.). Living

wills typically take effect at the point at which a physician determines that a patient,
because of illness, is unable to communicate decisions about her medical care. In
short, the purpose of the living will is to communicate the patient’s preferences
about what the medical treatment should and should not be. In contrast, the durable
power of attorney for health care is a written document that describes who is
permitted to make decisions on behalf of the patient. In essence, the individual
identified as the durable power of attorney for health care becomes an advocate
for the patient in the event that the patient, by virtue of illness or injury, becomes
cognitively unable to make decisions. One potentially important treatment decision
is the use of life-saving medical interventions. Although the living will and durable
power of attorney documents provide the legal means for others to make health
care decisions for a woman who is incapacitated by illness or injury, end-of-life
decisions are often particularly complicated and difficult to make. A patient who
does not want to be resuscitated in the event that her breathing and heartbeat stops
should be encouraged to document these wishes in writing in a document known
as the DNR order.
Although a number of studies indicate that both medical outpatients and in-
patients have generally favorable attitudes toward advance directives (Broadwell
et al., 1993; Holley et al., 1997; Salmond & David, 2005), relatively few patients
actually complete them. Despite the relatively low rates of use of advance direc-
tives in the general hospital setting, documents such as the living will, the durable
power of attorney for health care, and the DNR order remain important vehicles
by which women can communicate to family members, health care providers, and
the courts their preferences for medical decision making and treatment.

Taking Charge of Women’s Health Care

By now it should be clear that we support a multidimensional view of women’s
health at midlife. Rather than simply subscribing to a purely biological view of
women’s health, we make the case that health promotion, disease prevention, and
disease management must be understood in the context of the social, cultural,
and psychological factors that interact with women’s biology in producing various
health outcomes. Thus, if we are to identify ways in which women can take care
of their own health, we must explore the individual, relational, professional, and
societal contexts in which women experience health and illness.
At an individual level, we must continue to support women—particularly older
women—in developing the skills to be assertive agents who feel entitled to speak
for themselves. The research literature is replete with examples of the ways in
which older women have been socialized into submissive positions in relation-
ships with the personal and professional others in their lives (e.g., Weitzman &
Weitzman, 2000), which decrease their sense of personal authority and often in-
crease their sense of vulnerability. There is a commonly accepted belief that women
are “naturally” inclined and most fulfilled when their actions are guided by the
72 Susan D. Lonborg and Cheryl B. Travis

goals of nurturing and caring for others. This orientation has been valorized as a
moral framework that is predominate among, if not unique to, women. In fact, a
systematic review of research on gender differences in a care perspective of moral-
ity indicates that differences are small and that most women and men rely on a
combination of attention to principled rules and to relational caring (Jaffe & Hyde,
2000). Although many women may feel guilty about being assertive or advocat-
ing for themselves, such agentic behavior may foster better problem solving and
greater satisfaction with outcomes. As noted earlier in this chapter, women benefit
from a number of health-promoting behaviors (e.g., nutrition, physical activity,
stress management), particularly when established earlier in their lives, however,
given the multiple role demands often experienced by adult women, it may be
difficult to find time for these health-promoting activities. Consequently, we must
encourage women to view self-care as a priority in their lives and to implement
healthy behaviors in support of that goal. For many women, this is easier said than
done, but important nonetheless.
In thinking about ways to support women’s health at midlife, we consider both
educational and action strategies at four levels: (a) the individual woman; (b)
the relationship and family system; (c) the professional health care provider; and
(d) society and public policy. For the individual woman, we cannot overstate the
importance of education about health-promoting behaviors, disease prevention,
and both emotion- and problem-focused approaches to managing chronic health
conditions. It is also clear that women often benefit from increased knowledge of
their own bodies and health status, as well as from greater personal advocacy when
dealing with health care providers and systems.
At a relational or family system level, it is important once again to acknowledge
the social context of women’s lives. A woman’s health may be affected by the cir-
cumstances in which she lives; in turn, when women are living with chronic health
conditions or pain there are likely to be effects on the family system. For example,
research with sheltered homeless and low-income women suggests that physi-
cal violence and childhood physical or sexual abuse are associated with avoidant
coping strategies and increased depression (Rayburn et al., 2005). In contrast, func-
tional social support from family and friends is often an important contributor to a
woman’s ability to cope with challenging health conditions. Encouraging family
members to become educated about the symptoms, course, and treatment of a dis-
ease may improve their understanding of women’s experience; similarly, improv-
ing communication between women and their intimate partners may help to ame-
liorate the negative effects of illness and pain on such interpersonal relationships.
Health care providers who work with women at midlife should commit
themselves to a number of supportive practices; for example, taking time to provide
information to patients, engaging women as collaborators in the health care rela-
tionship, and encouraging and supporting informed, autonomous decision-making
about the prevention and management of disease. We expect that practitioners
would also avail themselves of the current medical and behavioral scientific liter-
ature that addresses the health status and health care needs of women at midlife
and beyond.
 3. Living Longer, Healthier Lives 73

Finally, at a societal level, we advocate for continued research on women’s

health status and women’s experience of chronic illness and disease, with em-
phasis on understanding the needs of ethnically, culturally, sexually, and econom-
ically diverse groups of women. Along with increased knowledge of women’s
health at midlife, it is also important to improve access to both health promotion
resources and health care providers, particularly for those women with limited
financial resources. Improvement of access to health care ideally would result in
women being more able to make truly informed choices about their health care
and treatment. Women who experience chronic conditions or disability should con-
tinue to benefit from appropriate accommodations in the workplace and in public
facilities.
Despite the challenges to women’s health at midlife and continued concerns
about gender disparities in health care, women in their 50s today are living longer,
healthier lives than their mothers and grandmothers did. They are better educated,
more active physically and professionally, and, as a group, have better access to
current health care information and resources. As women at midlife support one
another in both managing chronic conditions and promoting healthy lifestyles,
they also serve as role models for future generations of healthy women. Rather
than retiring from life, many older women find opportunity to explore aspects of
their lives they previously had not developed. Compared to traditional stereotypes,
lifestyles among today’s older women are increasingly varied and are more physi-
cally active, intellectually expansive, politically effective, socially connected, and
healthy.

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4
On the Move: Exercise, Leisure
Activities, and Midlife Women
Ruth L. Hall

A few weeks before my 50th birthday, I received a letter from the American
Association for Retired People (AARP) informing me that I was now eligible
to join AARP. I had arrived. But what did that mean? I’m postmenopausal and
beginning to gray more quickly. My physician told me that I had “age-related
osteoarthritis,” as if that makes the pain any better. Other symptoms of aging
continue to emerge. Middle age is a time when our bodies remind us of the process
of aging, a time when we say to ourselves, “I don’t remember this [body part]
giving me trouble when I did [blank] in the past.” It is a time to become more
active in developing and sustaining a lifestyle that will help us to remain mentally
alert, spiritually fulfilled, and physically sound as we grow older.
As a baby boomer, I came of age in the ’60s—a time of activism for many
oppressed populations throughout the United States and worldwide. The Civil
Rights Movement morphed into many other strong movements: the Black Power
Movement, the Women’s Movement, and the Gay Rights Movement. In some
instances, the momentum of the ’60s created policies and laws that were concrete
signs of progress—Affirmative Action and Roe v. Wade altered the landscape for
many people. Another legal coup for women in the United States was Title IX,
which required federally funded high schools, colleges, and universities to provide
equity for girls and women with their male counterparts in sport. All of these legal
interventions and progressive changes are now in jeopardy. We can only hope that
the strides made for women and the rights of others who are covered by these laws
will sustain the backlash that confronts us.
One of the repercussions of the Third Wave of feminism was greater access to
sport for girls and women, which has benefited us physically and psychologically.
As middle-aged women we did not directly benefit from Title IX in high school
or college, but we did gain some benefits from the groundswell of interest in,
availability of, and “permission” to participate in physical activity. Around the
time when Title IX became the law, feminists encouraged more flexible gender
roles and urged all girls and women to take ownership of their bodies and to see
themselves as more than sexual beings. More recently, messages about body image
in the media have expanded to include the goal of fitness and the importance of a
toned and healthy body.

79
80 Ruth L. Hall

However, gender stereotypes die hard(ly), and the culture still has a strangle-
hold on what women should look like. In the ’60s Twiggy catapulted women
into thinking that the androgynous look was the best. No longer was Marilyn
Monroe, or women with contoured figures, the ideal. Our preoccupation with the
perfect woman’s body continues to prevail and influence who we are and our
self-esteem. Body consciousness remains a volatile commodity, as most women
have an unhealthy focus on appearance, a perspective reinforced by the media,
commercialism, and a male-dominated economy.
The lives of women over 50 today are very different from the lives of our
mothers and grandmothers. Modern technology has diminished the amount of
physical labor required in many jobs and household chores, and the amount of
discretionary time we have has increased. Baby boomers are living longer and
healthier lives due to improvements in medicine and a greater knowledge of healthy
lifestyles. Baby boomers reaped the benefits of the twentieth century’s progress,
and many of us have made a conscious effort to build physical activity into our
schedules. Of course, there are many women who have physically demanding jobs
(e.g., farming, domestic work, construction work). However, that work does not
necessarily translate into better health. AARP (2002) reported that women who
had physically demanding jobs were not necessarily healthier than those that did
not.
More women are on the move. Trends in physical activity choices today include
aerobics, Pilates, yoga, cycling, hiking, walking, team sports (e.g., field hockey),
and master’s level sporting and recreational events. The increased interest in sport
and physical activity has been encouraged by the marketing of fitness: A greater
variety of exercise gear is now made for women, including clothing and women’s
shoes and bicycles. Furthermore, there is an increased awareness and availability of
healthy choices at the supermarket—foods with less salt and sugar, lower in fat, and
with fewer carbohydrates make access to a healthy lifestyle easier to obtain. This
being the case, why is the campaign for better fitness not reaching all women? Why
is the body’s need for regular physical activity not met by so many women over 50?
What prevents women, especially middle-aged women, from becoming active in
ways that increase our chances of aging that is guided by good health and fitness?
Even though Title IX eluded us, middle-aged women certainly have opportunities
their foremothers did not have, and we have the awareness that physical activity is
essential to good health and a smart way to use our leisure time.
The purpose of this chapter is to address physical activity and its central role in
women’s pleasure in midlife. Whether physical activity involves a sport, exercise,
or leisure activities, using our bodies is key to a healthy lifestyle. Integrating phys-
ical activity into daily living enhances the quality of life for women in a variety of
ways. First I will define middle age and discuss how middle age affects women’s
bodies including the roles of health care and nutrition. Then I will provide an
overview of physical activity and the results of the AARP study on physical activity
for men and women over 50 and focus on women’s midlife sport and leisure activ-
ities. A discussion of the effects of physical aging on the body and the importance
of the duration and frequency of exercising will follow. Next I will discuss at-risk
 4. On the Move 81

populations, the ramifications of physical inactivity, and the barriers to exercise.

Ways to overcome exercise barriers will be addressed in terms of three niches
that exercise fills: fun, competence, and confidence building. I will conclude with
suggestions for future research, which is sorely needed.

What Is Middle Age?

Levinson (1996) referred to ages 50 to 55 as the Age 50 Transition, 55 to 60 as the
Culmination of Middle Adulthood, and age 60 as the beginning of the Late Adult
Transition. He described the Age 50 Transition as “an opportunity to reappraise the
Entry Life Structure, to engage in some further exploration of self and world and to
create a basis for the structure to be formed in the ensuing period” (p. 26), whereas
55 to 60 years of age is “. . . a vehicle for the realization of the era’s majority
aspiration and goals” (p. 26). Although Levinson did not address physical activity,
sport, and exercise directly, these fit nicely into his notion of building in exercise
as a cornerstone of one’s quality of life.

Physical Changes in Middle Adulthood for Women

The physical changes that accompany middle adulthood for women, first and
foremost, are the changes brought about by menopause—when a woman no longer
has her menstrual period and her ability to reproduce ends. Although a colleague
of mine recently announced the arrival of menopause with sadness and the loss of
her child-bearing years, other women rejoice in the freedom from sanitary pads
and tampons. Symptoms that accompany menopause vary from woman to woman.
However, the diminished level of estrogen affects all women. Decreased muscle
tone and a slower metabolism are features of menopause (MayoClinic.com, 2006;
WebMD, 2006) that contribute to weight gain in middle-aged women. Conse-
quently, middle-aged women are more at risk for becoming obese, and with obesity
comes an increased risk of several chronic illnesses. Middle age is a time when
chronic illnesses often emerge (Woods & Mitchell, 1997). These include heart
disease, arthritis, hypertension, orthopedic problems, diabetes, asthma, chronic
sinusitis, and bronchitis (National Center for Health Statistics, 1993).

Health Care and Nutrition Concerns

The disparity in access to good health care services has a trickle down effect
on women’s fitness. Mutschler and Alcon (1997) pointed out that there is a lack
of quality health care for many women, especially older women and Women of
Color and that the lack of adequate health care, along with the lack of emphasis
on women’s health concerns in research, jeopardizes those women’s health. Poor
health care can lead to chronic health problems that could have been avoided, and
these health problems compromise women’s quality of life and make it difficult
for many to exercise regularly.
82 Ruth L. Hall

Nutrition is important to the health and quality of life of middle-aged women.

If an individual has not had proper health care or nutrition, such exercise cannot
have the optimal benefit. Virtually all products in the grocery store have labels
to indicate their contents. There is more information in the media these days
about the benefits of various nutrients and the portions necessary to maintain good
nutrition. Yet, for many, old habits die hard, and modifications in the types of food
eaten, as well as portion control, are a challenge. Fast and inexpensive food often
translates into foods that are high in fat, sodium, sugar, and/or carbohydrates—the
staples of the American diet. Fresh vegetables and fruits—mainstays of healthy
eating—are perceived to be more expensive than the snack foods habits (e.g., chips,
doughnuts, croissants, candy) that are common in American eating habits. In reality
access especially to fresh fruit and vegetables at affordable prices is the real issue.
Programs such as The Food Trust in Philadelphia (www.thefoodtrust.org) provide
low-income neighborhoods with reasonably priced healthy foods in convenient
locations, as well as nutrition education and demonstrate healthier ways to prepare
food. Eating more healthfully is, for many, not only a conscious choice, but a
concerted effort that requires modification in buying habits, food preparation, and
taste preferences. AARP (2002) reported that 86% of women think that eating right
is important to health. However, knowledge does not always translate into action.
Health care and nutrition complement physical activity as key components to
fitness and maintaining a healthy weight in middle age. Most chronic illnesses
(e.g., diabetes, hypertension, heart disease) of middle age are adversely affected
by excess weight. Clearly, a healthy weight is central to a healthy life. Weil (2005)
cautioned that “exercise by itself rarely corrects obesity unless it is accompanied
by a change in eating habits, but it can prevent it, and . . . regular aerobic exercise
is absolutely necessary to maintain optimum health” (p. 181). Woods and Mitchell
(1997) stated that “three of the most important risk factors for diseases that account
for morbidity and mortality during the middle and older years are smoking, the
quality of dietary intake, and sedentary lifestyle” (p. 74). Therefore, Levinson’s
suggested review of our lives and selves during middle age should include an
assessment of eating habits and activity levels (Levinson, 1996).

Physical Activity, Exercise, and Physical Fitness

What exactly are we talking about when we say “physical activity”? The Surgeon
General’s Report (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996) made
the following distinctions:
Physical activity: “Physical activity is defined as bodily movement produced by
the contraction of skeletal muscle that increases energy expenditure above the
basal level. Physical activity can be categorized in various ways, including type,
intensity and purpose” (p. 20);
Exercise (or exercise training): “. . . exercise has been used to denote a subcategory
of physical activity: physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive and
 4. On the Move 83

purposive in the sense that improvement and maintenance of one or more com-
ponents of physical fitness is the objective” (Caspersen, Powell, & Christensen,
1985, as cited in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996, p. 20);
Physical fitness: “. . . the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and alertness,
without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy leisure time pursuits and
to meet unforeseen emergencies. . . . Health-related fitness includes cardiorespi-
ratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, body composition and flexibil-
ity” (p. 20);
Health: Bouchard, Shephard, Stephens, Sutton, and McPherson (1990, as cited
in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996) stated that health
is “. . . a human condition with physical, social and psychological dimensions,
each characterized on a continuum with positive and negative poles. Positive
health is associated with a capacity to enjoy life and to withstand challenges; it is
not merely the absence of disease. Negative health is associated with morbidity
and, in the extreme, with premature mortality” (p. 22).
Thus, good health, the ultimate goal, is contingent upon using our bodies in a
manner that enhances our fitness. All middle-aged women must make a conscious
effort to incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. Clearly, exercise is
a factor in quality of life, for without physical fitness, we cannot continue to excel
in the workplace, play with our grandchildren, or enjoy hobbies and other leisure
pursuits, such as gardening and travel activities, that bring pleasure to the lives of
so many midlife women.

Types of Exercisers
In May 2002, AARP conducted a survey on the exercise attitudes and behaviors
of adults age 50 to 79. Two thousand men and women participated in a telephone
interview of 15 to 20 min and responded to questions about their exercise habits.
AARP (2002) identified six broad categories of types that describe why middle-
aged and older adults exercise: socializers, matintainers, mind and body, the infirm,
unmotivateds, and hectics. Women tended to be the following types: mind and
body (exercise for fitness and the psychological benefits), unmotivated (tend not
to exercise), the infirm (have health problems that compromise their ability to
exercise), the hectics (no time), and the maintainers (exercise for health reasons).
Only the socializer group was dominated by men (to have fun, to socialize, and to
have a better sex life). Sixty-one percent of American women realize that exercise
is important to good health yet they do not exercise (AARP, 2002). As one woman
told me, “I don’t get anything out of it.”

The Effect of Physical Aging on the Body

Bone Strength and Osteoporosis
Musculoskeletal changes that occur with aging include osteoporosis and os-
teoarthritis and reduced muscle strength (Bassey et al., 2002). According to the
84 Ruth L. Hall

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1996), “. . . osteoarthritis is the

leading cause of activity limitation among older persons” (p. 129). Women in West-
ern societies are especially affected by these changes, which can lead to chronic
illnesses and even death. Aging slows the process of bone cell growth, and thus the
replacement of new bone cells for old ones lessens (Bassey et al., 2002). Although
bone loss varies from woman to woman, the effects of menopause (e.g., the lower
amounts of estrogen) exacerbate bone loss. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
can curtail bone loss in postmenopausal women but many women are opposed to
HRT for philosophical and political reasons, as well as the complications (e.g., can-
cer, increased risk of strokes) that may arise from it. Smaller, fair skinned women
are especially vulnerable to osteoporosis and bone fractures with age (OB/GYN
Reference Desk, 2006). Weight bearing exercises (e.g., resistance training, aer-
obics) are recommended as physical activity aids in managing the symptoms of
osteoarthritis. Also increased calcium intake and pharmaceutical treatments such
as Fosamax can help to build bone strength. Regarding osteoporosis, exercise de-
creases bone loss in postmenopausal women, although there is some debate about
whether resistance or endurance is best (President’s Council on Physical Fitness
and Sports, 2006).

Joints and Osteoarthritis

According to Murray and Lopez (1990, as cited in Bassey et al., 2002, p. 151),
“. . . osteoarthritis is the fourth most frequent cause of health problems in women
worldwide.” Osteoarthritis is the result of the loss of cartilage, which in turn
causes pain, sensitivity, and swelling in the joints. Knees and wrists are especially
vulnerable to osteoarthritis because they are two joints with repetitive movements
(Cooper, 1994). Weil (2005) emphasized that repetition of the same activity can
cause stress on specific body parts; the knees are particularly susceptible to overuse.
You may wonder if exercise worsens the vulnerability of your joints. However,
using your muscles and bones through exercise actually can aid in maintaining
healthy joints. Stronger muscles around the knee can take some of the pressure
off of the knee joint. It is under use of joints, inadequate nutrition, and excessive
weight that can exacerbate problems. The key is to find exercises that do not
cause damage to your joints (e.g., the elliptical machine). Although you may have
to give up tennis, you can take up water aerobics or brisk walking. There is some
truth in the adage “Use it or lose it.”

Muscle Strength
Muscles not only help to stabilize bones and joints but they also aid in increas-
ing the metabolism and burning calories (Weil, 2005). Aging shrinks the body’s
muscle mass by one-third to one-fifth, but this loss can be delayed by physical
activity (Fiatarone et al., 1990, as cited in Bassey et al., 2002). In summary, all
three factors—muscle strength, flexible joints, and bone density—are critical to
healthy living, and all three are affected by aging. Healthy muscles, joints, and
bones enhance both flexibility and balance. In turn, flexibility and balance aid
 4. On the Move 85

in coordination. Actions such as standing and sitting, walking, getting dressed,

leisure activities (e.g., gardening), sport, and exercise are all affected by an ability
to be limber and balanced. Physical activity has a positive effect on our muscles,
joints, bones, as well as our sense of balance and our flexibility. Flexible people
are less likely to fall and, if they do fall, less likely to be injured. According to
the AARP (2002) survey, 53% of women believe that flexibility is necessary. In
addition, 46% of the women surveyed believe that strength training is important,
and 36% believe that balance is very important. Both of the latter percentages were
higher for women than for men. It is not surprising, then, that women gravitate
toward yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, and the use of exercise balls. Weil (2005) suggested
that Hatha yoga, a more temperate form of yoga, is best for middle-aged and older
adults.
In summary, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (1996) stated,
“Physical activity has numerous beneficial physiological effects. Most widely ap-
preciated are its effect on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, but
benefits on the functioning of metabolic, endocrine and immune systems are also
considerable” (p. 7). The results of the AARP (2002) survey complement the find-
ings of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as they found that
middle-aged and older adults report that their desire to exercise is fueled by “health
benefits, improved appearance, personal satisfaction, and the opportunity to have
fun and socialize . . . ” (p. 9). Physical activity helps to strengthen our skeleton.
Physical activity, especially weight bearing physical activity, aids in sustaining
bone mass, especially if the physical activity is done on a regular basis. Physical
activity can aid in weight control, but it must be accompanied by good nutrition.
The maintenance of an appropriate weight lessens stress on the body systems,
including the skeleton and heart.

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

Physical activity need not be strenuous to achieve health benefits. The Surgeon
General’s Report (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996) stated
that men and women of all ages benefit from even a moderate amount of daily
physical activity. The Report recommended that exercise of at least moderate
intensity for 30 min or more should be performed most, if not all, days of the
week. A moderate amount of activity requires longer sessions (e.g., 30 min of
brisk walking) whereas shorter sessions of more strenuous activities (e.g., 15 to
20 min of jogging) are also effective. AARP’s survey indicated that 38% of the
women surveyed thought that 30 min was an ample amount of time to exercise.
However, it is important to remember that exercise must be at least 30 min in
duration to begin burning fat. This will be discussed later.
Additional health benefits can be gained through greater amounts of physical ac-
tivity. However, one must bear in mind that injury can accompany an increased level
of physical activity. Middle-aged women who do not have a history of exercising
vigorously should not begin with an unrealistically strenuous exercise program.
Previously sedentary people who begin physical activity programs should start
86 Ruth L. Hall

with short sessions (5 to 10 min) of physical activity and gradually build up to the
desired level of activity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996).
Adults with chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, or obesity,
or who are at high risk for these conditions, should consult a physician before
beginning a new program of physical activity. Men over age 40 and women over
age 50 who plan to begin a new program of vigorous activity should consult a
physician to be sure they do not have heart disease or other health problems.

At-Risk Populations
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1996), “Physical
inactivity is more prevalent among women than men, among Blacks and Hispanics
than Whites, among older than younger adults, and among the less affluent than
the more affluent” (p. 8). As there are more women and more Women of Color
occupying low-income status in the United States, it is no surprise that class, race,
and gender are intimate bedfellows (Hall, 1998). For example, using education
as a measure of socioeconomic status, Grzywacz et al. (2004) found that people
who are less educated report more severe stressors in their lives, which reinforces
the notion that physical health, mental health, and stress are interconnected. The
relationship between discretionary income, discretionary time, and safe environ-
ments contribute to low levels of exercise in communities of Color. Krause (2000)
pointed out that there are a disproportionate number of women, especially Women
of Color, who are poor. Concerns about access to health care may draw attention
away from a focus on and an appreciation of physical activity as a preventive
health measure. Socioeconomic status affects accessibility of services in heath
and in health prevention, as well as accessibility of safe and convenient places to
exercise (e.g., safe green spaces in the city), which, in turn, influence the desire to
participate in physical activities.
Floyd et al. (1994) used the marginality and ethnicity hypotheses in their ex-
amination of leisure activity preferences (not participation) of Black and White
women and men. The marginality hypothesis focuses on how socioeconomic sta-
tus (i.e., limited time and money) affects leisure activity preferences, whereas the
ethnicity hypothesis addresses the role of cultural norms in leisure activity prefer-
ences. Floyd and his associates found race differences between low income Blacks
and Whites in leisure activity preferences, mainly among women, but not among
middle income Black and White women. Thus, for middle class Black women,
class supersedes race in preferred leisure activities. However, Blacks, regardless
of class, rank exercise and socializing (e.g., parties; visiting friends and family;
church, club, and voluntary activities) as preferred activities more than do Whites,
who rank outdoor activities (e.g., bicycling, swimming) higher than Blacks do.
Floyd et al. concluded that it was not culture or class that distinguished low in-
come Black women, but it is the interaction of race and class that accounted for
their dissimilar leisure activity preferences. They attributed this phenomenon to
the discrimination that low income Black women face as Blacks, as poor, and as
 4. On the Move 87

women. Their data are important to consider when we suggest exercise preferences
with the race and socioeconomic status of the women in mind.
According to the 1991 National Health Interview Survey (U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 2004), women, especially Blacks and Latinas,
participate less than men do in strengthening activities, and their participation in
strengthening activities declines with age. However, women do participate more
in stretching activities than men do, and this remains relatively consistent until age
75. Again, education and income are also related to physical activity, as poorer and
less educated adults tend to be less involved than more affluent and better educated
adults 55 and older in all types of physical activity (Schoenborn et al., 2006).

The Ramifications of Physical Inactivity

Overall the absence of physical activity takes a toll on our bodies. More than
60% of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity, and
approximately 25% of U.S. adults are not active at all (U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, 1996). Physical inactivity is more common among women
than men, among African Americans and Hispanic Americans than European
Americans, among older than younger adults, and among the less affluent than
the more affluent. In addition, social support from family and friends has been
consistently and positively related to regular physical activity. Although 36% of
the women in AARP’s survey indicated that they had exercised regularly for the
past year or more, 30% stated that they did not engage in any regular physical
activity. The highest percentage of women (39%) in AARP’s survey indicated that
they had exercised only occasionally throughout their lives.

Barriers to Exercise
Although many women over 50 know that they should exercise, their reasons for
not exercising loom large and are roadblocks to following an exercise program.
AARP’s survey showed that the biggest barrier is lack of time, followed by fa-
tigue, and health problems (AARP, 2002). The health problems most commonly
referenced were arthritis, chronic pain, injury, physical disabilities, and heart prob-
lems. In addition, lack of desire, inconvenient locations, safety concerns, and the
lack of an exercise history prevent middle-aged women from exercising. AARP
also found that safety, low-cost facilities, and having an exercise companion are
important precursors to regular exercise. Some middle-aged women prefer to take
classes, especially weight lifting, strength training, and aerobics. One hypothesis
for the success of classes is that they are structured and provide instruction, which
women may find appealing, and this is especially so for middle-aged women who
are self-conscious because of their body image, unfamiliar with exercise equip-
ment, or inexperienced in workout routines. For example, Curves is a women only
facility, and many women like it because they prefer to avoid the “meat market”
atmosphere associated with coed gyms. However, for the most part, it seems that
middle-aged women do not see exercise and physical activity as a priority.
88 Ruth L. Hall

Midlife is a busy time for women’s careers and family responsibilities. It is a

time during which many women begin caretaking of their parents or in-laws. Com-
munity involvement may also be time consuming for many women. Commuting to
and from work is another commitment that takes away from personal time. Given
these responsibilities, building in an exercise program, for many women, is less
attractive than other priorities, especially if they have never had the opportunity to
build in an exercise program in the past.

Why Begin? Why Persist?

Women are more likely than men to begin to exercise for weight loss (30% versus
24%, respectively); other common motivations are staying fit and for purposes
of their health (AARP, 2002). I often speak with middle-aged women regarding
exercise, and the vast majority of them, especially Black women, say that they
exercise because of their health, either as a preventive measure or as a means to
slow down the progression of a chronic illness. These same women say that it is the
consequences of the exercise that maintains their physical activity. “I feel so good
afterwards, that’s why I do it, and it’s good for me,” commented one 58-year-old
woman. “I didn’t exercise before but I want to be flexible as I age. I work for the
phone company and spend plenty of time on a ladder, but water aerobics helps me
to stay flexible.” To paraphrase another 50+ woman, “Since I began Aikido, I can
knock down a man. That makes me feel great!”

The Pleasures of Exercising

There are many women who enjoy exercise and physical activity. The sense of
competence that grows from exercising is rewarding, whether it is an increase in
endurance, greater mastery and skill in the execution of a sport, the pleasure in
using the body in a physical activity, the “alone time” that some exercise offers,
or the feeling of camaraderie that emerges from team sports and leisure activities.
The process of gaining skills and confidence in a sport or an exercise routine is
exciting and reinforces the desire to exercise more. Many women who have careers
where the beginning and end of a project spans weeks or months enjoy exercise
sessions because they are finite and gratifying because you can complete what you
set out to do. Although the overall cost–benefit may take time (e.g., weight loss,
body toning), the sense of completion is, itself, rewarding. One of my colleagues
loves to garden, and the enjoyment she receives from growing flowers is important
to her mental health and sense of satisfaction. Another woman told me that she
likes to swim because it is the only time that someone is not calling her name
(“Mom,” “Honey,” “Professor,” etc.); swimming provides her with a time to think
and to process. Another middle-aged women I know loves field hockey and the
satisfaction she receives from being part of a group.
As Levinson (1996) suggested, middle age is a time for both reflecting and doing;
we create a stage for our personal growth, which often includes a new or renewed
commitment to a spiritual path as well as an assessment of our physical well-being.
 4. On the Move 89

Not only does exercise prevent disease, but it also improves one’s quality of life
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Physical exercise helps
with sleep problems (Flora, 2003), stress, and depression (Berger et al., 2002).
Clearly an overall sense of well-being is a common byproduct of physical activity,
as are feelings of competence (Berger et al., 2002). Exercise actually gives us more
energy, and the fatigue that accompanies vigorous workouts generates feelings of
satisfaction and accomplishment. As a psychotherapist and sport psychologist, I
regularly recommend the benefits of exercise to my sedentary clients.

Types of Physical Activity

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises are important to physical fitness. Aerobic
exercise carries oxygen to the working muscles. Aerobic activity is focused on
cardiovascular conditioning, and it is important to maintaining the heart and blood
flow (Berger et al., 2002; Weil, 2005). Examples of aerobic or cardiovascular fitness
activities include walking up the stairs, swimming, cardio kickboxing, step classes,
and brisk walking. Low impact aerobic activities include brisk walking, stationary
cycling, bicycling, jogging, running, and swimming (Weil, 2005). The AARP
(2002) survey showed that brisk walking, cycling, vacuuming, and gardening for
at least 20 min were the preferred physical activities of older women. AARP also
found that men were more likely to participate in a sport, whereas women were
more likely to identify their physical activity in terms of household chores. Most
women (73%) said that they exercised in the home.
Anaerobic exercise complements aerobic or cardiovascular fitness by stressing
systems that strengthen muscles. Anaerobic exercises use muscles for a short period
of time (e.g., weight lifting), but do not transport oxygen to the working muscles.
The burning of fat is what most exercisers are interested in doing. According to
Health Education Associates (2006), glycogen, a sugar stored in the muscle tissues,
is activated and used as fuel for the first 3 min of exercise. When glycogen is burned
during intense exercising, the burn that you feel in your muscles is the lactic acid
that created by the burning of glycogen. “Once these stores of glycogen are used
up, which usually occurs after about 20 min, the body will start burning its fat
stores to produce blood sugar and ultimately glycogen. The longer you exercise
the more fat burned. Body fat produces energy for exercising” (Health Education
Associates, 2006). Resistance training can increase muscle strength and density,
which, in turn, burns fat, and people burn more calories with muscles than with
fat (MayoClinic.com, 2006). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(1996) has recommended that strength training should be added to an aerobic
routine for musculoskeletal health 2 days each week.

Selection of a Physical Activity

Middle-aged women should select a physical activity that they will enjoy and
one that they are able to do. Running is frequently thought of as “the” preferred
90 Ruth L. Hall

physical activity. However, if a woman is not a runner, there is no need to begin

to run or jog, as there are many other options. Running is hard on the joints; brisk
walking is, by far, a preferred aerobic activity of middle-aged women and one
that is supported by the Surgeon General. Swimming, biking, elliptical machines,
ergometers, and treadmills are other options that contribute to a stronger heart,
better blood circulation, lower blood pressure, and speed up the slower metabolism
that accompanies middle age. Aerobic and step classes, as previously mentioned,
are also good alternatives. The goal should be to keep the heart rate within the
target heart rate (THR). The simplest way for women to find out their THR is to
begin by calculating their maximum heart rate (MHR). This is done by subtracting
one’s age from 226. Next, determine the resting heart rate (RHR), and subtract
this number from the previous number. Last, multiply this number (MHR minus
RHR) by .60 and .85 to determine your THR range.
For example:
Age: 55
226
−55
171 ×.60 = 103
171 ×.85 = 145
THR = 103–145 heartbeats/min.
We have achieved a certain amount of success if we can talk while participating
in the activity (swimming is an exception). Another sign of success is the lowering
of the recovery rate after exercise. The better shape people are in, the quicker their
heart rate returns to their normal number of beats per minute after strenuous activity.

Sports and Master Level Athletes

Just because women get older does not mean that they lose their competitive nature
in sport. Master level athletes are older people who compete within their age range
for prizes or recognition in their event. Master’s level events also apply to sports
before the age of 50 (e.g., runners in their 30s), but the intent is to have similar aged
athletes in competition with each other. For example, Billie Jean King would com-
pete in events for women over 50, and as of October 18, 2006, Martina Navratilova
will have received her AARP card. There are a growing number of middle-aged
women who are master’s level athletes in sports including rowing (Nordon, 2003),
swimming, soccer, and running (Jokl et al., 2004). Anywhere there’s a sport, we
are likely to find a middle-aged (or older) women participating! For the most part,
master’s women athletes participated in sports when they were younger, but many,
who are looking for exercise and a social network of women, train and enter mas-
ter’s level activities for the challenge and the sense of gratification that comes with
a competitive atmosphere. This select group of women is continuing to grow and
will undoubtedly increase as post-Title IX women become card-carrying members
of AARP.
 4. On the Move 91

Quality of Life and Conclusion

It is interesting that data on adults and physical activity were not collected until
the 1980s (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). In my review
of the literature on women in midlife, there were surprisingly articles specific to
this age group on exercise and leisure activities. I was surprised and not certain
why there is this void. Sherry Willis stated that “some researchers say middle age
is really dull because nothing happens” and changes in later adulthood are more
interesting to researchers as the changes are more significant (Clay, 2003, p. 36).
Midlife women are caught between an emphasis on the 40s and the “retirement
age” of 65. Clearly future research must be conducted that targets women in
midlife. AARP’s study is a beginning. With the increasing lifespan of women,
there is an even greater need to focus on health issues and prevention for many
reasons, including the rising cost of health care, but most important is the quality
of life as we age. We need to examine subpopulations of midlife women including
the commonalities and differences in exercise and physical activities related to
socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation. Future
research should also include a more detailed approach to understanding exercise
adherence. For example, what makes women begin to exercise again after they
stopped? We have an idea why women stop, but the stop and start patterns of
women in their 50s would be interesting to explore. Research should include an
investigation of why certain exercise, leisure activities, or sports activities are
selected, whether women’s choices of exercise change over time (and why), and
how prior exercise history before age 50 influences their decisions.
What we do know is clear. The overall message of the research on adults in
midlife is simple: Keep moving! Living through middle age is not just about
biding time. It’s about living! Midlife is a time when women and men begin to
reflect and become aware that the time ahead of them is shorter than the time
that they have lived so far. As such, personal inventories and lifestyles are often
assessed, and modifications are made to maintain a good quality of life. Exercise
can enhance our quality of life in a variety of ways including physical health,
energy level, a better mood, stress management, and skills building (Berger et al.,
2002). We need to encourage young women to begin an exercise routine for self
care and remind them that exercise can become a family activity (e.g., biking,
walking, boating, gardening together). Or it can be an “alone time”—a time to get
in touch with ourselves in a healthful and pleasurable way. However, it is never too
late for people who have not been physically active to begin. Middle-aged women
are usually well established in their employment and community activities. For
middle-aged women, the exercise mantra should be “Do it for yourself.” It is time
to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Beginning with a physical checkup is a good idea for
middle-aged and older women and for any woman who has not exercised previously
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Regardless of age, people
should begin slowly and build up their endurance by doing a limited amount of
physical activity for a short duration. They should find a physical activity that
92 Ruth L. Hall

they might enjoy and one that they are willing to make part of their lifestyle. The
key is to make physical activity as important as other necessities in life such as
sleeping and eating. If people “fall off the wagon” and hit periods of inactivity, they
should simply begin again. Life is full of stops and starts, and exercise programs
are no exception. Remember that the benefits of physical activity diminish after
2 weeks, and if physical activity is stopped for 2 to 8 months, the cost benefit of
previous efforts is erased (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996).
Keeping up an exercise program is easier for most women if they find a friend, who
can act as a motivator and as someone to whom they are accountable. Exercising
with a friend makes it more enjoyable for most women.
Gender, race, age, social class, and health status all affect the physical activity of
middle-aged women. With middle age, gravity is making itself known. Wrinkles
are here to stay. Many of us have lost and found the same pounds over and over
again. We’re on our nth gym membership. However, when we hit 50 we don’t
care as much about small things and, simultaneously, we realize the importance of
our own needs and priorities. I’m reminded of Towanda, the alter ego of Evelyn
Couch (played by Kathy Bates), in the film Fried Green Tomatoes, who said: “I’m
too old to be young and too young to be old.” It is unfortunate that many of us
have not made exercise a priority. Motivation is a major factor that needs to be
addressed. However, in sport, like the rest of life, nothing is as simple as it appears.
Sometimes life and exercise are most aptly reflected in the Nike slogan “Just Do
It.” We do not have to process completing our exercise for the day; we just need to
do it. Some days are harder than others, but, in the long run, making exercise part
of daily life is worthwhile. I hope that, with more role models, greater access to
facilities, and continued media visibility about the importance of exercise, changes
will continue to be made. We are the generation that worked to ensure that girls have
the same rights as boys to sport and physical activities. We saw the manufacture
and marketing of sporting goods and clothing that was specific to women’s bodies
so that women no longer had to use men’s hand-me-downs. Middle age is a time
when many women begin to explore what is out there in the world for them—
what we missed and what we want to do. It is a time to get reacquainted with our
playfulness. Yes, physical activity is self-care, but it is also fun. And we deserve
it.

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5
The Well-being and Quality of Life
of Women Over 50: A Gendered-Age
Perspective
Varda Muhlbauer

In recent decades renewed attention has been given to the notion of middle age
and particularly to women in this age group. Many of us think that this is a wel-
come development. These women (popularly referred to as “baby boomers”) have
capitalized on the major sociocultural changes and transformed meanings and be-
havioral codes traditionally attached to this age group. In numerous interviews,
in both academic and popular media, the dominant sentiment voiced by middle-
aged women is of overall satisfaction, to the effect that “the puzzle [life issues]
straightens out . . . there is a greater sense of confidence in relations and overall
a greater sense of authenticity . . . now it is totally me.” The discussion becomes
complicated, however, when issues related to body image and, particularly, sex
appeal are raised. Statements such as “I feel invisible . . . I don’t attract men” can
be heard. It is as though there has been a trade-off: a sense of greater self-assertion
in return for vulnerability vis-à-vis desirability and romance. Therefore, issues
related to well-being and the quality of life of women in this age group cannot be
easily measured. In this chapter I will discuss changes in gendered-age roles of
women in this age group and the fragmented structure of well-being that results.
It is clear that any debate concerning the well-being of women in midlife in-
volves both personal and social issues. To a large extent, well-being is the outcome
of an ongoing interchange between sociocultural influences and human agencies
(Blaikie, 1999). In this process, women proactively construct their personal ex-
periences within conceptual and normative boundaries delineated by powerful
sociocultural factors. This view is supported by the social construction perspective
advocated by such diverse disciplines as cultural anthropology, social gerontol-
ogy, social psychology, sociology, and feminist studies (Gergen, 1985; Gergen,
1990; Kaufman, 1986). One of the basic tenets of social construction is that social
constructs are not the direct and inevitable outcome of forces of nature (a point
of view often termed “essentialist” and indicative of a biological bias driven by
political and cultural interests). They are, rather, “social artifacts, products of his-
torically situated interchanges among people” (Gergen, 1985, p. 267). Thus, the
major organizing principles of psychosocial experience and well-being, among
them gender and age, have attracted considerable theoretical interest, and political
attention, and in some contexts are even viewed as sensitive issues.

95
96 Varda Muhlbauer

Feminist researchers and theorists have pioneered studies of the ways in which
the dominant culture attaches gendered meanings to a large variety of psychosocial
experiences, thereby influencing every aspect of women’s lives. These culturally
constructed meanings are shaped into gender roles that appear to be so basic
to people’s lives that it requires a conscious effort to focus on how they have
been produced (Lorber, 1994). The construction and maintenance of gender roles
and a gendered hierarchy, and the psychosocial problems associated with them,
are among the leading issues that have been investigated (Collins, 1998). The
similarities discovered among women (e.g., domains of power and powerlessness),
despite individual differences, reveal that common cultural notions of gender play
an important role in establishing well-being and expectations regarding possible
life styles. Nonetheless, gender is basically a flexible social category subject to
constantly evolving cultural meanings and shifts in power structures. Consequently,
even a constructed consensus regarding gendered meanings does not exclude the
existence of an ongoing process of alteration and modification (whether gradual
and subversive or swift and overt), either on a personal or an institutional level.
Age is an equally important core socio-cultural construct, which is currently
attracting unprecedented attention similar to the earlier interest in gender. Al-
though age is undoubtedly linked to demographic, social, and cultural changes,
the constructionist orientation again stresses the interdependence of aging and so-
ciocultural changes, as each can transform the other. Frequent references are made
to the need to redefine the borderlines between age groups and the growing salience
of middle age (Neugarten & Neugarten, 1996). New terms, such as “young-old,”
are being coined to adapt to a changing reality. Thus, age is as subject to changes
in perception as is gender, because age, too, is dependent upon social and cultural
developments and adjustments in power structures (Blaikie, 1999).
The major cultural shifts of the last four decades are clearly reflected in re-
vised gendered-age roles. These changes are particularly pronounced for women
in midlife (Friedman, 1996). Given the assumption that self-definition and lifestyle
options are realigned over time as social circumstances change (Gergen, 1985), the
alteration in gendered-age roles is of considerable importance for the well-being of
women at midlife. I will attempt here to demonstrate the link between the new so-
ciocultural meanings of gendered-age roles and well-being that have resulted from
societal shifts in the gendered-age balance of power. Power, a complicated con-
struct in itself, not only enhances people’s self-esteem and self-confidence, rather,
it “increases the boundaries of what is achievable” (Mosedale, 2005, p. 250). It
is, therefore, assumed that power roles (particularly accessible to privileged mem-
bers of this group) constitute an important feature of the requisite repertoire of
behaviors for positive functioning and overall well-being. Consequently, the cur-
rent process of blurring and diversifying age and gender roles allows for greater
access to power structures and has, therefore, a positive impact on the psycholog-
ical well-being of women over 50.
Although the modern emphasis on the “new” identities of middle-aged women
is intended to celebrate this life stage, several constraints remain intact. These con-
straints are particularly conspicuous in contemporary sexualized societies (Arber
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 97

et al., 2003). To a large extent, the common conceptions of the sexual attractiveness
of women over 50 are still unchallenged, and continue to be seen through a man’s
perspective. Powell and Moores (2001) stated that this tendency is indicative of
the pressure on women to comply with cultural standards of desirability and the
degree of male domination in society. In addition, patterns of intimate relationships
and partnerships are still negatively affected by the gendered-age role of women
over 50. This is especially worrisome from the perspective of well-being, as the
need for intimate relations does not change fundamentally through the life course,
and such relationships are associated with sustained self-esteem and self-identity
(Davidson & Fennell, 2002).
The popular media (e.g., television, the Internet, advertisements, newspapers,
films) provide abundant illustrations of the fragmented shift in the perception of
women over 50. Indeed, the connection between media representations and socio-
cultural constructs of gender and age cannot be overstated, so that documenting
them is likely to enhance our understanding. With this in mind, Lauzen and Dozier
(2005) analyzed the 100 top-grossing American films of 2002, and found evi-
dence of a lingering double standard for aging women. They reported that female
characters are, for the most part, kept frozen forever in their 20s and 30s. There
are, however, a number of more innovative and daring trends that seem to incor-
porate a fresher approach in which gendered-age traditionalism is losing ground.
The popular media therefore reflect the disjointed changes in the perception of
gendered-age roles, particularly those of women aged 50 and over.

The Incomplete Shift in the Traditional Perception

of the Feminine Gender Role
For many years, women over 50 figured in public and academic discourse largely
in the context of traditional ideologies, which emphasized their reproductive and
mothering functions. The almost exclusive focus on women as biological be-
ings was borne out by an overview of textbooks and other professional literature
(Gergen, 1990). The biological bias in accounts of women’s adult development
is linked to the normative structure of power. Powell and Moores (2001) claimed
that dominant power conventions operate to connect women’s status to their role
in reproduction and to their youthfulness of appearance. Consequently, the ces-
sation of reproductive capacities and the children’s eventual departure from the
home were almost exclusively viewed in terms of aging and loss. Similarly, the
gradual loss of youthful appearance that occurs naturally in the course of life was
bound with social devaluation and marginalization. The emphasis on disengage-
ment from socially valued roles adversely affected the health and subjective sense
of well-being of women over 50.
It is interesting to note that, although the complex of interconnections between
cultural representations, central gender roles, self-concept, self-esteem, and well-
being was at the core of feminist writings almost from the start, the marked impact
it had on women over 50 was largely neglected. Even in the late1970s, Barnett
98 Varda Muhlbauer

and Baruch (1978) held that relatively little was known about the middle years and
“particularly in respect to women, theoretical work is in its infancy, and empirical
findings tend to be scattered and non-cumulative” (p. 187). They also drew attention
to underlying biological assumptions in certain studies of women in midlife that
exaggerate the importance of the reproductive role, the menopause, and the “empty
nest,” and they pointed to conflicting findings regarding the meanings that women
attach to those events.
An iconoclastic approach to women in midlife was slow to come. When it did,
however, the transition from concerns about the prevalence of depression among
middle-aged women (Bart, 1971) to a view of middle age as the “prime of life”
(Mitchell & Helson, 1990) was nothing less than revolutionary in nature. Mitchell
and Helson described the early 50s as a junction between enhanced personal re-
sources and a freer lifestyle made possible by the departure of grown children.
They referred to this period as “an androgynous time of good health combined
with autonomy and relational security” (p. 451). Burns and Leonard (2005) re-
ported that women’s perception of gain (in terms of satisfaction with life and
stress relief) continues into the mid-60s and that the gains are related in part to
role change and the passage of time. Additional studies (Helson & Moane, 1987;
Helson & Wink, 1992) also contributed to a new interpretation of the period fol-
lowing menopause and the diminishing role of mothering. In these studies women
in their 50s were found to be self-confident, secure, and better adjusted in their
relationships.
The association between disengagement from traditional gender roles and cu-
mulative personal resources on the one hand, and the quality of life in middle age
on the other hand, is in sharp contrast to previous perceptions of this development
in a woman’s life. Obviously, the implications for the subjective well-being and
lifestyle opportunities of women over 50 are enormous. Women today often wel-
come the cessation of menstruation, and they see new options available to them
when their children leave home. In retrospect, this transformation can be attributed
to a powerful blend of societal and conceptual changes, which have resulted from
partial shifts in the balance of power structures, most particularly a greater diver-
sity of gender and age roles and the widespread acceptance of a contextualized
approach to gendered-age identities (Denmark, 1994; Ryff, 1987).
The reshaping of the quality of life patterns of many women is abundantly clear,
and it helps women to confront serious issues in the realm of power and self-
support. According to Helson (1997), whose findings were based on both self-
descriptions and observers’ ratings, women’s competence increased significantly
between the ages of 30 and 60. Stewart and Ostrove (1998) also referred to the
development of a more effective instrumental personality in middle age.
Nonetheless, certain key concerns are still being largely ignored. These include
the issues of body image, sex appeal, sexual relations, and romantic attachments.
Although the literature on the institutional and personal power of women in their
50s (especially socially privileged women) explains their greater overall sense of
well-being, it often describes them as though they were asexual and devoid of
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 99

sexual needs. The mainstream media reinforce this image. Wolf (1998) claimed
that, although women have more money, power, and recognition than ever before,
they are worse off in terms of the way they feel about themselves physically. She
has written that the cults of weight and age feed the terror of aging. In addition,
the cultural construct of female sexuality still holds women to more restrictive
standards than those for men (Peach, 1998). This sexist double-standard is quite
conspicuous in middle age, when men are encouraged to be sexually active, often
with much younger partners, whereas women are considered past the acceptable
age for sexual activity. Wolf contended that this double-standard amounts to a
counter-offensive against women.

A Twofold View of the Well-being of Women in Their 50s

Evidently, there is more than one way to view the issue of the quality of life and
well-being of women over 50: the expansive view, wherein women enjoy a height-
ened consciousness of self, relative security, confidence, and a sense of growth and
opportunity; and the contractive view, wherein they experience increased vulner-
ability and loss of confidence, mainly as a result of a sense of diminished physical
and sexual attractiveness and inadequate intimate relationships. In one study, for
example, Rossi (2004) found that loss of attractiveness was a source of worry for
two-thirds of the interviewees in this age group, which indicates that the social
and psychological significance of the menopausal transition lies in the experience
of aging rather than in the loss of fertility. Indeed, any review (e.g., Peach, 1998;
Strinati, 1995) of the cultural representations of women over 50 in contemporary
popular culture reveals a heated debate with respect to the expansive versus con-
tractive views of middle-aged women. The question, therefore, is how to reconcile
these two contrasting notions of well-being.
One mark of health and psychological well-being is the capacity to integrate
and successfully negotiate diverse needs. Ryff and Singer (1998) were critical
of the tendency to “construe human health as exclusively about the mind or the
body,” and they called for a change in the direction of “an integrated and positive
spiral of mind and body” (p. 1). However, the fragmented and divisive paradigm
reflected in the expansive–contractive view of the well-being of women in midlife
does not accommodate such integration. The access to personal power and real
life achievements, often in competitive positions, does not relieve the stress and
anxiety related to physical attraction, nor does it affect the likelihood of romantic
attachments and sexual activity. Thus, only the needs associated with the expansive
view are satisfied. The unattended needs may evoke negative thoughts and feelings
and adversely affect the sense of well-being. It is reasonable to expect that the
split (i.e., the rise and fall in cognition and affect) is replicated in women’s real
life experiences. This split complicates the attempt to arrive at a decisive and
unidimensional evaluation of the well-being of women over 50.
100 Varda Muhlbauer

The Expansive View

Well-being and Gender Roles
The meaning of well-being is typically multidimensional (Ryff & Keyes, 1995),
elusive, controversial (Schmuck & Sheldon, 2001), and relative (Ryff, 1991), that
is, individuals tend to see themselves as either getting better or worse over time.
However, most theorists recognize the importance of two major aspects. The first
is some combination of overall life satisfaction, positive affect, relative lack of
negative affect (Cheng, 2004), and happiness (Ryff & Keyes, 1995; Schmutte &
Ryff, 1997). The second is overall and positive functioning that is indicative of
growth, self-sufficiency, autonomy, and a sense of mastery (Keyes et al., 2002).
The concepts of mastery, autonomy, and self-efficacy associated with the positive
functioning aspect of well-being easily resonate with what we know as the tra-
ditional masculine sociocultural construct. In this respect, not much has changed
since the classic findings reported in the late ’60s and ’70s by Rosenkrantz et al.
(1968) and by Broverman et al. (1970), who established the differential social de-
sirability of the masculine and feminine gender roles and their relation to clinical
judgments of mental health.
Gender roles continue to be a reference point for the analysis of well-being
in more recent studies. However, the emphasis has now shifted to androgyny,
that is, a balanced identity that combines stereotypically masculine and feminine
personality characteristics (e.g., Helgeson, 1994; Helson & Picano, 1990; Woodhill
& Samuels, 2003) and to the relationship between multiple social roles (which are
usually indicative of greater gendered balance) and well-being (e.g., Pietromonaco
et al., 1986; Thoits, 1983). Overall, it can be said that the expansive view of the
well-being of women in their 50s relates to the acquisition of a more balanced
composition of gendered characteristics and gendered roles.

Gender Role, Life Course, and Well-being

Developmental psychologists interested in changes across the life course have long
argued that the tasks of early adulthood tend to polarize values and behaviors related
to gender roles. This rigid gender role regime, often restrictive in nature, becomes
more flexible in midlife, especially after the children leave home. Gutmann (1975)
claimed that the conventionally distinctive gender role structure is a basic require-
ment of parenthood. This requirement ends when the children are grown and do
not need the supportive behaviors associated with the early pattern of parenthood.
The completion of tasks associated with one stage in the life course clears the way
for renewal and the emergence of a different set of values and behaviors. Thus, in
midlife, women tend to move in the direction of the masculine pole (i.e., toward
increased instrumentality and assertiveness), and the aggressive inclinations that
were suppressed in early adulthood are allowed to emerge (Neugarten & Gutmann,
1968). Similar arguments have been advanced by Livson (1976, 1981), who con-
tended that shifting gender role expectations in middle age enable many women to
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 101

grow and expand their psychological horizons: “Traditional sex roles, if taken for
granted in early adulthood, may change or demand redefinition . . . Women who or-
ganized their identities around mothering may now be motivated to find new roles
and sources of satisfaction” (Livson, 1981, p. 196). Thus, from a developmental
perspective, for women the significance of the period following the intensively de-
manding parental years is related to a reshuffling of gender roles in ways that allow
for more flexibility and greater acceptance of parts of themselves conventionally
associated with the masculine gender role.
It goes without saying, however, that changes in gender identity and role expecta-
tions are not the same in all generations (Parker & Aldwin, 1997; Stewart & Healy,
1989) or social contexts. Midlife personality development and its implications for
well-being must therefore be considered from a much broader sociocultural per-
spective. Although the links between the developmental processes (particularly
changes related to life-course stage and role occupancy) and the larger sociocul-
tural context (cohort and period effects) are far from simple, they can enhance our
understanding of issues that pertain to the well-being and quality of life of women
in their 50s.

Gender Role Identity, Social and Historical Developments, and Well-being

The expansive view of the well-being of women over 50 can be comprehended
more easily if we take into account the huge impact of the feminist movement.
Women now in their 50s were adolescents or young adults when the second wave
of the feminist movement burst onto the scene, attracting immense interest and
involvement across different age groups. The relevance of the feminist movement
is particularly marked in respect to the shaping of the gender identity of this age
group.
Among the movement’s major goals was the reconstruction of women’s roles
on an expansive platform that would allow women to redefine relations, both at
home and in the workplace, on the basis of equality. Stewart and Healy (1989)
contended that the women who experienced the feminist movement while still in
transition to adulthood (as did those in their 50s today) were deeply impressed by
it, and incorporated its views in ways that have stayed with them for life. Indeed,
they argued that any cohort-defining event of the caliber of the feminist movement
tends to ascribe special prominence to evolving cohort norms, thus adding extra
power to its initial molding effect.
As noted above, among the consequences of the social change brought about
by the women’s movement was a shift in society’s views of appropriate roles
for women. Welsh and Stewart (1995) maintained that the choices made by many
women reflected a shift away from the role choices and experiences of their mothers
and toward those of their fathers. Thus, the cohort of women now over 50 enjoyed
the freedom to select adult roles while still in transition to adulthood (which is also
the stage in which occupational identity is consolidated), and their choices bore a
greater resemblance to men’s roles than ever before.
102 Varda Muhlbauer

The growing repertoire of diversified gender roles available to women who made
their transition to adulthood in the 1960s is especially meaningful when viewed
from the perspective of identity theory. Thoits (2003) argued that “we accept
our positions and roles as identities [i.e., ‘role identities’]” (p. 179). Identities, in
turn, have important mental health implications because they affect the ways that
individuals think and feel about themselves and others. Consequently, the extensive
selection of gender roles made available to women influenced the opportunities they
had for role-identity acquisition and accumulation which, eventually, engendered
resources for their well-being. The accumulation of role-identities enabled women
to expand their capabilities, interests, and goals and to build up institutional and
personal resources, often while retaining traditional responsibilities. As a result,
women who have recently entered midlife have also experienced the labor market
in a different way than previous generations.

Sexual Identity, Social–Historical Development, and Well-being

The 1960s saw not only the emergence of the feminist movement, but also the
sexual revolution. Although the latter did not succeed in eliminating the sexual
double standard (Peach, 1998), it had a strong impact on women’s attitudes and
behaviors. Ehrenreich et al. (1986) reported that it was women, not men, who
changed fundamentally as a result of the sexual revolution, a finding confirmed
by Baumeister’s (2000) extensive review of relevant studies. The change is also
evident when this generation is compared to older women who came of age before
the sexual revolution (Laumann et al., 1994).
Nonetheless, the gains of the sexual revolution and later developments did not
extend to older people in general or to older women in particular. Long-standing
stereotypes continue to place middle-aged, and certainly elderly, women outside
the sexualized world (Hawkes, 1996). Women are still expected to subscribe to
gendered-age norms and to “act their age” (Ginn & Arber, 2002, p. 8). This exclu-
sion is particularly salient when considered against the background of findings that
indicate that men and women alike view sex in later life as an important means of
expressing love and facilitating a close emotional relationship. Gott and Hinchliff
(2003) found that sex remains an important component of the quality of life as
long as people think they can have a sexual partner during their lifetime. Similarly,
Muhlbauer and Zemach (1991) reported that being part of a stable intimate rela-
tionship enhances the sense of happiness and overall life satisfaction of people at
all ages.
The cohort of women now over 50 reached their sexual prime after the sexual
revolution. They are, in fact, the first generation that has made the transition to
midlife to be sexually defined by a liberal permissive message (Laumann et al.,
1994). Consequently, their current sexual attitudes and behaviors can only be
understood within this sociohistorical context (Gott & Hinchlilff, 2003). In view
of what we have seen above, therefore, women over 50 tend to be caught between
often ridiculously absurd, restrictive sexual norms related to middle-aged and
elderly women, on the one hand, and their own sexual identity shaped during early
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 103

adulthood, on the other (Pearlman, 1993). As a result, the transition to middle

and later life negatively affects their sexual identity, generates an acute sense of
vulnerability and rejection, and thus influences their lifestyle options and well-
being in a different manner than it did previous generations.

Age Identity, Social–Historical Development, and Well-being

Whereas the feminist movement and sexual revolution coincided with the early
adulthood of today’s over 50 cohort, the change of perspectives on middle and old
age is still a work in progress. At the heart of the current debate are issues related
to the meanings attached to middle age in general and to middle-aged women in
particular (Arber & Ginn, 2002). As we have seen, social constructionists reject the
view that aging is simply a biological process and argue that it is largely molded by
sociocultural factors (Blaikie, 1999). A model proposed by Berger and Luckmann
(1991) demonstrates how cultural creations such as aging become actual realities
and, in time, are conceived to be natural. These realities are then absorbed by
the targeted age group. This is not to say that cultural assumptions regarding old
age (or any other social construct) are accepted uncritically. On the contrary, each
generation carves out its own meanings for the sets of values specific to its historical
period. Indeed, Hirshbein (2001) showed how the cultural meanings of growing
old tend to change for different cohorts, and suggested that conceptions of old age
will probably continue to be modified as the experience of middle and old age
changes.
One of the basic tenets underlying the current debate on aging relates to the
specific nature of the experiences of those now in mid- and later life. There is
general agreement that the age group that grew up following the Second World
War had very different life course experiences than earlier generations (Arber et al.,
2003). This is particularly true for the women, who matured at the time of the gender
role transformation sparked by the feminist movement and sexual revolution. As
there was less pressure on them to base their identities on traditional family roles
and relationships, these women experienced, already in young adulthood, multiple
roles that reflect a far more balanced gender role composite than ever before. The
early experience of multiple roles, according to Vandewater et al. (1997), shapes
personality in ways that, later in life, lay the basis for satisfying middle years.
The researchers reported that the number of roles at age 28 predicted identity
achievement at age 43, which in turn predicted role quality and diversity at age 48.
It is these “new” identities of middle-aged women and the ways in which they differ
from those of previous cohorts that are capturing the interest of both researchers
and the general public. And, whenever the emphasis is on the reconstruction of
gendered-age identities, drawn from an extensive repertoire of largely diversified
adult roles, it tends to be associated with enhanced well-being.
One of the outcomes of the current change of perspectives on middle and old
age is a shift in the dividing lines between age groups and the deconstruction of
age group norms and expectations. In some cases, differences within the same
age group may be greater than those between different age groups. This greater
104 Varda Muhlbauer

fluidity of lifestyles across age group boundaries was addressed by Tessa Jowell,
the British Secretary for Cultural Affairs, in an interview published in the electronic
form of the Guardian (Hinsliff, 2004). Jowell claimed that modern older women
were no longer easily pigeonholed: “Some of them are themselves bringing up
relatively young children, some are already deep into grandmotherhood. Some are
still working while others have taken early retirement,” and she added that the
British Labor Party has not engaged enough with the particular interests of these
women because it’s so hard to pin them down. She admitted that the party was not
really ready for the change that has taken place among women in this age group
and that an understanding of the trends and issues is necessary in order to appeal
to midlife women’s needs and inclinations. The need to update the categorization
of age groups was also central to a discussion led by Kaufman (2000) at Cornell
University, where it was concluded that what is considered old age has changed
dramatically over the last few decades as a function of culture and context.
The importance of age as a regulator of sequentially related life events that mark
differences between age groups has thus waned. In other words, the phenomenon
defined by developmental theorist Neugarten (1968) as the “social clock” (i.e.,
socially constructed expectations for organizing one’s major events in life [such as
marriage, parenthood, retirement] according to accepted age norms) is, to a large
extent, obsolete. Consequently, the exclusively vertical stratification of society may
soon be replaced, at least in some respects, by a horizontal stratification, thereby
doing away with the segmental nature of age groups. Indeed, a more complex
combination of physical, social, and psychological parameters would probably be
a better and more accurate indicator of a person’s lifestyle and well-being.

Outdated Gendered-age Identities and Lifestyles in the Popular Media: Are

Those in Their 50s the New Swinging Generation?
Contemporary popular culture, as presented in the media, has an enormous effect
on people’s lives. Postmodern theorists claim that its power lies in the fact that
it effaces the distinction between real and unreal. Strinati (1995), for instance,
contended that, “media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality and
the way we define ourselves” (p. 224). In this respect, the media play a major
role in the ongoing process of socialization, where issues of selection of gender
roles and representations are so important. Recent attention has been focused
particularly on the cultural status of women (Peach, 1998), and has revealed an
interesting development in the evolving sociocultural reality of women in their
50s as reflected in the popular media: an emphasis on the “new identities” of
this age group. The mainstream movie Calendar Girls, for example, defies the
long-standing conviction that a woman’s essence and attractiveness are tied to
youthfulness. The film shows women over 50 posing nude for a calendar in order to
raise money for a charitable cause, clearly enjoying every minute of the experience,
and thus challenging the age-old image of midlife and older women as asexual
beings. Similarly, the artist Matzkin (2003) produced, and exposed on her website,
a series of acrylic portraits of Naked Old Ladies, using models aged 58 to 87
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 105

in all their “sagging glory,” seeking to show that there is beauty in the female
form, no matter what age or shape it is. The taboos surrounding nudity in older
women have also been broken by commercial firms such as Benetton. A Benetton
advertisement in October 2001 in honor of the UN Year of the Volunteer featured
a retired German photographer living in California at her local nudist colony, and
a high quality version of the advertisement was uploaded onto Benetton’s website.
In the same year, Ikea used photographs of naked elderly women in magazine ads
and billboards in select cities. Popular culture thus appears to be playing up the
desirability and attractiveness of women over 50, a trend that is likely to have a
positive affect on this generation’s self-image.
Another issue being tackled in the mass media, mainly in films, is the persistence
of the libido or sexual desires of older women. The British film The Mother tells
the story of a widow who flirts with her daughter’s lover; the death of her husband
had awakened her long-suppressed craving for a meaningful and sexually fulfilling
relationship. Research on sex and the elderly (Demeter, n.d.) indicates that women
are expected to become asexual earlier than men are. Women’s real-life difficulties,
therefore, largely involve cultural myths and unfavorable public attitudes, rather
than a diminished sex drive or functioning.
Liberal lifestyles are already emerging in some retirement communities in
Denmark, where the elderly residents can choose to watch pornographic videos in
the communal television area or to receive regular visits from prostitutes. As one
residence manager explained: “Like all other homes we have a council of residents.
If they decide that they want to watch porn films in the main living room once a
week, we will do it . . . We do not reject any suggestion” (www.ananova.com). In a
similar vein, an article in the Washington Post (Nicolosi, 2001) about the sex lives
of older single heterosexuals was accompanied by an extensive list of safe sex tips
and resources.
Still, for many older heterosexual women, feeling sexy and having the know-
how and capability to engage in a sexual relationship in later life has not necessarily
opened up the option of an active sex-life. The greatest barrier was—and remains—
the lack of available male partners. The statistics are commonplace: Older men
have much more opportunity to engage in intimate relationships, and their partners
tend to be considerably younger than they are. However, popular culture, and the
film industry in particular, is beginning to question the common beliefs regarding
desirable heterosexual matches between mid-life adults. A romantic comedy en-
titled Something’s Gotta Give, which featured Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson,
tells the story of the romance and physical attraction between two middle-aged
adults. The heroine, a divorced playwright, outstrips the younger competition and
enjoys a romantic encounter in Paris. Applauding the preference for same age
sexual partners in midlife and later might ultimately create opportunities for older
women to practice their sexuality actively.
Newspapers and Internet forums contain references to an additional change
in the attitude and behaviors of women in midlife. Ashton and Asthana (2004)
reported that a growing number of women are choosing to disregard the stigma of
becoming a mother later in life: Pregnancy rates for women over 40 rose by 41%
106 Varda Muhlbauer

in the 1990s. They noted that the trend is particularly apparent among celebrities
(the “trendsetters”), and quoted their interviewees as saying that the decision to
become a parent has to be made in light of many factors, of which age is only one.
It is surprising that so little has been written in the academic literature on the
current deconstructionist trends in media representations of women over 50 and
their possible implications for enhancing the quality of life of this age group. As
previously noted, the media possess enormous power in enmeshing what is real
and unreal (Berger & Luckmann, 1991). Thus, the recent cultural images that
indicate a gradual shift in cohort-based norms, accentuating new options, partic-
ularly in the realm of sexuality and intimate relations, could possibly undermine
the exclusivity of traditional conventions related to sex appeal and romance. This
development has special significance for women whose perceptions of their own
sexuality were established by the liberal messages of the sexual revolution. In this
respect, the media representations of role models defying traditional conventions
that link women’s attractiveness to their youthfulness, might open the way to real
life experiences for women over 50. It is worth noting that many of the screen
plays of sexual encounters and romantic attachments are portrayed together with
experiences and gestures of mastery, personal power, and the willingness to make
daring lifestyle choices, all of which are connected with various dimensions of
well-being.

The Contractive View

Constraints related to the sexuality, sexual desirability, and sexual activity of
women in midlife adversely affect their sense of well-being (Aber et al., 2003).
This disadvantage is especially conspicuous in the contemporary sexualized cul-
ture of youth. The seemingly commonsense truism that women (and men) do not
undergo an instant transformation when they cross the boundary into the 50 age
bracket seems unable to hold its own against the prevalent traditional perceptions
of normative sex appeal and age-appropriate sexual activity. The cohort of women
now in their 50s is, therefore, beset by tensions between what they experience as
psychological and physiological needs and the socio-cultural constraints on the
realization of those needs. As these issues are addressed more thoroughly in this
volume by Joan Chrisler and by Maureen McHugh, I will limit myself to only a
few brief remarks on the subject.
As we have seen, assessment of the well-being of the present cohort of women
over 50 takes into account the sweeping sociocultural changes in gendered-age
roles in the last four decades. The social constructionist orientation advances the
notion that many gender and age differences are conditioned by social context and
thus tend to change in different generations (Stewart & Ostrove, 1998). Having ab-
sorbed values and behavioral codes associated with the feminist movement and the
sexual revolution, women over 50 now feel “young at heart.” Indeed, Ryff (1991)
found a resemblance between young and middle-aged adults on all dimensions
of well-being, and both groups expected continued gains in the years ahead. This
 5. The Well-being and Quality of Life of Women Over 50 107

may be one explanation for the resentment and fear experienced by older women
in the face of sexual constraints and losses.
The concept of “possible selves” introduced by Markus and Nurius (1986) is also
helpful in addressing the difficulties of midlife women with respect to sexuality.
Possible selves are defined as the “cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and
threats” (p. 954). Women who were exposed to liberal sexual messages in young
adulthood have incorporated them into their structure of accessible and desirable
selves. Frustration is only to be expected when they are rather suddenly confronted
with cultural barriers that exclude the sexual self from the range of possible selves.
The fact that, at present, the feelings and expectations of women in midlife are not
supported by the dominant social norms and cultural representations is indicative of
what Davidson and Fennel (2002, p. 4) referred to as a “cultural lag” (i.e., cultural
conceptions have not caught up with the changes in the way women experience
their sexuality in reality and their expectation of acting accordingly). However, as
indicated above, at least some of the popular media allow open, sometimes even
subversive, discourse on sexual ethics and fresh cultural representations of the
body, sex appeal, and sexual activity of middle-aged women. Future studies are
needed to examine the interaction between what remain the separate expansive
and contractive domains of well-being and the quality of life of women over 50.

Conclusions
I have focused here on the well-being of women in their 50s from a sociocultural
perspective, highlighting the favorable effect of cultural shifts in social constructs,
such as gender and age. Middle-aged women today tend to score similarly to
younger women on well-being assessment scales, partly because they tend to retain
the liberal values and empowered behavioral codes acquired in young adulthood.
In this sense, they differ not only from older women, but also from middle-aged
women in previous generations. The latter difference can be explained by the social
constructionist orientation: It is connected to changes in structural opportunities,
mainly in education and employment, as well as to shifts in the normative ex-
pectations concerning gender and age roles (Parker & Aldwin, 1997). In other
words, the expansion and growth in well-being that have been found in recent
years for women in this age group are related to an increase in the available per-
sonal resources (and/or to the decrease in the personal constraints) that can be
expected at this stage in life (according to the developmental perspective), along
with sometimes dramatic advances in cultural representations and opportunities.
It stands to reason that the major shifts in the balance of power in society in the
last four decades, often reflected in gender and age crossovers or in a blurring of
demarcation lines between groups, have facilitated this change. Women in their 50s
have more power today than ever before, and consequently display better positive
functioning (as defined by current theories, e.g., Keyes et al., 2002; Ryff & Keyes,
1995). This leads us to question the connection between structures of well-being
and power constructs, both on the personal and the institutional levels. Indeed,
108 Varda Muhlbauer

well-being appears to have significant political implications as well as personal

ones.
Nevertheless, the literature on issues such as the physical attraction and sexual
activity of middle-aged women reveals a totally different perspective. The culture
still delimits normative desirability and sexual relations. Thus, women in their 50s
are seen as empowered and admirable, but not necessarily desirable. As a result,
side by side with enhanced positive well-being (Ryff & Keyes 1995), an increase
in adverse psychological responses (e.g., vulnerability, anxiety, frustration, lone-
liness) has been found (Gott & Hinchliff, 2003). Thus, the culturally segmented
representations of women in midlife may very well account for their fragmented
structures of well-being.
However, the story of women currently in midlife is still being written. These
women are bringing a new understanding of sexuality and intimate relationships
based on perceptions of their own sexual needs and preferences. They also seem to
be taking an active role in re-conceptualizing intimate relations and experimenting
with new forms of togetherness such as living apart together (Borell & Karlsson,
2003). Thus, although it cannot be concluded that the socio-cultural constraints
concerning sex appeal and intimate attachments that beset women in midlife are
soon to be washed away, it seems feasible to speculate that the quality of their lives
might still be markedly improved.

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6
Enjoying the Returns: Women’s
Friendships After 50
Suzanna M. Rose

Women after 50 show a new vigor in their friendships. The second half of life
elicits review and contemplation concerning where one has been and also, some-
times, decision and change concerning the personal priorities that will guide the
remaining decades. New perspectives of the self and intimacy emerge. As time
becomes more valuable, choices about how and with whom to spend it become
more pressing. As women assess their lives, they also take stock of their friend-
ships, often making deliberate and clear-eyed decisions about where to increase
and reduce their emotional investment. Old friendships may be recalibrated or
new ones sought to match fresh views of the self and relationships. What does not
change is the immense importance women attach to their friendships. Commitment
to the role of friend is even more predictive than income or marital status in the
determination of older women’s life satisfaction (Trotman & Brody, 2002).
In this chapter, the expectations, functions, and development of women’s friend-
ships after age 50 will be hypothesized and explored. This is relatively new terrain
from the standpoint of psychological research, which has focused on friendship
among the young or old but given little attention to the middle years. Thus, specu-
lation will be required. Factors that typically are known to affect friendship will be
considered as well, including historical forces, gender, sexual orientation, race and
ethnicity, individual differences, and culture. Negative aspects of friendship such
as conflict and false friends also will be discussed. Fruitful research directions will
be proposed to begin a systematic exploration of women’s friendships after age 50.

Historical Influences on Friendship

Current views of women’s friendship contrast sharply with those that prevailed a
century ago and until the recent past. At present, women’s friendships with other
women are regarded as a psychological asset that contributes to happiness, health,
and well-being. A large amount of well-being research documents the finding that
women’s same-sex friendships are more intimate and supportive than men’s (Bank
& Hansford, 2003). Women tend to enjoy same-sex friendships more than men
do because of the greater intimacy between women friends (e.g., Bank, 1995).

112
 6. Enjoying the Returns 113

In contrast, the dominant view from the time of Aristotle until the 1970s was that
women were incapable of true friendship. One argument was that women were
not genetically programmed to bond with one another; others asserted that sexual
jealousy and the desire for men’s approval inevitably resulted in hostility between
women that prevented friendship. Women’s friendships often were trivialized as
being “two-faced,” “gossipy,” or “juvenile” (O’Connor, 1992).
With the growth of women’s studies and also the “science of relationships”
from the 1970s to the mid-1980s, more positive attention was focused on women’s
friendship. Contextual factors that affect women’s friendships were emphasized.
For instance, the primacy of marriage as a social institution, particularly for women,
was recognized as lessening opportunities for friendship (O’Connor, 1992). Fem-
inist historians also challenged the negative view of women’s friendships by un-
covering numerous cases of romantic friendship between women friends during
the 1800s (e.g., Faderman, 1981). However, the research that resulted from those
analyses was aimed primarily at identifying gender differences rather than un-
derstanding the nature of women’s friendship in its own right. Thus, women’s
friendships continued to be regarded as secondary attachments relative to the mar-
ital bond, a view that reflects implicit heterosexist and patriarchal views of the
importance of women’s friendship (Rose, 2000).
A more recent trend has emerged that questions the secondary status of women’s
friendship. For instance, the emotional strength of women’s friendships was found
to be no different from their relationships with husbands or lovers (Goodenow &
Gaier, 1990). Women’s longer lifespan in the developed countries and the like-
lihood that they will outlive their husbands has resulted in reconsiderations of
the importance of friendship, particularly later in life (Allan, 2001). This new
interest in women’s friendship highlights the fact that very little is known about
this important relationship, particularly during midlife. Much more remains to
be explored concerning the convergence of life stage and friendship for women
after 50.

Expectations of Friends
Expectations of friends in Western, industrialized cultures tend to be idealized.
Friendships typically are expected to involve intimacy, enjoyment, dependability,
acceptance, and caring. Furthermore, women’s expectations for friendship tend to
be very high. Gouldner and Strong (1987) reported that the middle-aged women in
their study expressed “a great longing for friendship” and described their idealized
friendships in terms that were similar to those used for romantic relationships:

The perfect friend was thought of as possessing, above all, the traits of trustworthiness
and unswerving loyalty and the ability to keep confidences. She was a person, who was, at
the same time, a good listener, an entertaining companion, someone with whom she could
gossip and air serious problems. Ideally she would provide sympathy and opportunities for
catharsis and self-insight along with distraction and fun. (p. 105)
114 Suzanna M. Rose

The “voluntariness” of friendship contributes to its idealized status as well as

distinguishes it from other social relations. Unlike marital or family relationships
that are bound by institutional ties, friendships are chosen. They are not facilitated
by social roles and are not coerced. Other characteristics unique to friendship
include autonomy, sentiment, and freedom from structural constraints. In addition,
friendships tend to be governed by the norms of reciprocity and equality. These
features lend themselves to popular conceptions of friendship as private, self-
governing dyads that are voluntary and informal (Bell & Coleman, 1999).
It is not known if women’s friendships at midlife diverge from the descriptions
above. Although midlife women may wish for the ideal, there is reason to believe
they may be more appreciative of authenticity in themselves and others that could
lead to greater tolerance for the foibles and failings of friends and self. On the
other hand, as awareness of death becomes more salient to women in their 50s,
they may desire to break free from scripted roles, discover new or rejected aspects
of the self, or seek a greater sense of wholeness. The feeling that the time is “now
or never” to do something meaningful can impact friendships negatively if friends
want to maintain the status quo.

Friendship Functions
Adults of all ages endorse six functions of friendships (Argyle & Henderson,
1984). At a minimum, friends are supposed to stand up for each other (even in
a friend’s absence), share news of success, provide emotional support, trust and
confide in each other, volunteer help when needed, and try to make the friend happy
when together. In addition, close friends are supposed to repay debts and favors,
be tolerant of the friend’s other friends, avoid criticizing the friend in public, keep
confidences, avoid jealousy and criticism of other relationships, avoid nagging, and
respect privacy. Violation of these functions is likely to jeopardize the friendship.
Friendships play a unique and crucial role in adults’ lives. Friends’ similarity
in terms of personal and lifestyle characteristics makes them well suited to affirm
each other’s identity, reminisce, give advice, provide socialization, share leisure
activities, and help with nontechnical tasks. Friends are expected to provide the
companionship and emotional support required to meet the losses and transitions
of growing older.
Equality is a distinguishing feature of friendship. Friends are happiest when the
friendship is perceived as being equal in terms of the “give-and-take” in the rela-
tionship (Roberto, 2001). Inequalities in material resources or interpersonal power
must be leveled between friends or the friendship may not survive. Reciprocity
also is important, particularly in the early stages. Established friendships are ex-
pected to be “communal” rather than “exchange” relationships (Clark & Mills,
1993). Communal relations do not require that a specific debt be returned with a
comparable benefit, as would be expected in exchange relationships. Equality of
affect rather than equality of exchange governs communal relations.
 6. Enjoying the Returns 115

Long-term friends provide a sense of continuity with the past, and over time they
may be regarded as family, which enhances a sense of connectedness (Lewittes,
1989). Women (and men) report being happier spending time with friends than
with anyone else (Larson & Bradney, 1988). Fortunately, friendships among older
women contribute to psychological growth, as well as to physical and mental health
(Patrick et al., 2001).

Gender Roles
Friendships are strongly affected by gender roles. Women are more likely to provide
solace, sympathy, and sophisticated types of emotional support to their friends than
men are (e.g., Basow & Rubenfeld, 2003). These behaviors are learned early in life.
Girls are encouraged much more than boys to behave in a nurturing way toward
others, to talk about their emotions, and to express sympathy. By adulthood, women
are not only better at giving nurturance and support, they are expected to be ready
and willing to provide it.
Women place a high premium on giving and receiving comfort from their friends,
which suggests that women who are unable to provide it will be negatively per-
ceived or rejected (Holmstrom et al., 2005). Although gender roles are robust across
the lifespan, countervailing forces at midlife might temper stereotypic expectations
for unconditional support from women friends. Anecdotal evidence suggests that
women in midlife come to value truth-telling more than they did when they were
young. Levine (2005) characterized this as a “new intimacy”: “We are much more
forthcoming about our failings and failures, more willing to seek and accept advice,
less know-it-all about dispensing advice, and a lot less concerned with eliciting
sympathy for its own sake” (p. 145). The expectation for a greater level of honesty
may free women to have a greater range of response to friends’ predicaments. Less
sympathy and more direct advice, such as “don’t be upset about that” or “you’d
better get your act together,” might be given and appreciated.

The Development of Friendship

The usual path to friendship is for women of similar attitudes, activities, and social
class standing to meet and become friends as their paths cross frequently (Fehr,
1996). The connection at first may be superficial and based on an “even exchange”
of pleasantries, invitations, or activities. Over time, if the interest is mutual, a
gradual transition through a series of increasingly intimate, personal disclosures
will occur and lead to a closer friendship. As trust and self-disclosure increase, the
friendship becomes based more on communal norms such as mutual concern than
on a formal reciprocity regarding what one gives or gets in the friendship (Clark &
Mills, 1993).
116 Suzanna M. Rose

Making Friends
The formation of friendship is constrained by at least three factors that affect the
opportunities adults have to meet potential friends and promote friendship. First,
demographic variables tend to limit friendship. At all ages, women tend to come
into contact with women who are similar in terms of age, race, social class, sexual
orientation, and who live and work in similar areas. Women with young children
often become friends with mothers of their children’s friends. Roberto (2001)
reported that older women tend to live close to their close friends, to be about the
same age and social class status, and to share social and ethnic backgrounds.
Second, the norm of equality in friendship also tends to restrain the development
of friendships across socioeconomic status or identity categories that cause social
distance. For instance, a friendship between a woman and her household worker
must surmount both economic barriers and social ones caused by inequality of
rank in the social order. Similarly, friendships between Black and White women
or lesbians and heterosexual women may have to meet additional criteria in order
to bridge the social distance and to put the friendship on an equal footing (e.g.,
Hall & Rose, 1996).
Patriarchal definitions of women’s place as secondary and subservient to men
also shape women’s friendships. Among heterosexual couples, men’s preferences
and friendships often dictate couples’ social lives. Women more often than men
report that dating or marriage precipitates the loss of a same-sex friendship
(Gullestad, 1984; Rose, 1984). Wives may seek to maintain friendships with their
women friends independent of their husbands, but arranging to see women friends
separately from couple activities requires extra effort and makes the friendships
more difficult to maintain. The negative effect of marriage on women’s friendships
continues after divorce or widowhood. Both divorced and widowed women report
having to rebuild their friendship networks (e.g., Armstrong & Goldsteen, 1990).
Once the husband is no longer present, his friends may drop the wife as a friend.
Situational factors that arise from male dominance and gender roles also place
major constraints on women’s friendships. As Enright and Rawlinson (1992)
pointed out: “The bosom of the family is not a rich breeding ground for friend-
ships” (p. 96). Women continue to shoulder about 70% of the household and child
care responsibilities, and most have little free time for their own leisure pursuits
(e.g., Green et al., 1990). Women earn less than men on average and have fewer
resources to use in establishing and maintaining friendships. Women also have less
access to and less control of public space than men do, including parks, bars, social
clubs, athletic courts, and arcades. Fear of violence from men limits women’s for-
ays alone outside the home. Thus, demographic, social, and physical constraints
limit friendship choice and interactions.
By age 50, some of the limitations on women’s friendships described above
may be reduced. Working women in their 50s are more likely to have their own
financial resources and also to have more leisure time due to a decline in family
and household responsibilities as children grow up and leave home. In fact, the
50s might amount to a “golden age” of women’s friendships, given that women
 6. Enjoying the Returns 117

are likely to be at their height of confident power (i.e., Neugarten, 1968), financial
stability, and still in relatively good health. It may be the era when women fully
learn to “treat a friendship like the gift that it is” (Paul, 2004, p. 164).

Maintaining Friendships
Studies of friendship in the middle years have not asked about the strategies used
to maintain friendships. Friends interact both at home and in community activities.
Getting together to talk is the most common social activity, but friends also help
each other with transportation, shopping, and running errands (Adams, 1997).
Communication strategies are important in friendship maintenance throughout
life. Aspects of communication that create tension are the interplay between inde-
pendence and dependence in friendship and between friendship’s protective and
expressive functions. Friendships provide room for women to pursue individual
goals and interests, but also in times of need require interdependence. These two
privileges of friendship require ongoing negotiations to keep the friendship in
balance. Likewise, friends must balance expressiveness with protectiveness. Hon-
esty, candor, and self-disclosure have to be managed carefully to avoid harming
the friend.

Ending Friendships
Friendships may end for a number of reasons, but this has been examined empiri-
cally in only a few studies of either younger or older adults. Causes of endings cited
by women and men in their 20s included lack of social skills or reciprocity, in-
appropriate self-disclosures, inability to express feelings, and learning something
distasteful about the friend (e.g., Rose, 1984). Women are more likely than men to
lose a friendship because their romantic relationship competed with the friendship
for time. Adults in their mid-20s to mid-30s attributed friendship endings to a
lack of respect for privacy and too much demand for personal advice (Argyle &
Henderson, 1984). In old age, active termination of friendship is rarely reported
other than due to the death of a friend. Friendships either decline or end by “fading
away” due to a change in lifestyle or pathway over the years, a move, or major
breaches of friendship norms (Bleiszner & Adams, 1992).
At present, no research exists that addresses how and when midlife women
end friendships. However, developmental research concerning women at midlife
suggests that they may act to terminate even long-term friendships if they are
chronically unsatisfying. For instance, Gersick and Kram (2002) studied high
achieving professional women at midlife and reported that the age 50 transition
was characterized by the task of coming into one’s own. This task deals with gaining
confidence in one’s abilities, knowing what one wants, and being able to go after
it. The women’s stories suggested that a wellspring of energy to pursue one’s own
life was released during the age 50 transition. The reassessment of relationships
118 Suzanna M. Rose

during this period, combined with increased confidence to ask for what one wants,
hypothetically might trigger decisions to end unsatisfying friendships.
For example, one woman approaching 50 who had recently ended a 25-year-
old friendship described it this way: “The older you get, the wiser you get about
your own personality and what you’re willing to compromise. You become more
selective. You’re not going to waste time on people who don’t share common goals
in friendship. If you have a friend who just takes, forget about it! If you’re in a
friendship where you are just giving, giving, giving, you’re going to burn out. In
a long distance friendship, it may take years for the animosity to build. That’s
what happened with Lois” (personal communication, 2006). The dissatisfaction
in this friendship stemmed from a lack of reciprocity in visiting each other and in
showing interest in the friend’s life and relationships.
At midlife, the extent to which gender differences occur in response to troubled
or lost friendships is unknown. Women have a better history of making and main-
taining friendships throughout life than do men. As women age, they may be less
upset than men if friendships end because they are more likely to establish new
ones. Or, women’s self-concept in later life may be less entangled with the need
to perform well at relationships. It remains to be determined if gender differences
in response to friendship problems or endings may disappear or even reverse after
age 50.

The Diversity of Friendship

Almost all research on friendship has been done on White, middle class women in
the United States, particularly young, White college students. Thus, only a little
is known about the lives or friendships of Women of Color, lesbians, or working
class, poor, or wealthy women. The few studies available provide some limited
insights concerning some variables that may affect midlife women’s friendship.

Race and Ethnicity

Research on Black women suggests that they may have somewhat different ex-
pectations for friendship and that family roles may conflict with friendships. For
instance, women place a high premium on giving and receiving sympathy from
their friends, but this may be truer of White women than of Black women. Research
with college students (White and Black) indicates that women who were unsym-
pathetic helpers to other women were judged as less likeable by other women than
were men who were similarly unsympathetic (Holmstrom et al., 2005). Young
Black women proved to be an exception to this rule; they found messages that
were classified as “cold comfort” by White women, such as giving advice, to be
more sensitive and effective.
Other research also indicates that Blacks value the ability to express rather
than to repress emotions, and they may adopt a style in friendship that is intense,
outspoken, forward, and assertive (Samter et al., 1997). Young Asian American
 6. Enjoying the Returns 119

women also perceived highly person-centered comforting strategies in friendship

as significantly less sensitive and effective than did White women (Samter et al.,
1997). As yet, no research has been done to determine if these expectations apply
to women over 50 from various ethnic groups. However, previous research with
younger women suggests that cross race friendships between Black, Asian, and
White women may be problematic, if White women expect sympathy and Black
and Asian women do not.
The division of household labor has been found to affect life satisfaction among
Black women, and, by extrapolation, it might also affect friendship. Tangri et al.
(2003) studied college-educated Black women at midlife and reported that their
personal satisfaction with their lives was influenced by household burden. House-
hold burden refers to the inequitable division of labor within the home. Those
with less household burden reported more satisfaction. One might speculate that
household burden is inversely related to time to spend with friends. Thus, house-
hold burden might be an important variable to include in studies of Black women’s
midlife friendships.
Core values of various ethnic groups also may have a significant impact on
friendship. These are just beginning to be explored. For instance, Latinas/os place
a high value on turning to the family for support instead of seeking external help
from friends, coworkers, and neighbors, even when the family is acculturated to life
in the United States (Keefe et al., 1979). However, young Latina college women
were found to rely more on friends than family in order to cope with academic and
social stress (Rodriguez et al., 2003). It may be that midlife Latinas also would
experience a discrepancy between ethnic group expectations and the norms of the
dominant culture, but that remains in question.

Social Class and Friendship

Social class strongly influences women’s friendships. First, patterns of forming
friendship differ by social class. The middle class pattern for making friends in-
volves broadening the context in which the interaction occurs. For example, this
means that a friendly acquaintance from a yoga class might be invited to dinner
at the other’s home. The relationship then becomes defined not by the specific
context (i.e., an exercise class) but would be broadened in a way that emphasized
the primacy of the relationship over the original context (Allan, 1998).
Working class friendships tend to be organized differently. The context and
setting are emphasized more, and the significance of the tie in its own right is
underplayed (Allan, 1998). Friendships tend to stay bounded within the initial
context, for example, a church group, and are more dependent on joint participation
in those specific activities. Thus, working class relations might not as easily be
classified as friendships, because cultural definitions of friendship define it as a
relationship that exists outside of specific contexts.
Friendship maintenance among working class women relies mainly on infor-
mal mutual aid (Greenberg & Motenko, 1994). Typically, working class families
rely more on primary kin living nearby to provide day-to-day support, and they
120 Suzanna M. Rose

may have relatively few people whom they would name as friends (Allan, 1998).
In contrast, middle class women interact with friends more often, provide more
assistance to their friends, and are more satisfied with the support they receive in
turn (Krause & Borawski-Clark, 1995). In fact, friendships play a larger role in the
lives of middle class individuals than kin do (Allan, 1998). The greater mobility of
middle class women may result in having fewer kin nearby, which causes greater
reliance on friends.
Friendships across social classes are often difficult to establish and maintain. The
difference described above between working class and middle class norms is one
barrier. Social class also impinges on equality in a friendship. Friends are expected
to regard and treat each other as social equals. Difference can be tolerated if it does
not undermine the sense that each person has equal social worth. Reciprocity also
is expected in friendship, although exchanges do not have to be in-kind and do not
have to be returned immediately. However, if two women have unequal or limited
resources, the balance of equal social worth and reciprocity is upset (Allan, 1998).
For instance, working class women may not have the resources to entertain at home
or to dine at restaurants as middle class women may be able to do.
For women at midlife, social class norms are likely to be entrenched. This
suggests that working class women after 50 would be more embedded in kin
networks than would middle class women. In contrast, middle class women may
be freer to cultivate friendships at midlife than ever before. As a result, midlife
friendships across social class may be unlikely.

Lesbian Friendships at Midlife

Lesbian friendships are another understudied area. Friendships for lesbians are
often the main, if not sole, source of affirmation, support, and love (Stanley, 1996).
Friends may take on greater importance to lesbians than to heterosexual women
because friends may become surrogate families, replacing kin networks that have
rejected them (Weinstock, 2000). At midlife, friendships play an important role
for lesbians. Tully (1989) studied a sample of mostly White, professional, midlife
lesbians and reported that women friends were identified as the people from whom
the most social support was sought and received. Many older lesbians maintain a
supportive network of friendships that is fueled by the high value lesbians place
on friendship (Weinstock, 2000). Midlife lesbians tend to spend time with and
receive support from other lesbians their own age, including lovers, ex-lovers,
and friends (e.g., Bradford & Ryan, 1991; Sang, 1991). Rothblum et al. (1995)
noted that midlife may bring with it a renewed sense of the importance of friends,
particularly because lesbians may not anticipate finding sufficient support from
formal caregiving service systems as they age.
Ex-lovers are a significant source of friendship among lesbians, particularly
at midlife (Weinstock, 2004). Weeks et al. (2001) and Weston (1997) found that
lesbians often included their ex-lovers, as well as their current lovers, as part of
their close circle of friends. Lesbians were twice as likely as gay men to report
that their best friend was a former lover (Nardi & Sherrod, 1994) and also twice
 6. Enjoying the Returns 121

as likely as heterosexual women to report being close to their ex-lovers (Fertitta,

1994, as cited in Kimmel & Sang, 1995). This is far from the norm in heterosexual
relations, where friendships between ex-spouses are unusual and, until recently,
have been regarded as evidence of “dysfunctional dependency” (Masheter, 1997).
Lesbian friendships raise questions concerning the nature of friendship and hid-
den assumptions in previous research. The lifelong and central importance lesbians
attribute to friendship contests the idea that friendships are “secondary attach-
ments” and challenges heterosexist assumptions that denigrate women’s friend-
ships relative to heterosexual love relationships. For instance, Kitzinger (1996)
remarked that language often trivializes friendships: “If a sexual relationship is a
‘primary relationship,’ does this mean that friendships are ‘secondary’? If a sexual
partner is a ‘significant other,’ are friendships ‘insignificant others’? And what
about the question, ‘Are you two together, or are you just friends?’ when we are
both ‘together’ and ‘friends’ and there is no ‘just’ about it”? (p. 296). Perhaps most
important, midlife lesbian friendships suggest that more might be gained by study-
ing friendships that have not been limited by the sexist constraints on women’s
affection that have been imposed on heterosexual women’s friendships.

Individual Differences
Any discussion of friendship must take individual differences into account. Women
have different personalities and may not approach friendship in the same way.
Three elements of adult personality development that might affect friendships are
identity, generativity, and confident power (Stewart et al., 2001). Research indicates
that identity development is positively related to self-esteem and life satisfaction
in midlife women and that the early attainment of a well-articulated identity also is
related to women’s well-being at midlife (Vandeventer et al., 1997). Generativity
refers to the second stage of adulthood posited by Erikson (1968). In generativity,
“a man and a woman must have defined for themselves what and whom they have
come to care for, what they care to do well, and how they plan to take care of
what they have started and created” (Erikson, 1968, p. 395). If this stage is not
mastered, the negative outcome is stagnation. A third element of personality at
midlife is confident power. Neugarten (1968) proposed that executive processes
such as mastery and competence make up the core of the middle-aged personality.
Research confirms that middle-aged women feel more in command of their world
and themselves than do adults of other ages (e.g., Cartwright & Wink, 1994).
Specifically, women report increases in confidence, dominance, and coping skills
from early adulthood to middle age (e.g., Stewart et al., 2001).
The connection between personality and friendship remains to be explored. A
next step in terms of research in this area would be to investigate how identity,
generativity, and confident power affects women’s friendships at midlife. One
prediction might be that women’s established friendships will gain in importance
and clarity at midlife for those women who become self-actualized. It may also be
the case that establishing friendships may become more difficult or less eagerly
122 Suzanna M. Rose

approached at midlife. Paul (2004) explained that, by midlife, one is more aware
of what effort is involved in starting a friendship:

The chocolate cake in the cooking magazine immediately snared me. The triple layers of
dark devil’s food—my favorite—were glazed with a rich, fudgy ganache. I’d been craving
chocolate cake. I could almost taste it. Maybe I’d share it with my family, maybe not.
Then I noticed the length list of ingredients, including an artisan chocolate that had to be
specially ordered from a catalog. The recipe was complicated – carefully melting chocolate
in a double boiler and whipping egg whites. Way too much trouble. Even though I knew it
would be delicious, I turned the page. New friendships can feel like that. (p. 90)

Cross-cultural Perspectives
People in numerous cultures characterize the friendship process as one of increas-
ing levels of intimacy. Despite the universality of the process, the character of
friendship varies cross-culturally. Some rules of friendship appear to cut across
culture; other rules suggest that differences in cultural values might affect friend-
ship. Argyle and Henderson (1984) reported that adults from Britain, Hong Kong,
Japan, and Italy (ages 18 to 25 and 30 to 60) endorsed four common rules of
friendship: respect the other’s privacy, trust and confide in one another, volunteer
help in time of need, and avoid jealousy or criticism of the friend’s relationships.
However, Japanese adults gave more weight than the other three groups did to the
friend fulfilling ritual obligations, providing help if requested, and offering infor-
mation and regard, and they gave less weight than the other groups did to verbal
intimacy and supportiveness.
The dimension of individualism–collectivism has been used to explain many dif-
ferences in interpersonal behaviors, including friendship. The difference between
the Japanese and the other cultures above may be attributable to the individualism–
collectivism dimension; perhaps intimacy is more highly regarded in individualis-
tic (Western) societies and fulfillment of formal obligations is more important in
collectivist (Eastern) societies.
If we extrapolate from that study, we might hypothesize that women in collec-
tivist societies would have more close friends than women in individualist societies.
An alternative hypothesis is that women in collectivist cultures would have fewer
but closer friends than do women in individualist cultures. The latter hypothesis
was partially borne out by a study of adults from West Africa (Ghana) and North
America (Adams & Plaut, 2003), although gender effects were not reported sepa-
rately. West Africans had fewer friends than North Americans, and the friendship
expectations of the two groups also differed. Significantly more West Africans
expected material and practical support and guidance, correction, and warning,
whereas more North Americans expected emotional support, trust, and respect.
Thus, a limited amount of cross-cultural research suggests that gender and culture
both are significant factors in determining friendship patterns between women
from other cultures.
 6. Enjoying the Returns 123

Conflict, False Friends, and Bad Friends

“Are Friends Delight or Pain?” asked Emily Dickinson (Enright & Rawlinson,
1991, p. 317). Friends are a major source of conflict as well as rewards. Conflict
is likely to arise when the rules of friendship are broken. The most important
rules to keep in friendship, according to adults from four cultures, are as follows:
share news of success with each other; show emotional support; volunteer help in
time of need; and strive to make the friend happy when in each other’s company
(Argyle & Furnham, 1983). Conflict in friendship also could result from one
partner’s reliance on exchange norms rather than communal norms (Clark, 1981).
If one friend persists in basing the friendship on an explicitly even exchange,
such as expecting every phone call or invitation to be returned before another is
extended, the friendship may be damaged. Established friendships tend to operate
based on communal norms, such that friends expect to give according to abilities
and needs rather than according to a strict system of even exchange. Thus, the
expectation might be that the friend with more free time would be the one to take
the lead in organizing get-togethers, whereas the busy friend would contribute to
the friendship in some other way.

Responses to Conflict
Responses to conflict may determine friendship outcomes. Four types of responses
to conflict have been identified: exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect (Rusbult et al.,
1982). Exit responses refer to threatening to end the friendship, discussing end-
ing it, driving the friend away, or actually ending the friendship. Voice includes
responses such as talking about the problem, recommending solutions, compro-
mising, or trying to change the friend or the self. Loyalty responses refer to waiting
to see if things improve or continuing to have faith in the friendship or the self.
Last, neglect responses refer to ignoring the friend, spending less time together,
refusing to talk about the problem, or complaining without suggesting solutions.
Typically, friends tend to adopt passive responses to conflict in friendship, such
as loyally continuing the friendships despite dissatisfaction or by neglecting the
friend (e.g., Fehr & Harasymchuk, 2005). Because passive responses are the norm,
active responses to conflict, such as threatening to end the friendship or voicing
the issue, might be regarded as disruptions in the usual way of dealing with things.
People expect friendships to be “self-maintaining” and thus, a friend who responds
to conflict more actively may be a surprise. On the other hand, a friendship could
be strengthened by a friend’s attentive response to an expression of dissatisfaction.
The research on conflict raises at least two questions concerning mature women’s
friendships that have yet to be addressed. First, are older women quicker to react
to conflict in friendship or more active in resolving it than young women are?
Predictions vary. It could be that older women would be more patient in waiting
for conflicts to resolve spontaneously. In contrast, if the friendship is not rewarding,
they may be more willing than young women to end it. Second, are older women
better at predicting a friend’s response or selecting the most successful way to
124 Suzanna M. Rose

handle the conflict with that particular friend? It might be expected that older
women, who have sustained long-term friendships, have developed ways to cope
with problems successfully. A stable interpersonal script based on long intimacy
may govern friendships; a woman may know what friends respond to neglect and
what friends appreciate an active approach to problems. In other words, older
women’s life experience and in-depth knowledge of friends might broaden their
repertoire concerning how to handle conflicts.

False Friends and Bad Friends

Research has shown that people with strong friendships experience less stress,
recover more quickly from heart attacks, and are likely to live longer than the
friendless. They are even more resistant to the common cold (Pressman et al.,
2005). Further, more positive health outcomes occur for individuals when they
affiliate with a friend in response to a stressful situation; women have a greater
tendency than men do to “tend and befriend” when under stress (Taylor et al.,
2000). However, some friends may do more harm than good. The extent to which
friendships might be destructive or bad for one’s health is just beginning to be
explored (Yager, 2002). In an enduring friendship, as in any deep relationship,
anger, jealousy, envy, and other difficult emotions may occur. Also, some friends
lie, cling, criticize, or betray. One may have to decide whether it is just a phase in
the friendship and ride it out, or whether it is a permanent condition and disband it.
Betrayal in friendship may be particularly hurtful. Violating a confidence is
regarded as a serious affront to a friendship, and Yager (2002) identified 20 ad-
ditional different types of bad friends. The second most harmful type is when
a friend suddenly turns cold without explaining why. This is perceived as more
than just an abandonment; the silent treatment is malicious. A third type of bad
friend involves someone who insults the other person. The most common type is
the promise breaker, someone who promises to be there when needed, then isn’t.
Some friendships go bad when one of the people gradually or suddenly finds rea-
sons to dislike the other one. It sometimes may take a long while in a friendship to
learn enough about the friend to violate one’s “dislike criteria,” that is, to discover
that the friend is a liar, not to be trusted, or that the costs of the friendship greatly
outweigh the rewards.
In sum, good friendships are known to contribute to psychological health, but
it is becoming apparent that false and bad friendships create stress and do harm.
What remains to be explored is if women at midlife are more likely than younger
or older women to break off from stressful or harmful friendships.

Directions for Research

Clearly, a great deal about women’s friendships has yet to be explained. There are
many potential directions for future research. Merely extending any major area of
friendship research to include women at midlife would be a good start. For instance,
 6. Enjoying the Returns 125

research on expectations, intimacy, communication, conflict, maintenance, or gen-

der differences in any of these areas targeted at women in midlife would begin to
build a profile of adult women’s friendships. Studies of the strategies women use to
establish and maintain friendships and the processes of transition from one phase
of friendship to another are particularly lacking (Bleiszner & Roberto, 2004). In
addition, little is known about the importance of friends in accomplishing genera-
tive goals such as volunteering to help develop community programs or providing
opportunities for mentorship (Antonnuci & Akiyama, 1997).
Longitudinal studies using a narrative analysis also might provide a rich context
for exploring the convergence of social cognition, life stage, and friendship devel-
opment. Narratives refer to the stories people create and recreate that help them to
interpret and explain relationships. They are important because they help people
make sense of their lives (Knapp & Miller, 1994). Many women have long-term
and even lifelong friendships that could be tracked over time using narratives or
stories about those friendships to examine how identity and cognitions interact
with friendship processes and meanings.
Yet another unique approach would be to use women’s midlife friendships as a
normative model for the study of other relationships and processes. This would be
a novel undertaking, particularly because women’s friendships traditionally have
been regarded as secondary to marital, parental, family, and work relationships.
Yet a great deal of research in those areas is aimed at how to avoid problems or
how to make those relationships more effective. One could argue that because
women’s midlife friendships seem to be somewhat protected from the level of
disappointment and conflict experienced in romantic and marital relationships,
they might provide some insight as to the conditions required to make marriage
more positive and fulfilling. In other words, a good friendship might be the best
basis for many types of relationships, and women’s midlife friendships might serve
as an example of how to have them.

The Future of Women’s Friendship

The immediate future of women’s friendships after age 50 will be affected by the
intersection of four forces: lifespan development, life course transitions, caring
experiences over the life course, and the sociohistorical context (Bleiszner, 2006).
The lifespan development perspective suggests that a key challenge throughout
life is to adapt to developmental gains and losses, such as children leaving home,
widowhood, or divorce. For example, although loneliness and loss may accom-
pany widowhood, it also provides opportunities for developing other interests and
friendships (Adams, 1987). Life transitions also play a role in women’s friend-
ships after 50. The impact of life transitions is determined by the age at which
they occur. Women in their 50s who are caring for aging parents may have more
constraints on their friendships than their age peers who are not; whereas the death
of a parent may increase a woman’s reliance on her friends. Caring refers to feeling
and exhibiting concern and empathy for others. Lifespan perspectives suggest that
126 Suzanna M. Rose

women who have positive experiences with caring in early and middle adulthood
will be more likely to have caring and intimate friendships in the later years of
life. Current sociohistorical influences also are expected to play a role in women’s
friendships. For example, members of the baby boom cohort are likely to view
friendships differently in old age than the previous generation did. The prediction
is that baby boomers will have mainly age-homogeneous friendships because of
to the strong cohort identity they forged in their youth due to sharing powerful
historical events together such as the Vietnam War (Bleiszner, 2006).
The beginning of the twenty-first century has been marked by tremendous
changes that will continue to affect friendships (Allan, 2001). The introduction
of mass-scale, worldwide, electronic communication and continuing globaliza-
tion has had an impact on women’s everyday lives and relationships. More women
work outside the home, and in industrialized nations women may expect to live
for nearly a century. Marriage has become less normative, and divorce quite soon
may be the majority pattern. Overall, women are having fewer children and their
dependency on men is declining. As a result, “the domestic, sexual, and familial
arrangements that adults construct are now perceived far more as a personal mat-
ter for those involved and not as issues over which others have strong rights to
influence” (Allan, 2001, p. 329).
These changes have large implications for informal relationships like friend-
ship. Friendship is likely to become an even more important part of social identity
as women become freer to develop nondomestic aspects of their lives. Friend-
ship may also play an increasingly important role in confirming new decisions or
changes that are made. Lesbian identities provide a good example. Friendships
are highly significant for many lesbians for whom friends represent their “chosen
family” (Weeks et al., 2001). These are the friends who are trusted and relied
upon. Widowed and divorced heterosexual women as they age potentially might
begin to adopt a similar model of establishing a “chosen family” comprised of
friends.
Signs that women after 50 will forge new directions for friendship already have
begun to appear. The Red Hat Society, which has chapters in dozens of cities, is
an example of women using friendship ties to promote a more positive cultural
view of women after age 50. Red Hat Society members wear red hats and purple
clothing to symbolize that after age 50 women will make their own choices about
what is fashionable. As founder Sue Ellen Cooper explained:

“The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with
verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are
all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together.
Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences
and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.” (http://www.redhatsociety.com)

The establishment of intentional or retirement communities organized by groups

of women friends might also arise after age 50 in response to the declining sex
ratio of men to women in the later decades of life. Communities based on lesbian
friendships and networks already have been established in Florida, Arizona, and
 6. Enjoying the Returns 127

Washington (Rabin & Slater, 2005). The Florida location was founded in 1995 and
currently has 330 residents on 278 landscaped home sites within 50 acres of gated,
fenced land (Rabin & Slater, 2005). The model of the lesbian residential/retirement
community might become a viable type of community structure for heterosexual
women friends in the future, as well.
The feminist potential of women’s friendships in the future remains to be seen.
Irigaray (1985) argued that interaction between women enables them to define a
self that transcends the limits imposed on women by patriarchal language and cul-
ture. Interactions between women may not always be harmonious, but they allow
women a new and different way of being that cannot appear when women are de-
fined by the needs, desires, and fantasies of men. If women’s friendships become
more significant as they age, they have the potential to challenge the centrality of
men in women’s lives. This could lead women to recognize and use their power
in the public arena. The functions of women’s friendships could broaden beyond
intimacy and ego support to include instrumental ones, such as access to economic
and political resources, much as men’s friendships do (O’Connor, 1998). Thus,
women’s friendships after 50 potentially have important implications for feminist
and political activism. Guttentag and Secord (1983) theorized that feminist move-
ments tend to develop when women greatly outnumber men. If so, in the future,
women over 50 may become an important base of political influence and social
change.
In conclusion, it remains to be seen if women’s friendships will continue to
reinforce women’s place in the private sphere, as defined by patriarchy, or will
become a catalyst for their entry into the public arena. However, current trends
suggest that friendship in the future will become increasingly important across the
lifespan, particularly so among women after age 50 who will have the greatest
opportunity to construct their own place in the world.

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7
Contemporary Midlife
Grandparenthood
Liat Kulik

Grandparenthood has always been considered a basic human experience, and usu-
ally it is a positive one. The grandparent role is salient for most older individuals
(Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1985), and some scholars have argued that its impact on
the individual and family will continue to grow (Uhlenberg & Kirby, 1998). To-
day, grandparenting can span several decades, from the 30s in cases of teenage
pregnancy, to over 100 years of age in cases of extreme longevity (Hagestad,
1985). Although it is difficult to determine whether the grandparent role is more
significant than the roles of spouse and parent, there is no doubt that becoming a
grandparent is a milestone in the life cycle, and, as such, it is of considerable rele-
vance to self-identity. From a developmental perspective, because the transition to
grandparenthood symbolizes a new stage of life, it is an especially important com-
ponent of age identity (Bastida, 1987; Giarrusso et al., 1996). From a psychosocial
perspective, the experience of grandparenting is influenced by synchronicity with
other events in the older person’s life (Troll, 1985). Accordingly, a person’s be-
havior in the grandparent role and the significance attributed to grandparenting are
influenced by other major life cycle events, such as changes in marital and work
status.
The grandparent role has been defined as a “roleless role,” or a role that is not
governed by rights and obligations to the same extent as the parent role (Clavan,
1978). Based on a combination of perspectives presented in the literature, Kahana
and Kahana (1971) proposed a complex conceptualization of grandparenthood.
According to this conceptualization, grandparenthood is a social role that involves
ascribed status and expectations for role performance vis-à-vis the family and the
society. Grandparenthood also can be viewed as an emotional state or an intrapsy-
chic experience, which is part of individual development (Kornhaber & Woodward,
1981). In that context, grandparenthood is a transaction between the grandchild
and grandparent, which involves reciprocity (Werner, 1991). Grandparenthood
can also be viewed as part a group process within the family, which involves rela-
tionships and interdependencies among three generations (Cohler & Gruenbaum,
1981). Finally, grandparenthood can be considered a symbol. It is a reflection of
continuity, potency, and usefulness to society (Troll, 1983; Werner, 1991). From

131
132 Liat Kulik

any point of view, it is clear that far-reaching changes in modern society are also
reflected in the grandparent role.
In line with the developmental and psychosocial approaches described above,
the significance attributed to the grandparent role and styles of grandparenting are
usually affected by the sociocultural environment and by the stage of life in which
the event occurs. In this chapter, I will attempt to shed light on the significance of
grandparenthood in the contemporary period, with emphasis on an aspect that has
been neglected in existing research, namely grandmothers in their 50s.

Grandparenting in a Rapidly Changing Environment

The social, ideological, technological, and political developments of the contem-
porary era are reflected in every sphere of life. These developments have affected
the roles that individuals fulfill in the family, including grandparenting. Regarding
the changes that have affected the experience of grandparenting, several areas are
noteworthy.

Increased Life Expectancy

Advancements in medical technology and increased emphasis on healthy life styles
have led to a significant rise in life expectancy in Western countries. Whereas very
few children had living grandparents at the turn of the previous century, today this
is no longer the case. Ninety percent of all North American children at age 10 and
75% of all children at age 20 have at least one living grandparent. At the same
time, most older people have grandchildren. In the late 1970s, about 75% of all
older adults had experienced grandparenthood (Barranti, 1985; Hagestad, 1985),
and today some older people are even great–great grandparents. According to
Canadian researchers, 75% to 80% of older Canadians have at least one grandchild,
and the majority have more. In the United States, over 90% of all older people
with children also have grandchildren (for a review, see Schlesinger & Schlesinger,
1998). As a result of increased longevity, many people will be grandparents for
one-half of their lifetime (Barranti, 1985), over a period that can last as long
as 30 years. However, owing to a decline in fertility rates, there will be fewer
grandchildren per family—although the grandparent–grandchild relationship will
last longer and may be more intensive. Thus, grandparents can potentially have a
stronger influence on each one of their grandchildren than in the past.

Multiple and Simultaneous Family Roles

As a result of increased longevity, a person can also fulfill multiple roles at a given
point in life, for example, it is possible simultaneously to be a parent, grandparent,
great grandparent, and even a great–great grandparent in extreme cases. In Israel,
among Yemenite Jews who marry at a young age and often live to be very old,
there are five-generation families in which the great–great grandparent is known
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 133

as a hamis. Not only can one individual perform several family roles at the same
time, but each role is characterized by diverse characteristics and patterns. Several
decades ago, for example, the age range of children in a family tended to be
relatively homogeneous. Today, at the same point in time one person can be a
parent to married offspring, and still have adolescents or even infants living at
home. This creates complex situations, in which one person needs to use a variety
of parenting skills in order to satisfy the needs of children who are at different
stages of life. There are situations, albeit not common ones, in which a person
can have grandchildren and offspring of the same age, or even offspring who are
younger than the grandchildren. There are several reasons for the prolonged period
of parenthood and diverse age range of children. First, in light of increased rates
of divorce and remarriage, the remarried couple may wish to have children of their
own, in addition to the children that each spouse has from a previous marriage.
Furthermore, especially with the advancements in medical technology, there is
an increasing tendency for women to give birth in middle age and prolong the
fertility period. Thus, when a woman reaches an age where she is about to become
a grandmother, she may conceive one last child of her own out of a desire to
prove her femininity, to cement a new marriage, or to prolong motherhood to the
maximum. In Israel, the tendency to give birth in middle age (and even at the age of
grandparenthood) is particularly significant among ultra-Orthodox Jewish women,
who view procreation as a divine commandment and seek to have as many children
as possible during the period of fertility. Furthermore, in light of persistent military
tension in Israeli society, there are couples who lose a son or daughter in war or in
a terrorist attack. In these cases, the couple might conceive a child at a relatively
late stage of life in order to fill the vacuum and in an attempt to rehabilitate the
family.
Diversity in the nature of family roles may also derive from changes in fam-
ily structure as a result of divorce and separation, remarriage, and blending of
families. Thus, at one and the same time, a grandparent can have biological and
step-grandchildren. For example, in cases of midlife remarriage, a person can
act as a step-parent to the new spouse’s children and as a step-grandparent to
that spouse’s grandchildren. Moreover, when divorced offspring remarry, a grand-
parent can acquire step-children (the new spouse of their offspring) as well as
step-grandchildren. These multiple and diverse family roles can be a source of
pleasure to some individuals in the modern world (including grandparents), but
can also generate stress and confusion of self-identity.

Increased Diversity of the Family Configuration

One of the characteristics of the family in postmodern society is the diversity of
the family configuration. Different configurations include single-parent families
(sometimes out of choice, and not necessarily as a result of separation or divorce),
“blended” families (the husband’s children from a former marriage, the wife’s
children from a former marriage, and the children they have together), lesbian
or gay families, and cohabiting families. In addition, there are families in which
134 Liat Kulik

earning patterns and division of labor differ from the traditional ones known in
the past. For example, there are dual-career families, in which both spouses fo-
cus on developing their careers, but one spouse bears the main responsibility for
maintaining the household. In some cases, both spouses earn about the same in-
come (“modern” families), and in other cases the wife is the main provider and the
husband sometimes cares for the household (“innovators”) (Izraeli, 1994). Even
though these configurations include families that are not distressed or at risk, and
even families that are relatively well-off, there are families that experience a certain
degree of instability due to the excessive burden on one or both parents and due to
ambiguous gender roles or parental roles. In these situations, grandparents are of-
ten called on to lend a hand and to help maintain stability in the family (Kornhaber,
1996).

The Diverse Functions of Grandparenthood

Grandmothers have always played a supportive role in the family (Robertson,
1977). They are believed to engage voluntarily in bargaining and exchange with
grandchildren, or offer help with educational expenses (Sussman, 1953, 1962).
However, the role of grandparents in contemporary society has expanded and
intensified due to social changes that have weakened the family unit, increased
pressures on families, and increased rates of children at risk. Thus, grandparents
(especially grandmothers) are called on increasingly by their families and society
to help their children and grandchildren (Kornhaber, 1996). Households headed by
grandparents are clearly on the rise due to teenage pregnancy, incompetent parent-
ing, child abuse, divorce, and illness (Burton, 1992; Creighton, 1991; Minkler &
Roe, 1993).
Other recent social phenomena that have had a major impact on the grandparent
role are drug addition, AIDS, and incarceration (Burton, 1992; Dressel & Barnhill,
1994; Minkler & Roe, 1993). In such cases, grandparents play a primary role
as surrogate parents to their grandchildren. Regarding incarceration, the rates of
women in prison have increased by 20% over the past decade (Dressel & Barnhill,
1994), and approximately 53% of the children of incarcerated mothers live with
their grandparents (Bahr, 1994). In addition, grandmothers can be called on to help
with grandchildren who have chronic difficulties (e.g., developmental disabilities,
physical illnesses). In those cases, the grandparents serve as stress buffers, and
make an important contribution to countering negative forces in their children’s
lives (Denham & Smith, 1989). Thus, grandparents can often act as babysitters
(Lajewski, 1959) or surrogate parents (Kornhaber, 1996), and can intervene at times
of crisis and disaster (Young, 1959). At the same time, they can act as bearers of
family history and tradition (Boyd, 1967), and they can help in the household when
parents are ill, giving birth, or on vacation (Sussman, 1962), as well as supplement
the family income by giving gifts. In a somewhat different vein, grandparents
can also act as companions and confidants to their grandchildren, in addition to
mitigating tension in families (Neugarten & Weinstein, 1964).
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 135

Breaking the Stereotype of the Traditional

Grandparent—Diversity of Styles
In the not so distant past, the grandmother’s role was fairly standard and clearly
defined. “Grandma” was considered a relatively uniform, homogeneous figure,
and was portrayed in the media and in children’s literature as a woman who does
not work for pay. Whether she had never held a job or whether she was retired, her
main role was to manage the home and help to take care of her grandchildren. In a
similar vein, the stereotype of the old grandmother has prevailed for years (Smith,
1995). A study (Jannelli, 1988) conducted among North American children be-
tween 1961 and 1983 revealed 55% of the participants portrayed grandmothers as
having white or graying hair, 31% portrayed them as wearing glasses, and 31%
portrayed them as wearing aprons. Researchers who have attempted to identify dif-
ferent styles of grandmothering have usually focused on one main dimension, that
is, grandmother–grandchildren relationships (Deutsch, 1945; Robertson, 1976).
In this connection, Neugarten and Weinstein (1964) formulated a classic typology
of grandmotherhood, which identified grandmothering styles along a continuum
of grandparent–grandchild relations, and revealed the following main types: the
formal type reflects the grandparents who do what they are “supposed to do”;
the fun seekers are grandparents who play with their grandchildren, and they are
usually relatively young; surrogate grandparents are those who take care of their
grandchildren while the parents are away; the reservoir of family wisdom refers to
grandparents who are authoritative figures and teach special skills; and the distant
figure is the grandparent who is benevolent but remote.
Today, the images of grandmothers and styles of grandmotherhood are diverse,
as reflected in the media where one grandmother wears a jogging suit on her way
to aerobic dancing, and another wears a business suit and has a successful career
(Hagestad, 1985). In Israel, there is a popular children’s book entitled Grandma in
Jeans (Orbach, 2001), which portrays a grandmother who is young at heart—an
image completely the opposite of the classic grandmother stereotype. Hence, the
images of grandmothers are more varied than ever before, and there is increasing
social legitimacy for every grandmother to choose the image that best suits her.

Breaking the Myth of the “Happy Grandmother”

Another stereotype about grandmothers that prevailed in the past is that grand-
motherhood is an entirely happy experience. In many studies (e.g., Timberlake,
1986), grandparents have described their relationship with their grandchildren as
fulfilling. They portray their role in a positive light, as a source of stability, conti-
nuity, care, consistency, and routine to their grandchildren. From that perspective,
Johnson (1983) presented two descriptions of the grandparenting experience: “It’s
a deeper love than between a parent and child, because it is coming from a loved
one (a child) and a result of loving and being loved” (p. 554); “being a grandparent
has all the good points—‘have them [the grandchildren] over when you choose,
136 Liat Kulik

and send them home when they act bratty’” (p. 553). Some have described grand-
parenthood as bliss: “Being Daphna’s grandmother is the ultimate bliss, the crème
de la crème. When little Daphna opens the door shouts ‘grandma, grandma,’ I
am filled to the brim with happiness, and there’s no other feeling like it” (Kulik,
2005).
Today, it seems that these feelings are accompanied by other voices, which
shatter the prevailing image of grandparenthood as the ultimate happiness. These
voices reflect changes in the women’s perceptions of self-fulfillment, as well as
changing aspirations, and portray a more balanced view of being a grandmother.
According to Johnson (1983), some women described a conflict between their role
as a grandmother, and emphasized other interests and aspirations in life: “I am
just not the grandmother type—I travel, take courses, have my own interests . . . I
have my own life to lead, and so do my grandchildren” (p. 554). In a similar vein,
Goodfellow (2003) cited the following response: “My friend had trouble with her
young grandchild, who would not want to go home because he had been with her
12 hours and more a day” (p. 5). Another response to the experience of grandmoth-
erhood is the fear of growing old, as reflected in the following statements: “I’m
too young to be a grandmother” (Johnson, 1983, p. 554); “If I had enough guts,
I would tell my children to wait a while before they start a family. Grandchildren
will bring me into another stage of life, and I feel like I’m still a child myself”
(Kulik, 2005). Some grandmothers complain about feeling bored when they are
with their grandchildren: “I get bored sitting and playing with her [the grandchild]
and doing things like drawing and playing with playdough” (Goodfellow, 2003,
p. 6). Sometimes the transition to grandmotherhood in midlife forces women to
confront the fact that they will not bear any more children and that the childbearing
function will be passed on to the next generation. As one grandmother expressed
it: “When my first grandchild was born, I felt that a biological stage of my life had
ended, the stage of childbearing . . . but in a strange way I returned to my own expe-
rience of childbearing and child rearing. I was filled with memories from that time,
nostalgia . . . It was the most beautiful period of my life—and now, with the birth
of my grandchild, I realize how I can’t turn the wheels back . . . ” (Kulik, 2005).
The transition to grandmotherhood can also generate inner conflict, for example,
when the new grandmother thinks that her children are taking advantage of her, as
described by Goodfellow (2003): “I used to have my grandson for breakfast, give
him his meals, bathe him at night, and get him ready for bed . . . so what does his
mother do?” (p. 6).
Goodfellow (2003) also described strain caused by the overload that ensues
when the grandmother feels drained by the responsibility of taking care of grand-
children: “I sometimes feel tied down. It’s really hard to look after your grandchild,
particularly when the child’s parents want to go out (socially) or I have something I
want to do” (p. 8). Another source of stress may be the grandmother’s desire to free
herself of the constraints of being a grandmother: “If it’s illness or something like
that, I’d have to [help], I would [help] . . . But I don’t think I’d do it by choice, just
to suit them, because I like freedom as well” (Cotterill, 1992, p. 613). Finally, with
regard to the feelings of stress that undermine the consensus of happy grandmoth-
erhood, Robertson (1977) revealed that the role of grandmother is not significantly
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 137

related to life satisfaction. In fact, the findings of Robertson’s (1977) study were
consistent with Blau (1973), who argued that “when in need, one good friend
is more important in maintaining morale than a dozen grandchildren” (Johnson,
1983, p. 549). Evidently, there is no longer a consensus that grandmotherhood is
all good. The increasing emphasis on freedom of expression, openness, and break-
ing myths has enabled women to develop a more balanced, complex, and diverse
perspective of grandmotherhood.

The Transition to Grandmotherhood in Midlife

One of the most typical characteristics of the transition to grandparenthood is that
it is initiated by someone else (i.e., the son or daughter) and is not controlled by the
individual. In that sense, the transition to grandparenthood can be likened to events
such as becoming an orphan or a widow, as opposed to events such as marriage or
childbirth, which are self-initiated.
There are two main types of transition to grandmotherhood: off-time and on-
time (Burton & Bengston, 1985). The off-time transition is not a scheduled or
predictable event, as in the case of teenage pregnancy, which can lead to grand-
parenthood in the 30s. Becoming a grandparent “off-time” can generate numerous
stressors, such as overload, obstruction of plans, conflict with the normal devel-
opmental process, and lack of a peer group (Burton et al., 1995).
In this chapter, I deal with on-time grandparenthood, which is an expected
transition that usually takes place in midlife between the ages of 45 and 50, in
tandem with the normative life cycle (Burton & Bengston, 1985; Matthews &
Sprey, 1984). The transition to grandparenthood is one of the most comprehensive
ones for the family, and it influences the roles of all family members. In the process
of this life transition, family members do not give up or lose their former family
roles. Rather, they add new roles to existing ones. The “child” becomes a parent,
the mother or mother-in-law becomes a grandmother, and the grandparents become
great grandparents. Moreover, the birth of a grandchild adds new roles to the family,
such as niece and cousin.
When the transition to grandparenthood occurs at a developmentally appropriate
period for both the grandparent and the adult children, then the status of grandparent
is a source of identification that usually generates satisfaction (Kivett, 1998). The
normative transition to grandmotherhood is not a uniform process, and is affected
by social, personal, and interpersonal contexts in which it occurs. To understand
the impact of the grandparenting experience, it is essential to examine events that
occur in each of these contexts (Elder, 1994).

Personal Context
Regarding the personal context that may affect the transition to grandparenthood,
researchers (Kivett, 1998) have mentioned the grandmother’s health as a major
factor. Grandparents who are in relatively good health adapt better to the transition
than do those who are in poor health. Another personal factor that may affect the
138 Liat Kulik

experience of grandparenthood is economic status. Grandparents who are experi-

encing financial problems buy fewer presents for their grandchildren, and do not
invest as much in telephone calls and visits (Troll, 1985). Clearly, this affects the
relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren.
Finally, synchronous events may work within a personal context to produce
changes in the structure and function of the grandparent role (Troll, 1985). For
example, grandparenthood might coincide with a midlife career change, which
would have a strong impact on the grandparenting experience. Specifically, the
time, effort, and resources that career changes demand detract from the investment
in relations with grandchildren. Another personal context factor that can affect the
transition to grandparenthood is the extent of socialization to the grandparent role.
Both intense and gradual socialization can enhance role identity and performance
(George, 1980). Similarly, first-time grandparents better understand the dynamics
of the role if their peers are also experiencing it (for a review, see Kivett, 1998). In
addition, advancements in medical technology enable grandparents to experience a
process of anticipatory socialization. Today, for example, it is possible to determine
the sex of the child and see pictures of the fetus during the course of the pregnancy,
so that grandparents can begin developing a relationship with the grandchild even
before the birth takes place.

Interpersonal Context
Relationships with other family members and with grandchildren can also affect
the transition to grandparenthood. In this connection, researchers have found that
the characteristics of the grandchild affect the grandparenting experience. For ex-
ample, chronically ill grandchildren may intensify the involvement of grandparents
in caregiving and provision of other resources (Dilworth-Anderson, 1994). Fur-
thermore, certain social problems experienced by adult children today may affect
the grandparenting role. Unexpected roles that grandparents assume as a result
of social and economic crises, such as cases of alcoholism among adult children,
can be a source of considerable stress (Bahr, 1994). In addition, the grandparents
often intensify their involvement in the grandparenting role when their children
experience economic problems, such as marginal employment or unemployment
(Dressel & Barnhill, 1994).
Conversely, the experience of grandparenthood can also be affected by the way
the offspring treat their grandparents. A study by Cotterill (1992) revealed that
most women consider the child’s grandparents to be the best source of childcare,
although they would rather receive such assistance from their own mother than
from their mother-in-law. Evidently, when it comes to childcare, young women
share more in common with their mothers than with their mothers-in-law.

Social Context
Social context affects the transition to grandmotherhood, as well as the experience
and expectations of being a grandmother. One of the main characteristics of the
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 139

social context is ethnicity, which affects perspectives of grandparenthood and the

symbolism attached to being a grandparent (Schlesinger & Schlesinger, 1998). For
example, studies have compared the experience of grandparenting among African
Americans and European Americans. Storm and Storm (1993) investigated grand-
parents’ and grandchildren’s perceptions of the grandparent role, and found that
African American grandparents view the role of teacher as one of their major
strengths. In that capacity, grandparents teach their children consideration of oth-
ers, good manners, how to distinguish right from wrong, and religious faith. By the
same token, the grandchildren also indicated that having a grandparent as a teacher
is important. Thus, African American grandparents and grandchildren tend to per-
ceive the grandparent role as more important than do their European American
counterparts (Storm & Storm, 1993). Specifically, among African Americans,
grandparents hold a position of authority and provide discipline and guidance.
Kennedy’s study of Black and White college students also revealed racial dif-
ferences in expectations of grandparents’ role behavior (Kennedy, 1990). Blacks
were more likely than Whites to argue that grandparents help with parenting and
provide financial assistance and that grandchildren should follow the guidance of
grandparents. In contrast, Whites were more likely to agree that it is important to
visit grandparents and share information about their activities. Whites were also
more likely to differentiate between the parent and grandparent roles (e.g., grand-
parents should not spoil grandchildren, and grandparents should maintain contact
but leave parenting to parents).
In the multicultural context of Israeli society, which integrates a wide variety of
ethnic and national groups, the impact of ethnicity on grandmotherhood is partic-
ularly significant. For example, among Israeli Arabs and Jews of Asian-African
origin, who are characterized by a familistic and collectivist orientation, grand-
parents are respected and receive more support from their children and grandchil-
dren than do their counterparts from Western, individualist cultures. Furthermore,
among immigrants who arrived in Israel from the Former Soviet Union during the
last decade, the babushka [grandmother] receives a lot of love and respect. In fact,
among recent immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, grandparents often share
an apartment with their children and grandchildren as a continuation of living pat-
terns in their country of origin, on the one hand, and economic strain in the country
of immigration, on the other (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2005). Therefore,
grandparents are often perceived as an integral part of the nuclear family and are
treated accordingly. It is the combination of personal, interpersonal, and social el-
ements that gives the experience of midlife grandmotherhood its special, symbolic
meaning.

Grandmothers in Their 50s: Acrobats with Many Hats

Today, grandmothers in their 50s are different from their own grandmothers
and even from their own mothers. They are more empowered because they are
healthier, more educated, younger looking, more fashionable, and more informed
140 Liat Kulik

(Kornhaber, 1996). In addition, they expect more of themselves, and their quality
of life is usually better. Today, grandmotherhood is no longer a single commit-
ment, and many grandmothers in their 50s are full-time workers and career women.
Thus, grandmothers in their 50s fulfill more social roles than in the past—not only
compared with women their age in previous generations, but also compared with
the roles they fulfilled at previous stages in their own lives. Indeed, Hall’s classic
study on the number of roles that women perform during the life cycle revealed
that in middle age women fulfill more roles than at any other stage of life (Hall,
1975).
In light of the rapid changes in the modern world, and following the general
increase in longevity in the Western world, as described above, care of aging parents
continues for a long period of the woman’s life. In Israel, especially among the
religious community and among Jews of Asian-African origin, responsibility for
care of elderly members of the extended family (e.g., the father-in-law or mother-
in-law) often falls squarely on the woman’s shoulders (Izraeli, 1994). Thus, the
traditional caregiving role that women assume in midlife is broader than at any
time in the past, or at any other stage of the life cycle. In the contemporary era,
it is possible that at age 50 a woman will have to care for her aging parents—a
responsibility which is physically and emotionally taxing in itself—in addition to
caring for children who are living at home (and sometimes are still very young),
and assisting children who have left the home. Furthermore, in Israel many women
at about age 50 have children serving in the army—a role that is stressful in itself.
In the best of cases, being a parent to a soldier involves a considerable amount
of domestic work, such as doing laundry, cooking, and ironing when the son or
daughter spends weekends on leave (Izraeli, 1999). Moreover, the perpetual state
of military tension in Israel is an especially significant stressor for parents of
young men serving in combat units. All of this tension is compounded when the
same woman is a grandmother, and is asked to care for her grandchildren so that
the “younger generation” will be able to advance in their own careers. A study
(Kornhaber, 1996) conducted in the United States revealed that over 3.2 million
children had grandparents who were surrogate (full-time) parents. Although the
situation in which grandparents replace the parents is an extreme one, grandparents
often find themselves “on standby” in case they are called on to care for their
grandchildren and relieve the parents of that burden. Thus, that burden often falls
on the shoulders of the grandmother.
In addition to their multiple and simultaneous family roles, women who are
grandmothers in their 50s also have a wide range of social roles. In many cases,
at this stage of life women are at the peak of their careers after years of intensive
efforts and hard work. Often, because of the changes in their lives and in their
perspectives (e.g., the “empty nest” effect, changes in time perspective), women
in their 50s may decide to give their careers an extra push. Midlife changes and
evaluations can also provide an incentive for new activities such as going back to
school, taking courses, developing a hobby they always wanted to pursue (even to
the point of learning a new profession), or making a career of volunteer activities
(Lieber, 1990).
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 141

Researchers (e.g., Friedman, 1987) have argued that the woman’s power in-
creases in midlife as marital power relations begin to shift. There are various ex-
planations for the reported shift in power with age. Neugarten (1968) argued that
it reflects a reversal of gender roles with age, as older men become more feminine
and older women become more masculine. Expanding on this argument, Gutmann
(1987) claimed that biologically determined reproductive capacities cause differ-
ent aspects of the personality to be expressed or suppressed by each sex. Although
both men and women have the potential to be nurturing and powerful, Gutmann
(1987) referred to the “parental emergency,” which forces women to develop char-
acteristics of empathy, compassion, and nurturing. At the end of the “parental
emergency” women can express aspects of themselves that they had suppressed.
In a similar vein, Jung (1971) suggested that women become more masculine
in middle age out of a desire to express latent personality traits. Alternatively,
Rossi (1980) claimed that the increase in women’s power is a result of biological
changes, and other researchers have emphasized the role of psychosocial factors
as reflected in changing marital, family, and social dynamics (for a review, see
Friedman & Todd, 1994). In that connection, it can be argued that middle-aged
grandmothers should take advantage of this shift in power because they have to be
strong and develop appropriate skills for coping with simultaneous and multiple
roles in contemporary society.
Thus, grandmothers in their 50s are like acrobats who juggle many roles, such as
mother, wife, mother-in-law, grandmother, community volunteer, career woman,
student. Often they change hats at different times of the day, depending on which
role they are playing. However, there are times when they have to wear all of their
hats at one time. Juggling roles without letting any of the hats drop is an art in
itself. The effort and courage required to perform all of these roles successfully is
truly a heroic feat.

Conclusion
This chapter provides an overview of grandparenthood in the contemporary era,
with emphasis on middle-aged grandmothers in their 50s. The characteristics of
grandmothers in that age group derive partly from developments in the modern
era, and partly from the psychosocial processes that typify midlife. As shown here,
some of the salient characteristics of grandmothers in their 50s include a variety of
grandmothering styles, which differ from the image of the traditional grandmother.
The diverse range of grandmothering styles derives from the relationship between
the grandmothering role and the other roles that many women fulfill in midlife. In
contrast to the traditional grandmothering style that prevailed in the past, which fo-
cuses on the relationship with grandchildren, the modern grandmothering style is a
product of the relationship between the grandmother role (which is one dimension)
and other roles such as career, leisure activities, and volunteer work.
Today, middle-aged grandmotherhood among women in their 50s can be por-
trayed through a gallery of images, where grandmothers have more freedom and
142 Liat Kulik

legitimacy to choose the image or style that is appropriate for them. Because
middle-aged grandmothers have many years of life ahead of them, they attempt
to give those years meaning and content in various ways. Some women adhere to
the traditional grandmother image and devote themselves to their grandchildren.
However, of the diverse range of styles that they can adopt, they may choose alter-
native patterns that are more appropriate for them. In this connection, Goodfellow
(2003) adopted Hakin’s “preference theory” to explain grandmothers’ choices of
styles (Hakin, 2000). Hakin (2000), who considered the lifestyle choices of work-
ing women, proposed that women today are in a position to make a real choice
between work and family when they decide to adopt a lifestyle. Preference the-
ory focuses on women’s choices in relation to work, family, and the nature of
decisions about lifestyle. Consistent with preference theory, it can be argued that
today middle-aged grandparents are freer than they have ever been in the past to
choose the style of grandparenting that they prefer. Even women with no children
(or grandchildren) who aspire to this role can choose to “adopt” neighborhood
children with no grandparents (or none nearby), or, in the United States, to join
an organization such as “Foster Grandparents,” which matches children with older
people.
In sum, one of the major conclusions of this review is that grandmothers in
their 50s no longer have to conform to a homogeneous image. The diversity that
characterizes numerous roles and phenomena in the contemporary era also applies
to grandmotherhood. Notably, the grandmother role is integrated with other roles
that women fulfill in midlife, and the possible combinations are infinite. Thus, the
weight that women allocate to the grandmother role within the role set can vary,
and every woman is free to create the grandmothering style that is appropriate for
her.

Recommendations for Future Research

In light of the complexity of grandmotherhood today and the rapid changes that
have occurred in the contemporary era, there is a need for extensive research on
current developments in this area. In this context, several main research directions
should be emphasized in future studies. First, there is a lack of research on grand-
motherhood as a life transition among women in their 50s. The changes that have
occurred in the status of middle-aged women in the contemporary era have been ex-
amined extensively from biological, psychological, and occupational perspectives.
However, grandparenthood as a life transition has not been addressed sufficiently.
This transition evokes intense emotions, and it involves conflicting processes, such
as closure versus new beginnings, and loss versus hope and challenges. In light
of the diverse range of grandmothering styles, it is important to examine the sym-
bolic meaning of this transition to women who become grandmothers. In addition,
it would be worthwhile to develop new typologies that reflect the different styles of
grandmotherhood. These typologies should go beyond the traditional dimension
 7. Contemporary Midlife Grandparenthood 143

of grandmother–grandchild relations and to examine dimensions that derive from

the other roles that women fulfill in midlife.
Finally, an interesting direction for research would be the impact of the grand-
father role on men in their 50s and styles of grandfatherhood at that life stage.
Public and academic discourse has dealt extensively with changes in masculine
roles, including the role of “new father” (Laqueur, 1992; Marsiglio, 1993). In the
same vein, it can be argued that there is a “new grandfather,” who expresses more
emotions and is more involved with his grandchildren than grandfathers were in
the past. On the one hand, there is more legitimation for men to express emotions
and feelings. On the other hand, middle-aged men today often have more free
time due to early retirement and a shorter work week. Thus, grandfathers can be
more involved and spend more quality time with their grandchildren. Therefore,
it would be worthwhile to examine the impact of “new grandfatherhood” on the
role of grandmothers in their 50s. On the whole, a lot remains to be learned about
grandparenthood in general and grandmotherhood in particular. In that sense, the
field poses new and diverse challenges to researchers as well as to practitioners.

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8
Women Over 50: Caregiving Issues
Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

Tina1 , on caregiving for her father:

Does all caregiving begin with a telephone call? Mine did.
Tina (mid 30s): “Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday,
Dear . . . ”
Father (early 60s): “I’ve got cancer.”
The first call led to caregiving by my mother, then in her mid 60s. My father’s cancer
was diagnosed late, despite his semiannual checkups. As a result, my mother found herself
having to provide caregiving at home. The initial prognosis of 6 weeks was wrong; my father
lived for another 16 months. During his illness, my mother cared for him at home as long as
she could. My siblings and I visited, but we were serving supportive roles with my mother
clearly being the primary caregiver. After a year, she enlisted the assistance of her sister,
also in her mid 60s, who flew to the United States from Barbados, West Indies to help for as
long as necessary. The two of them soon found that they could not manage and asked me to
come home. After 2 days, it was clear that the three of us could not provide all of the care
my father needed. Nursing assistance was not available, and the oncologist arranged for
my father’s care in a nursing home. My mother stayed by his side for about 18 hours a day
until he died. My mother had severely limited her social network activities while attending
to her husband’s medical needs.
Caregiving can involve loss of familiar ways of relating. My family thrived on our intellect.
We debated and discussed, priding ourselves on our educational accomplishments (my
parents pursued and received their Master’s degrees while I was in college and graduate
school). Caregiving involved losing the stimulating conversation and their proud support
of my accomplishments and those of my siblings; I was not prepared for that loss while my
parents were alive. I was also unprepared for my father’s anger and extreme disappointment
with the unplanned nursing home placement.
Was my mother prepared for caregiving for an adult? For many years, my mother was
a geriatric social worker who assisted families in securing assistance for caregiving. She
was briefly a member of the “sandwich generation” during her mid 40s when my paternal
grandmother, who lived with us, was diagnosed with cancer. My grandmother’s diagnosis
was so late that she lived only a few weeks beyond diagnosis. My mother cared for her

1
Pseudonym

147
148 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

at home for about 2 or 3 weeks before my grandmother’s final hospitalization. During the
previous 2 years, my mother’s father and then her mother had died. My mother was unable
to spend time with her father before he died, and she saw her mother only briefly before life
support was removed. Her sister, single, in her mid 40s, and living with my grandparents,
had provided care for my grandparents at home in Saint Vincent, West Indies where she
had had the assistance of servants and nurses. When my mother called my aunt, then also
in her mid 60s, to help with my father, my aunt was a relative expert at physical caregiving
for ill adults.
Was I prepared for caregiving for an adult? Although I was in clinical practice in a
geriatric rehabilitation facility, I was not at all prepared to care for my father. The personal
assistance I observed 5 days a week was provided by a trained multidisciplinary staff. In
my parents’ home, three untrained women were not appropriately prepared to take care of
my father.
In my family, on both sides, despite the differences in national backgrounds, eldest daugh-
ters were historically expected to be the family caregivers. As a child, I had observed some
of my paternal grandmother’s elderly cousins providing care for other elderly relatives. I
assumed they learned from each other as part of a large extended family living in close prox-
imity to each other. I grew up in a nuclear family that included my paternal grandmother;
there were no extended family members in the same state. At the time of my father’s illness,
I was a single eldest daughter with a career. I was pressured by some distant relatives to
give up the career and devote my full efforts to my father’s care.
My best contribution to my father’s care was my ability to talk with the healthcare
professionals and to facilitate their direct communication with my father. In addition, I was
able to assist in his pain management. He tried to follow a schedule for his pain medication
in order to avoid addiction. As a result, he had cycles of terrible pain. I explained that he
needed to take the medicine more often in order to control the pain; again, I interceded
with the oncologist for better explanation that “prn (as needed)” superceded the schedule
listed on the prescription.
Sometimes, caregiving ends with a telephone call. Mine did.
Tina’s Sister (mid 20s): Daddy just passed away.
The level of my mother’s grief when my father died was reflective, in part, of a disbelief
that such a thing could happen. She was as unprepared for the end of caregiving as she was
for the personal assistance during caregiving.

Becky2 , on caregiving for her friend:

During my early 50s, I served as a caregiver for a friend following emergency surgery.
Although I had anticipated that I would be providing mere living space for 1 or 2 weeks, I
was a caregiver for about 6 months. My home was on one level, and my friend was unable
to manage the stairs in her house. When I made the offer of my home, I did not realize
how ill my friend would be. I had assumed that she would be able to take care of herself
when she was released from the hospital. Instead, she needed assistance with meals and
transportation to medical appointments. I also had to assist in some medical decisions.
Because I had not planned to provide that level of care, and found that I had to juggle my
job and social life with her care, it created a strain on our friendship. I was angry, but had
no suitable target for my anger.

2
Pseudonym
 8. Caregiving Issues 149

Tina, on caregiving for her mother:

Caregiving onset phone call:
Mother (late 60s): “I went for my daily drive and got lost coming home.”
Years later, when I got the call from my mother, I, then in my early 40s, was better prepared
than when my father was ill. My mother helped in that preparation by writing a living will
with very specific directives about her desires for care and living situations. If I followed
my mother’s directives, I would not be responsible for physical personal assistance myself,
but instead for the monitoring of professionals in an alternative setting.
Caregiving for my mother was a shared responsibility, with my siblings taking the
first turns as primary caregivers. Throughout the process, my siblings and I supported
each others’ caregiving efforts. My caregiving contributions for my mother varied across
the years and included some personal assistance; emotional support; arrangement for
medical assessments, living situations, and healthcare; monitoring progress; and training
and retraining treatment staff. Despite following her wishes, I struggled with the amount
of monitoring that I should do to ensure that my mother received appropriate physical
care.
When my mother’s death was clearly imminent for 2 days, I found myself struggling
with shock that she was really going to die, disappointment in myself as a healthcare
professional that I could not stop her from dying, and conflict about what others might think
of my supporting my mother’s request for no extraordinary measures, as her death occurred
a few weeks after the media, Congress, and the Supreme Court involved themselves in Terry
Schiavo’s death. However, it was only during that period of imminent death that I was able
to say goodbye and openly grieve in her presence.
I left my mother’s nursing home briefly to grab a bite of supper. As I got in the car,
Mozart’s Requiem was on the radio. I commented, “How did they know?” Later as I
started to prepare supper and call my sister to give her an update, my other phone rang.
Nurse: I’m sorry to inform you that your mother just died.

Family caregivers wrestle not only with tasks, but with fundamental questions of life, their
own mortality, as well as with relationships with people important to them, who may be
suffering and dying (Ziemba & Lynch-Sauer, 2005, p. 111).

What Is Caregiving?
Caregiving involves direct personal assistance [assistance with activities of daily
living (ADLs3 ) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs4 )], as well as
primary responsibility for the health and welfare of people receiving informal care

3
“Activities of daily living are activities related to personal care and include bathing or
showering, dressing, getting in or out of bed or a chair, using the toilet, and eating” (US
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Health Statistics, 2004a).
4
“Instrumental activities of daily living are activities related to independent living and
include preparing meals, managing money, shopping for groceries or personal items, per-
forming light or heavy housework, and using a telephone” (US Department of Health and
Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health
Statistics, 2004b).
150 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

in the community or formal care in institutions. Many women over the age of 50
provide caregiving. This issue is of concern to women because they dispropor-
tionately care for others (Adams et al., 2002; Banks & Ackerman, 2006; Brow-
der, 2002; Farran, 1997; Fuller-Thomson, 2005; Hunt, 2003; Kiecolt-Glaser &
Newton, 2001; Minkler, 2005; Minkler & Fuller-Thomson, 2005; Sleath et al.,
2005; US Census Bureau, 2004a; 2004b). In addition, there is some evidence
that the caregiving process negatively affects women’s health more severely and
for longer periods than it does for men (Vahtera et al., 2006). Some of the is-
sues faced by women caring for parents, adult children, grandchildren, signifi-
cant others, and friends include ways in which they find themselves in the role
of caregiver, preparation for caregiving, variety of family roles, support and
self-care, harm in the caregiving relationship, and loss during and at the end
of caregiving.
The term “caregiving” has been perceived by some to indicate passive provision
and receipt of care (Mona, 2003), however, caregiving involves an active relation-
ship. For this chapter, the term “personal care assistance” is limited to situations in
which the person providing the assistance does not have primary responsibility for
that care. By connotation, “caregiving” excludes parenting of infants and young
children. “Parenting” generally tends to be celebrated, whereas “caregiving” is
often regarded as negative and burdensome. It is important, however, to consider
that both “caregiving” and “parenting” involve provision of personal assistance
and responsibility for the welfare of another person.
There has been considerable research on caregiving. Much of the research has
focused on the negative impact of caregiving on caregivers. In this chapter, we will
provide an overview of the positive aspects of caregiving while acknowledging the
realistic difficulties engendered in the caregiving process. The research provides
models of caregiving and recommendations for efficient and mutually beneficial
caregiving relationships.

The Beginning of Caregiving

The examples of Tina’s and Becky’s caregiving illustrate clear onsets to care-
giving. However, caregiving does not always have a clear beginning. In some
households or communities, a member’s health might gradually decline and a
woman finds herself providing more and more personal assistance without con-
sidering her contributions to be caregiving. There is no clear demarcation between
provision of personal assistance and caregiving, but caregiving implies a broader
sense of overall responsibility than personal assistance. For example, Harland and
Cuskelly (2000) described the caregiving provided by mothers of children who
grew into adulthood with congenital disabilities. Siblings of those children were
perceived as having limited opportunities to provide personal assistance, but the
mothers were considered primary caregivers. Those siblings found themselves to
be unprepared for caregiving when their mothers were no longer able to serve as
caregivers.
 8. Caregiving Issues 151

Preparation for Caregiving

In the examples, Tina and her mother were unprepared for caregiving for Tina’s
father, just as Becky was not ready to be a caregiver for her friend. The experience
of attempting to care for her father combined with her mother’s careful planning
provided a foundation for Tina later to be a caregiver for her mother.
Much of the psychological literature on caregiving examines the perceptions
of caregivers on various personal assistance tasks that are part of caregiving. At-
tention is paid to issues of burden, resentment, and, to a lesser extent, benefits
and reciprocity. A search of the caregiving literature for “preparation” primarily
yielded articles and chapters on “meal preparation” as a physical care task. There
is far less literature on preparation for the psychological part of caregiving. Farran
(1997) also raised the question of whether caregiving involves free choice.
England and Tripp-Reimer (2003, as cited in Riley & Bowen, 2005) suggested
that “a significant number of the participants in their study revealed that their be-
haviors and emotions represented unfavorable levels of preparedness for long-term
caregiving” (p. 55). Harland and Cuskelly (2000) noted that, in many instances,
transitions from one caregiver to another within families are impeded by gender
role expectations. Mothers who have raised children with disabilities sometimes
have difficulty relinquishing that responsibility or allowing other family members
to prepare to take over the caregiving as the child moves into adulthood and the
mother faces her own aging and health difficulties. Other women struggle with a
lack of helpful family members and limited access to support services for the trans-
fer of responsibility for dependent adults in need of care (Tryssenaar & Tremblay,
2002).
Ziemba and Lynch-Sauer (2005) described several psychological concerns in
caregiving for parents. These include ongoing grief, dealing with multiple losses,
role reversals, family role distortions, loss of parental support, and confronting
one’s own mortality or the end of a bloodline. Loos and Bowd (1997) described
losses of social and recreational interaction, control over life events, well-being,
and occupation. Ziemba and Lynch-Sauer (2005) found that caregivers felt par-
ticularly unprepared for the psychological responses to the caregiving situation,
even after previous caregiving, and especially when dealing with additional grief.
One issue that they did not discuss is the lack of linearity in the demands of care-
giving. Although it is possible to read about the physical and cognitive declines
of, for example, people with Alzheimer’s dementia, it is seldom acknowledged
that the decline is not steady. People have “good” days when symptoms appear
to be diminished and behavior is manageable, and other days when symptoms are
dramatically worse. Sometimes, the change from good to bad occurs in a matter of
hours or minutes. It is very difficult to adjust to those changes; in some cases, care-
givers think that the symptoms are exhibited intentionally by a person who is more
in control of her or his behavior than is actually the case (Williamson et al., 2005).
Tina, for example, experienced loss of intellectual conversation with her parents
as she became caregiver for the people who had provided her with care as she grew
up. She missed the parental pride as she progressed in her career and faced concerns
152 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

about potential life-threatening genetic vulnerabilities. Becky lost the peer-to-peer

relationship while providing caregiving for her friend.
Browder (2002) noted that caregiving also involves difficult decision making
(e.g., handling of finances, setting priorities, placement options, seeking assis-
tance), some of which involve a sense of accomplishment and others of which
leave caregivers struggling with options even after decisions have been made.
Pain management is another extremely important issue in caregiving for people
with cancer, traumatic brain injury sequelae, surgeries, and deteriorating diseases
(Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001; Riley-Doucet, 2005); Tina had to intervene with
her father’s pain management regimen.
One area of preparation is the role of spirituality as a foundation for defining
and understanding the caregiving relationship (Davis et al., 1998). Religion and
spirituality also serve to decrease distress during the grief that precedes, follows,
or is coincident with caregiving (Winston, 2003).
Psychologists can assist in the preparation for caregiving. Ziemba and Lynch-
Sauer (2005) recommended providing potential or new caregivers with information
about the time involved, resources for resolving ADL and IADL care concerns,
guidance in anticipatory grief, development of “what–if” plans for predictable
events, and crisis intervention for unanticipated physical and emotional reactions.
As much as possible, it is useful to ensure that caregivers have adequate support
networks and opportunities for relief from caregiving tasks (Banks, 2003; Banks
et al., 2005; Eisdorfer et al., 2003).

Caregiving as One of Multiple Roles

In exploring caregiving by women over 50 years of age, it is useful to consider
the family status of those women. Much of the literature on women as caregivers
has focused on the “sandwich generation,” that is, women who are taking care
of elderly family members while still raising their own children in the home.
This literature tends to overlook women providing care for significant others,
women whose offspring are dependent adults, women with no offspring, and career
women with independent adult children who, like Becky, find themselves caring
for friends.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has promoted the nuclear family
as a “normative” ideal. The expectation for such families is that there are two
married heterosexual adults living monogamously with their minor children but
without other people in the home. This “ideal” has become a stereotypic caricature
of families, and most portrayals of such families are European American. The
2004 census revealed that most households differ from that nuclear family, which
represents only 22% of US households (US Census Bureau, 2004a, 2004b).
African American families have, for most of the twentieth and into the twenty-
first century, included nuclear, extended (includes other blood relatives, e.g., grand-
parents, aunts, uncles, cousins), and augmented (includes close friends, neigh-
bors, members of social networks, e.g., religious organizations, local political
 8. Caregiving Issues 153

groups, community-based organizations) families (Boyd-Franklin & Franklin,

2000; Hayles et al., 2004; Tatum, 1999). Jones and Shorter-Gooden (2003) de-
scribed the critical role of “otherkin” in the raising of children; similar involve-
ment of augmented family in the care of older people is less well researched, but
is considered to be a supportive factor:
the role of extended family and fictive kin is considered particularly salient, that is, the
composition of the caregiving network and the likelihood that older African Americans
may draw upon support beyond the nuclear family as an alternative to the use of formal
services. (Cagney & Agree, 2005, p. S317)

Lesbians often have “families of choice” including partners and friends

(Fredriksen, 1999). The experience and support available through such family
constellations increases the opportunities for potential caregivers to be aware of
and to prepare for a variety of caregiving circumstances.
Missing from these and similar studies is a tradition observed by some families in
which the eldest daughters are informally designated as the family caregivers; such
was the case in Tina’s family of origin. In such families, the eldest daughter is single
throughout her lifetime or marries when she is beyond childbearing age. Although
she might have a career, she is expected to be the most available family member
in the event of any family situation that would involve the need for caregiving; her
career is perceived as relatively unimportant by some family members. Nabors and
Pettee (2003) described the dilemma of women designated as family caregivers
who found themselves only marginally supported by their families in their own
times of need due to disabling physical conditions. Such women were perceived
as ill only immediately following strokes or accidents, but their families were
focused on how quickly the women could resume caregiving responsibilities for
other family members.
Much of the literature on women caregivers over the age of 50 assumes that
the women providing caregiving are heterosexual and married. Fredriksen (1999)
found that, compared to gay men, lesbians were more likely to provide care for
children and older adults. In addition to the many issues faced by all caregivers,
“lesbian and gay caregivers may encounter limited access to partners with seri-
ous illnesses or disabilities, friends, or other family members” (Fredriksen, 1999,
p. 151). Because caregiving involves formal or informal responsibility for another
person, lesbians are at risk for being prevented from serving as caregivers (Riggle
et al., 2005).
Some women over the age of 50 provide caregiving for adult children or siblings
with disabilities (Harland & Cuskelly, 2000). Williams and Robinson (2001) de-
scribed a household in which a woman provided care for her adult son and daughter
who both had severe learning disabilities; she relied on both of them for assistance,
for example, with getting out of the bathtub. Melberg (2005) noted similar mutual
support among rural Norwegian families.
Some caregivers are conflicted between their roles as informal caregivers within
their families and their professional duties as healthcare providers (Ward-Griffin,
2004). Tina, as a geropsychologist, experienced such conflict. Part of the conflict
154 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

involves the unrealistic medical model that doggedly focuses on cure rather than
acknowledging the reality that some disease processes are not curable and that
inevitable death should not be construed as failure. An additional conflict occurs
as new medications and treatments become available, leaving caregivers with deci-
sions about the introduction of experimental treatments that might alleviate some
symptoms without being actual “cures.”

Grandparenting
Recent attention has been given to the increasing number of grandparents, usually
grandmothers, who are raising their grandchildren. Consistent with the myth of the
nuclear family is the myth of grandparents as couples sharing a pleasant retirement
without the caregiving responsibilities that dominated their younger years. The re-
ality is that nearly 6 million grandparents live in households with their grandchil-
dren, and approximately 2.5 million grandparents are raising their grandchildren
due to the unavailability of the children’s parents (Minkler & Fuller-Thomson,
2005). More than one-half (62.8%) of those childrearing grandparents are women.
Many of these grandparents complain of psychological burden, role overload, and
lack of support. They are dealing with their own health issues, including visual and
hearing problems, as well as functional limitations in their own activities of daily
living. Grandmothers, who have physical problems and/or are living in poverty,
have more difficulty providing caregiving for their grandchildren and experience
more depression than do those in better health and with more resources (Li, 2005).
For more information about grandparenting, readers are referred to the chapter by
Liat Kulik (this volume).

Nature of the Caregiving Relationship

In Eurocentric societies, models of caregiving include positive and deficit or neg-
ative attributes. Some models illustrate more effective and relevant issues as well
as mutuality in addressing the caregiving process (Eisdorfer et al., 2003; Farran,
1997; Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001; Lyons et al., 2002).
Farran (1997) suggested that positive aspects of caregiving are poorly defined—
perhaps the terms “stress” and “positive aspects” are opposites that cannot be recon-
ciled. Stress implies that something is wrong. An existential paradigm, on the other
hand, espouses values, freedom of choice, responsibility, and consequences of ac-
tions. Values may be expressed as caregivers creatively deal with their situations.

A stress/coping paradigm most commonly asks “What does it mean to provide care to an
impaired family member in terms of caregiving tasks (stress appraisal), what resources are
available to caregivers, and what effect does this experience have on caregivers (outcomes)?”
In an existential paradigm, one asks “How can I discover or create meaning?” (Farran, 1997,
p. 254)
 8. Caregiving Issues 155

According to Farran (1997), several investigators have suggested that there are
recurring themes that describe the caregiving process. Adaptation defines the entire
process that occurs in response to the stress of caring for a person with dementia. In
addition, resource variables such as coping skills, personal control, self-efficacy,
knowledge, and hardiness; primary and secondary appraisal; and emotional and
physical health outcomes are important. Tina found caregiving to be a means to
repay her parents for raising her. Becky, in retrospect, felt a closer bond with her
friend as she and her friend shared an experience that most friends do not have.
They had mutual greater appreciation for each other’s strengths and vulnerabilities.
In an overview of the caregiving literature, Hunt (2003) found that the predomi-
nant foci were on negative (caregiver burden, caregiver strain, or caregiver stress),
positive (caregiver esteem, uplifts of caregiving, satisfaction, finding or making
meaning through caregiving, or gain in the caregiving experience), and neutral
(caregiver appraisal).
Farran’s existential approach to understanding caregiving provides a positive
framework, but much of the research concerns buffers or modifiers that make it
possible for people to manage caregiving, although the focus is on the burden-
some aspects of caregiving. For example, Lyons et al. (2002) noted that “[t]here
is broad consensus in the caregiving literature that caring for an elderly rela-
tive places the caregiver at risk for compromised physical and mental health”
(p. P195), and Gilley et al. (2005) indicated that “[t]he emotional cost of providing
care to a family member with a dementia syndrome can be substantial” (p. 173).
Sherwood et al. (2005) focused on the depression that can arise with the burden of
caregiving.
Lyons et al. (2002) examined caregiving dyads with positive and negative at-
tributions of the interactive context within individual relationships and in a group
sample. Important comparisons were the perceptions of depression, subjective so-
cial burden, medical negative health conditions across the time span, restricted
social-activity burden in both roles of caregiving, and dyadic psychological well-
being. The dyadic relationship predicted negative outcomes of caregiver strain.
Within the dyad, both caregivers and care recipients generally provided equiva-
lent evaluations of the daily living activities and needs of care recipients. Dyads in
which caregivers who reported more caregiving difficulties than care recipients did
had poorer relationship quality. Coping training or other therapeutic interventions
might be used to reduce the situational stress of the caregivers.
Kiecolt-Glaser and Newton (2001) developed a pathway model for aspects of
caregiving in marital relationships that impacts upon physical and psychological
health. They noted “that negative aspects of social relationships are often indepen-
dent of positive aspects . . . and are important independent predictors of psycho-
logical and physical functioning” (p. 474). Li and Seltzer (2005) found a similar
independence between positive (daughters’ feelings of closeness to parents) and
negative (daughters’ sense of strain in interactions with parents) aspects of parent–
daughter relationships as they impacted on daughters’ self-esteem. The results of
both studies suggest that reduction of the strain in relationships between caregivers
and care recipients is critical to the success of the caregiving relationship.
156 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

During the process of caregiving, changes in the care recipient’s health can lead
to the need for changes in the living situation. For people with progressive disor-
ders, “family caregivers are likely to be increasingly aware that institutionalization
may eventually become necessary. This awareness is likely to engender some cog-
nitive dissonance, particularly when the caregiver has negative attitudes related to
institutionalization” (Gilley et al., 2005, p. 185). Tina’s mother, who had been a
geriatric social worker dealing with nursing home placement, assisted in her care-
giving by developing a living will that stated her preference to be institutionalized
as soon as she was unable to live independently. However, Tina’s mother had not
wanted to place her own husband in a nursing home, even when it was clear that
adequate care could no longer be provided in her home.
One of the burdens of caregiving is that a family member who provides di-
rect personal assistance has a limited opportunity to be gainfully employed. This
results in increased financial pressures during a period when the care recipient,
and therefore the family, is likely to be faced with high healthcare costs (Hirst,
2005). The United States has been slow to consider or implement universal health
care. In one country with universal health care, Väänänen et al. (2005) found that
Finnish women who perceived themselves as providing support for intimate oth-
ers had low rates of work absence and better health than those who did not hold
such self-perceptions. The state of Arkansas instituted a program that provided
cash allowances for the purchase of personal assistance for Medicaid recipients
(Simon-Rusinowitz et al., 2005). The allowances made it possible for families to
hire nonspousal family members to provide assistance with ADLs and IADLs.
This allowed caregivers to work fewer hours or to leave their jobs in order to
provide more care than would otherwise have been possible. Simon-Rusinowitz
et al. (2005) found that families often hired relatives as caregivers in the belief
that they would provide better quality assistance than strangers would. There were
high levels of satisfaction among caregivers and care recipients. It is important
to note that family members would have served as caregivers without the finan-
cial incentive and did not feel coerced into service; this might be a reflection of
the fact that 40% of the family members in the sample were African Americans,
whose culture includes caring for relatives as a highly valued activity. Feld et al.
(2005) found that African American spousal caregiving dyads were 63% more
likely than European American spousal caregiving dyads to include other people
in their caregiving networks.

Harm in the Caregiving Relationship

One of the problems in caregiving involves difficult interpersonal relations between
caregivers and care recipients. In some cases involving dementia, for example, care
recipients can become aggressive and injure their caregivers (Banks & Ackerman,
1992, 2002; Banks et al., 1995; Beach et al., 2005; Bruce et al., 2005; Garand et al.,
2005; Sleath et al., 2005). Fultz et al. (2005) observed such aggression in men with
urinary incontinence when their caregiving wives also had incontinence. Other
 8. Caregiving Issues 157

symptoms that can lead to aggression toward caregivers include hallucinations,

delusions, and confusion. Some caregivers have been the victims of intimate partner
or other family violence through much of their adulthood; the violence does not
always end when the perpetrator becomes a care recipient (Bergeron, 2005; Kwong
et al., 2003).
In a study of increased risk of physical illness, disability problems, or mental
health deterioration, Kiecolt-Glaser and Newton (2001) found that high stress with
marital conflict exhibited in marriages can lessen the effectiveness of vaccines,
slow wound healing, increase the risk of infectious diseases, and increase blood
pressure. The stress-induced decrease in the health of caregivers impairs the ability
to provide and/or oversee welfare and healthcare efficiently and beneficially.
Caregivers who perceive caregiving as a burden or who are the victims of care
recipient aggression often experience depression and anxiety (Adams et al., 2002;
Banks et al., 1995; Bruce et al., 2005; Rysberg, 2005). Anger toward an aggressive
care recipient appears to be moderated by the caregiver’s perception of the aggres-
sion as a consequence of the disease process or intentional behavior, possibly as
exhibited by the recipient prior to the need for care (Williamson et al., 2005). It
is important to assess behaviors of a care recipient that might negatively impact
on a caregiver (e.g., irritability, confusion, inappropriate laughter, catastrophic
reaction, low frustration tolerance); some recent psychological tests have incorpo-
rated evaluation for such behaviors (e.g., Ackerman-Banks Neuropsychological
Rehabilitation Battery; Ackerman & Banks, 2006). Clinicians should consider
neuropsychological evaluations when there is aggression in the caregiving dyad,
as head injuries are possible precipitants or consequences of dyadic aggression
(Ackerman & Banks, 2003, 2006; Banks, 2003; Banks & Ackerman 1992, 2002;
Banks et al., 1995).

The End of Caregiving: Death and Bereavement

Also missing from the literature is the psychological impact of the end of care-
giving due to death or other loss of the caregiving relationship. As Li (2005)
noted, “Caregiving and bereavement are often interrelated, as most deaths of older
persons in America occur after a period of chronic illness, disability, and fam-
ily caregiving . . . The literature, however, tends to treat these events separately”
(p. P190). The reality is that caregiving often coincides with a prolonged grieving
period.
Caregiving of people in declining health can lead to caregivers’ questioning
their worldviews and struggling with the meaning of the caregiving experience as
it relates to impending loss. Davis et al. (1998) found that, although “religious belief
systems might make loss more comprehensible” (p. 571), those belief systems did
not predict the level of distress in relation to making sense of loss or benefiting
from the experience of losing a family member.
The imminence of death in the twenty-first century often evokes a decision
by caregivers about the application, withholding, or withdrawal of life-sustaining
158 Rosalie J. Ackerman and Martha E. Banks

treatment. Such decisions are never easy, but can be assisted, as in Tina’s situation
with her mother, by preplanning when the care recipient is able to participate in
the decision making. Hansen et al. (2004) described the process for caregivers as
involving strain or relative ease in making decisions. They noted that the sense of
strain or “ease” can change prior to, during, and after the actual decision making,
which can occur over an extended period of time or quickly during a sudden
change in physical status. Such decision making can be further complicated by
media coverage of extreme situations regarding life extension (“Terry Schiavo,”
2005).
Bonanno et al. (2005) described the importance of resilience in the management
of grief during and after caregiving. In some societies, the taboo about the dis-
cussion of death and an unrealistic focus on a (miracle) cure make it particularly
difficult for caregivers to grieve and to share their grief with the care recipient.
Tina and her mother both experienced such difficulty with openly addressing loss
and handling grieving during the caregiving process.

Resources for Caregivers

There are support services available to caregiving women over the age of 50. Many
women do not use those services because they do not perceive them as necessary,
do not know of their availability, or cannot access them (Brodaty et al., 2005).
Eisdorfer et al. (2003) examined two techniques to reduce caregiver depression:
family therapy and an integrated computer–telephone communication system to
enhance contact with relatives and include family members in psychotherapy.
A standard self-help book, which has been updated several times, is The 36-Hour
Day (Mace & Rabins, 2001). For women with internet access, one resource is
Health Compass (2005), a joint project of the American Federation for Aging Re-
search and the Merck Institute on Aging and Health. Many states or counties have
Offices on Aging or similar oversight agencies that can assist in the coordination
of services. There are support groups available, often organized by disorders, such
as Alzheimer’s dementia. We recommend that caregivers (adapted from American
Psychological Association, 2004):
r accept help and support from those who care about you and will listen to you;
r change how you interpret the circumstances that led to the need for caregiving;
r try to see beyond an immediate crisis to how future circumstances may be a little
better;
r accept that change is a part of living;
r set goals for yourself and do something regularly—even if it seems like a small
accomplishment—that enables you to move toward your own goals;
r establish new routines as soon as you can, even if you know they have to change
in the future;
r develop an optimistic outlook that enables you to expect that good things will
happen in your life. Try to keep a positive self-image;
 8. Caregiving Issues 159

r get regular exercise and try to find something to do that will relax you. Taking
care of yourself helps to keep your mind and body primed to deal with situations
that require strength;
r use meditation or other spiritual practices to build connections and restore
hope.

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9
Work and Retirement: Challenges and
Opportunities for Women Over 50
Judith A. Sugar

Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and
fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age.
Florida Scott-Maxwell (1968), a psychologist, writer, playwright,
and suffragist, who began a career in analytical psychology at age 50.

For most people the word work conjures up an image of someone employed in a
job for which pay is received. Yet, much of the work that women do is unpaid,
and, consequently, it is neither recognized nor defined as work. Ignoring women’s
unpaid labor has detrimental effects on their financial well-being while they are in
the labor force and later for their retirement prospects. The psychological, social,
and emotional toll of ignoring women’s unpaid work is largely unexamined. Fur-
thermore, women face cumulative discrimination in the workplace that begins at
their entry into the labor force, continues in their wages and promotions through-
out their employment, and then affects their financial resources and benefits in
retirement.
Retirement is also an interesting concept for women, because much of the un-
paid work that women do continues after they exit from the paid labor force. In
fact, the concept of retirement for women has been described as problematic for
several reasons, including the fact that women’s paid and unpaid work are often
interconnected (Onyx & Benton, 1996). In addition, many cannot afford to exit
the labor force. Nevertheless, the definition of retirement that would fit with most
Americans’ conceptions early in the new millennium is a period of leisure that fol-
lows cessation of a full-time job. Here, too, there is a dearth of studies of women’s
experiences.
Women live longer than men. It would seem sensible, then, that women should be
a major focus of research within the field of aging. As Crose (1997) has pointed out,
studying older women’s lives has the potential to benefit everyone. Nonetheless,
whereas some have argued that research on older women’s issues is prolific (e.g.,
Adams, 1994), others have said that researchers have mostly ignored older women
(e.g., Hooyman & Rubinstein, 1997). In the first study to assess those competing
claims my colleagues and I (Sugar et al., 2002) surveyed 25 gerontology teaching

164
 9. Work and Retirement 165

texts and reference sources published between 1995 and 2001 and more than
1200 journal articles published between 1996 and 2000 in five major gerontology
journals. For text and reference sources, the data collected included the number
of chapters in which a female-related word was present in the chapter title and the
number of pages, according to the index, on which any content on women’s issues
appeared. For journal articles, the data collected included the number of articles
with a female-related word in the title.
The results of the survey were revealing. Most sources had very little content
on women’s issues at all. Only two gerontology textbooks (of 10 surveyed) and
only one gerontology handbook (of 13 surveyed) devoted a chapter to women’s
issues, and these books also had significantly more pages devoted to those issues
than did the textbooks and handbooks with no separate chapters (13.3% versus
4.5%). Thus, it cannot be argued that the latter sources integrated content on
women throughout their pages rather than concentrating it in particular chapters.
Overall, journals had more content on women, although these numbers were also
low; only 241 of 1207 articles (7.5%) focused on women’s issues. Among the five
journals surveyed, articles on older women’s issues were most likely to be pub-
lished in the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences (14.3% of articles) and
least likely to be published in the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences
(2.5% of articles). There are, of course, excellent sources for scholarship on aging
women, including specialty publications such as the Journal of Women & Aging
and the Handbook on Women and Aging (Coyle, 2001). Our focus, however, was
on general gerontology textbooks and major reference sources, such as handbooks,
because they define the field of gerontology and its central variables (Katz, 2000;
McAuley, 2000), and thus, it is critical that their content reflect subject matter that
is relevant to women, who are the majority of aging adults. Similarly, journals
publish the latest research in a field, and, again, researchers and editors must rec-
ognize the importance of studying the aging process of women. Although content
on women in middle age was not the focus of the study, there is work on midlife
published in gerontology texts and journals. Clearly, the results of the Sugar et al.
survey of recent gerontological literature indicate that Hooyman and Rubinstein
(1997) were correct that researchers have mostly ignored aging women. Thus,
women’s aging remains a fertile and important area for future research and pub-
lication, which can provide a basis for improved policies and practices that result
from it.

Demographic Data on Women in the Workforce

and Retired Women
The data available on American women in the workforce, and on retired women,
are reported in age categories that do not capture the population of most interest
for our purposes in this book. Specifically, employment data are most commonly
reported by grouping 25- to 54-year-olds and then 55-year-olds and up, or 65-year-
olds and up. Similarly, the youngest age at which retirement data are reported is 55.
166 Judith A. Sugar

Table 9.1. Number of women in the United States age 55 years and over by age and
race/ethnicity.
Years of age

Race/ethnicity 55–64 65–74 75+ Total

White 13,120,000 8,469,000 8,964,000 30,553,000
Black 1,660,000 1,015,000 802,400 3,477,000
Asian 605,000 341,500 278,300 1,224,800
Othera 277,000 156,500 96,300 529,800
Total 15,662,000 9,982,000 10,141,000 35,785,000

Note. Adapted from U.S. Census Bureau (2005).

a Includes
Hispanics/Latinas, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Pacific Islanders, “other” race, and
two or more races.

On economic indicators, data are simply not reported separately for 50- to 54-year-
olds. Thus, to provide comparable demographic, employment, and retirement data,
I have selected the age categories that most closely correspond to our population
of interest for this book, namely women 55 years of age or older.
According to the most recent census, there are more than 35 million women
55 years of age or older in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Table 9.1
shows the number of these women by age group and race/ethnicity. Note that there
are an additional nine million women in the United States between the ages of
50 and 54.

Career Issues
Cohort differences play a major role in women’s career experiences. Since the
early years of the women’s movement, the number of women in the workforce has
increased significantly. Although single women and Black women have always
had high rates of participation in the paid workforce, the growth in the numbers of
married women, and especially married women with children, has been dramatic.
In 1978, 44% of married women with children under age 6 were in the workforce,
and by 1998 that percentage had grown to 65% (Costello & Stone, 2001). These
cohort differences in the participation of women in the workforce will continue to
affect the patterns of employment of female baby boomers and future generations
as they age. By their sheer numbers, female workers now have the power to be the
architects of a different, and better, workplace environment.
In 2005, almost 11 million women aged 55 and over were employed in the
workforce (see Table 9.2), and another 380,000 women were unemployed but
looking for work. One pattern of employment evident in Table 9.2 is related to
age; specifically, the older women are, the less likely they are to be employed. In
fact, consistent across race and ethnicity, most women age 55 or more, who were in
the workforce in 2005, were between the ages of 55 and 64. This pattern is due to
several factors. One factor is the cohort of today’s older women, a majority of whom
did not have a history of participating in the paid workforce in their middle-age
 9. Work and Retirement 167

Table 9.2. Number of women over 55 employed in the workforce in the United States in
2005 by age and race/ethnicity.
Years of age

Race/ethnicity 55–64 65–74 75+ Total

White 7,317,000 1,539,000 391,000 7,317,000
Black 844,000 164,000 29,000 1,037,000
Asian 335,000 58,000 16,000 409,000
Othera 139,000 35,000 5,000 179,000
Total 8,635,000 1,796,000 441,000 10,872,000

Note. Adapted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005a).

a Includes
Hispanics/Latinas, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Pacific Islanders, “other” race, and
two or more races.

years. Thus, the fact that a large proportion of these women are not employed
as they grow older might not be surprising. Other factors that can influence the
employment status of older women include their desire to be employed (or not),
their health, employers’ penchant for hiring them (or not), and the availability of
suitable employment where they live. Even though in 2005 most of the employed
women in our population of interest were younger than 65, we should note that
there were also more than two million women aged 65 or older employed at that
same time.
Paid work has several well-recognized meanings, as a source of: income, per-
sonal identity (especially in the United States), community status, a sense of accom-
plishment, and social interaction (Friedmann & Havighurst, 1954). These mean-
ings, as well as much of the research that has followed from them, have been based
primarily on the work experiences of White men. The importance of paid work in
women’s lives has significantly increased over the last half-century, so that many of
these meanings are now as relevant to women’s lives as they have been to men for
some time. On the other hand, women’s lives, both in and out of the workforce, are
different from men’s and consequently lead to different or other meanings of paid
work. In addition to being a source of income, financial independence from men
has been demonstrated to be an important meaning of labor force participation for
many women. This need for independence is sometimes accompanied by concerns
about the risks of financial dependence on men or the need for insurance against
abandonment or abuse (Altschuler, 2004). The historical lack of opportunities for
women to pursue careers in the past and pressures to marry and be a stay-at-home
parent have resulted in another meaning of paid work for women—lost dreams
and regrets about what might have been. This meaning is often played out by
mid- and late-life women going back to school and encouraging and supporting
their children, especially their daughters, to pursue an education that will lead to a
meaningful career (Altschuler, 2004). With the dramatic shifts in the employment
landscape that have already taken place, and many more to come, the issue of the
meaning of work will continue to be of interest from research, practical, and policy
perspectives.
168 Judith A. Sugar

Table 9.3. Sex differences in annual income of full-time workers in the United States:
1970–2004a .
1970 1980 1990 2004
Women $22,918 $25,167 $28,857 $32,101
Men $38,691 $41,630 $40,612 $41,667
Difference $15,773 $16,463 $11,755 $9,566
Percentage of difference 41 40 29 23

Note. Adapted from U.S. Census Bureau (2004).

a Medianincome in 2004 dollars.

Salaries and Occupations

The good news about women’s salaries in the new millennium is that the longstand-
ing wage gap between women and men has been gradually closing (see Table 9.3).
Both the women’s movement and its concomitant effects on the increased par-
ticipation of women in the paid workforce have had their effects on decreasing
salary differences between women and men. In 1970, women earned, on average,
40% less than men. By 2004 that gap had been reduced to 23%. The largest re-
duction occurred between 1980 and 1990 when sex differences in annual income
decreased by 11%. The bad news is that women’s wages are still significantly
lower than men’s. And, in 2004 women were still earning less than men earned
more than 30 years ago, which reflects the fact that while women’s wages have
increased, men’s wages have remained relatively stagnant over that time period.
Some would argue that the sex differences in salaries are due to differences
in women’s and men’s occupations. As Table 9.4 shows, there are differences
in the proportions of female and male workers by occupational type. Women
are significantly more likely than are men to be employed in sales and office
work and significantly less likely to be employed in production/transportation
and natural resources/construction work. (They are equally likely to be employed
in management/professional and service work.) Although differences in salaries
within occupational types undoubtedly exist, what is clear is that female workers
earn less than do male workers in all occupational categories (see Figure 9.1).
Sex differences in median salaries range from $2,000 per year for production and

Table 9.4. Number and percentage of full-time workers in the United States by
occupational type and sex in 2004.
Percentage of workers

Occupational, categorya Total number of workers Women Men

Sales, office 24,950,000 62.3 36.6
Management, professional 36,149,000 50.3 49.7
Service 13,763,000 49.2 50.8
Production, transportation 15,082,000 21.9 78.1
Natural resources, construction 11,280,000 3.9 96.1

Note. Adapted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005b).

 9. Work and Retirement 169

$60,000 $57,096

$50,000 Women
Men
Difference
$40,560
$40,000
Median annual salary

$34,788
$32,552

$30,000 $26,624
$24,752
$23,556 $23,140
$21,112
$19,448
$20,000 $16,536

$8996
$10,000 $8164
$5304
$2028

$0
Management, Resources, construction Sales, office service Production,
professional transportation
Occupational category

Figure 9.1. Sex differences in median annual salaries of American workers in 2004 by
occupational categories.

transportation jobs to well over $16,000 per year for management and professional
jobs. The two occupational categories where sex differences are the smallest are
the two categories with the lowest salaries.
Thus, although some progress has been made in improving women’s salaries
relative to men’s, women are still at a disadvantage in their paychecks. Partly to
blame is the lack of mentoring women receive when it comes to negotiating their
starting salaries and salary increases. Fortunately, authors are beginning to address
this issue by making explicit both the process of salary negotiations and the price
of being “nice” (e.g., Babcock & Laschever, 2003; Rose & Danner, 1998), which
should help ease this problem for the future.
Over the previous 40 years, women’s perseverance in pursuing education to
fulfill their career interests has led to greater job opportunities for them. Women
now earn more than one-half the bachelor’s and master’s degrees conferred in the
United States (Hussar, 2005). Although they remain the primary holders of tradi-
tional women’s jobs—women are still most of the registered nurses (93%), dental
assistants (98%), elementary school teachers (84%), and librarians (84%)—they
have made substantial gains in some professional occupations, at least doubling
and even quadrupling their numbers as architects, dentists, physicians, financial
managers, and lawyers (Costello & Stone, 2001). They have even made inroads in
some well-paid blue-collar occupations traditionally held by men, such as aircraft
engine mechanics, truck drivers, police and detectives, and industrial truck and trac-
tor equipment operators (Costello & Stone, 2001). Progress in many occupational
arenas, however, has tended to be in entry-level positions rather than senior ones.
170 Judith A. Sugar

Academia is one of those arenas, where women now comprise 45% of Assistant
Professors but are still only 24% of full Professors (Chronicle of Higher Education,
2006).

Women’s Diverse Work Patterns and Career Advancement

Patterns in work history can take a number of forms. The pattern that is often
used as the standard or norm is a linear one in which a period of education is
followed by a period of work, and then by a period of retirement. This has been
the predominant pattern for White men. Many women, on the other hand, take
time away from employment during their careers, primarily to give birth to or
adopt children and to care for their young children or for their older or ill relatives.
Until recently, the biggest family issue for female baby boomers was childcare—its
availability and affordability, and how to “balance” paid employment and childcare
responsibilities. Increases in longevity, however, have introduced a new family
issue that may overtake childcare as the greatest challenge to women’s lives—
parentcare.
Baby boomers comprise the first generation in American history to have more
parents than children. They are also the first generation that is likely to spend
more years caring for their parents than for their children (Dychtwald, 1999). In
fact, female baby boomers may spend 20 or 30 years caring for their parents, in
contrast to 18 years caring for their children. And women—mothers, daughters,
daughters-in-law, aunts, and grandmothers—are overwhelmingly the caregivers of
both the older and the younger generations (Stone et al., 1987). The fact that as they
reach middle age many women find themselves in the middle of dealing with both
childcare and parentcare has led to them being called the “sandwich generation.”
See Chapter 8 for a discussion of how caregiving affects midlife women’s lives.
The effects of childcare considerations on mothers who work outside the home
have been documented for many years. Little research, though, has been conducted
on the extent to which taking time off from full-time employment to care for older
relatives has impacted women’s income, career advancement, or both. Caregiving
responsibilities of any kind often lead women to cut back their work hours, to
rearrange their work schedules, or to change jobs so that they can have greater
flexibility to accommodate caregiving work. When women are younger, childcare
may lead them to leave the workforce for a period of time. As we are only beginning
to learn how, when women are older, caregiving for their parents, parents-in-law,
or other relatives may lead them to decline promotions, change jobs, or take early
retirement.

Full-time versus Part-time Work

One of the main reasons women today work part-time rather than full-time is
to enable them to fulfill caregiving responsibilities for family members. Although
more American women at all ages are employed full-time than part-time (52 versus
18 million), women are much less likely to be full-time workers and much more
 9. Work and Retirement 171

50,000 49,964

45,000
Women
40,000 36,113 Men
Number of workers (in thousands)

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000
9846
8890
10,000 7123
5566
4135 3169
5,000 2343 2504 2011
1680

0
Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
20–24 yrs 25–54 yrs 55+ yrs

Figure 9.2. Number of full-time and part-time American workers in 2004 by age and sex.

likely to be part-time workers than are men. In fact, during the critical years between
25 and 54 years of age, when employees are in the growth years of their careers for
earnings, promotions, and accumulating retirement savings, only 80% of employed
women are working full-time compared to 95% of men (see Figure 9.2). Of course,
part-time employees are also less likely to have the employment income to invest
and to save for retirement, and they are less likely to be promoted because part-time
jobs seldom lead to promotions. Working part-time, as opposed to full-time, leads
to at least two additional problems for women as they age: The amount they will
contribute toward social security and other retirement vehicles will be less than if
they were full-time workers, and they are less likely than they would be as full-
time workers to receive benefits, especially health care and employers’ pension
contributions.

Income and Career Advancement

Recently, a survey of a nationally representative group of more than 2400 women
with degrees in higher education was conducted to learn more about what has been
termed the “opt-out revolution”—an apparent trend of today’s professional women
to drop out of the full-time workforce, reputedly permanently (Hewlett & Luce,
2005). Among other questions, the women were asked about their experiences on
returning to their jobs after taking leaves for various periods of time. The effect on
their salaries was striking: Compared to women who had not taken time out, those
who took leaves of 1 year or less lost an average of 11% in their salaries, and those
172 Judith A. Sugar

who took leaves of 3 years or more lost an average of 37% in their salaries. They
were also significantly less likely to receive promotions after their return to work.
The Hewlett and Luce study also debunked the claim by recent media reports
that a new generation of young women is giving up their careers to return to the
traditional role of housewife for the long haul. For many women, of course, taking
a hiatus in the midst of their working lives to devote time to their family is not a
realistic option. Even for professional women who take that hiatus, however, most
(93%) were clear that they wanted to, or planned to, return to their careers.

Retirement Issues
Most of the available demographic data on American retirees can be found through
reports based on social security benefits. These numbers are reasonably good
approximations for male retirees because the vast majority of male employees
in the United States are eligible for Social Security benefits at age 62. However,
these numbers are poor approximations for the current cohort of female retirees
over age 50 because many of those women do not qualify for their own social
security benefits, and the available data do not distinguish between women’s own
benefits from their employment and the benefits to which they are entitled as
widows. Currently, accurate data on the numbers of female retirees over age 50 are
impossible to come by. The best demographic data available, which are on women
not in the workforce, are presented in Table 9.5.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005a), more than 24 million
women age 55 or older were not in the workforce in 2005. Similar to the work-
force data reported in Table 9.2, more women were out of the workforce after
age 64 than at younger ages, except for the category of “other” (which includes
Hispanics/Latinas, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Pacific Islanders, “other”
race, and two or more races). A major reason that the numbers do not continue to
increase for Women of Color is that their lifespans are currently shorter than those
of White women.

Table 9.5. Number of women over 55 not in the workforce in the United States in 2005
by age and race/ethnicity.
Years of age

Race/ethnicity 55–64 65–74 75+ Total

White 5,578000 6,878,000 8,562,000 21,018,000
Black 769,000 839,000 773,000 2,381,000
Asian 250,000 281,000 262,000 793,000
Othera 131,000 119,000 91,000 341,000
Total 6,728,000 8,117,000 9,688,000 24,533,000

Note. Adapted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005b).

a Includes
Hispanics/Latinas, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Pacific Islanders, “other” race, and
two or more races.
 9. Work and Retirement 173

Although age 65 is often thought of as the “traditional” age of retirement, the

idea of retirement as a tradition is paradoxical. Retirement is a relatively new phe-
nomenon; it began in the mid-twentieth century, and occurs primarily in Western,
industrialized countries. And, many Americans have yet to experience it because
their jobs have not provided them with adequate retirement pensions. For women,
in addition to the problem of inadequate pensions, even if they retire from full-
time jobs, they rarely retire from their “second shifts” of domestic work and family
caregiving responsibilities.

Policies That Affect Women’s Retirement

Of all the policies adopted in the United States during the twentieth century that
have affected retirement, social security has had the greatest impact. Enacted in
1935, social security was always intended to provide a safety net for American
workers in their elder years (Roosevelt, 1935), but for many it has been far more
than that. In fact, social security represents more than 80% of the income of
older adults in the lowest two quintiles of earnings (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002).
Furthermore, although most Americans regard social security as valuable only for
older adults, it actually benefits Americans of all ages because it removes older
people from the workforce, thus freeing up jobs for younger people, and it often
obviates the necessity for family members to take care of their elders, thereby
freeing up their time and resources for other pursuits.
For most American workers, mandatory retirement became obsolete in 1978
with the passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). As of
January 1994, one of the last bastions of mandatory retirement was abolished when
university and college faculty members were no longer required to retire at age 70.
Thus, with the exception of a handful of occupations for which it is deemed unsafe
to have older workers (e.g., airline pilots, police, firefighters), employees are no
longer required to leave their jobs when they reach a particular age. It is interesting
that, subsequent to ADEA, retirement at earlier and earlier ages actually became
more common, and only recently has the retirement age begun to rise again slightly.
During the 1980s and 1990s, in the wake of corporate mergers and downsizing,
informal pressures and new incentives to retire replaced mandatory retirement
as a way to remove midlife and older adults from the workforce (Robertson,
2000).
Changes to a number of policies and practices will affect retirement prospects
for women in the twenty-first century. One of these changes is the removal of
the earnings penalty from social security. Prior to 1997, retirees lost a substantial
proportion of their annual social security benefits if they chose to continue working.
With the amendments to the Social Security Act in 1997 and 2002, new cohorts of
retirees will be able to earn sizeable annual incomes to supplement Social Security
benefits without financial penalty (up to $30,000 in 2002, to be subsequently
indexed to wage growth). Another change that will impact the retirement prospects
for future cohorts of retirees has been the move by the private sector from defined-
benefit to defined-contribution retirement plans.
174 Judith A. Sugar

Defined-Benefit and Defined-Contribution Retirement Plans

Defined-benefit retirement plans are those in which retirees’ annual pensions are
based on the salaries they earn while they are employed and their years of service
with the employer. In this type of plan, what is defined is the level of pension
income that will be achieved by the employees upon their retirement. The less
orderly careers of women put them at a disadvantage in these plans because benefits
depend upon a minimum number of years of work for the same employer.
Defined-contribution retirement plans, on the other hand, are those in which an
employer deposits a specified percentage of an employee’s annual salary into his or
her individual tax-deferred pension fund, and this percentage is usually matched by
the employee. In this type of plan, what is defined is the amount that the employer
will contribute toward an employee’s pension, not what the employee who retires
will receive as income from that pension. Although these plans are portable (i.e.,
do not depend on staying with the same employer), the pension income from
this type of plan depends on the employee’s decisions about how to invest the
contributions among the available options and on the vagaries of the national
economy that affect those investments (e.g., inflation, interest rates, stock market
growth). The private sector is increasingly shifting the burden of risk for pension
plans to employees by replacing defined-benefit plans with defined-contribution
plans. From 1985 to 1998, the number of defined-benefit plans decreased by 67%,
whereas the number of defined-contribution plans increased by 46% (American
Benefits Council, 2004). Furthermore, unlike defined-benefit pensions, defined-
contribution pensions are not insured by the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA). Thus, the dual guarantees of known levels of retirement income that
were available to earlier retirees through defined-benefits plans will not exist for
most future retirees.

Poverty and Women’s Longevity

One of the saddest commentaries on our society is that so many women live in
poverty during their elder years. The gerontology literature attributes much of
older women’s poverty to their longevity; the claim is that because women live
for more years than men, they are more likely than are men to outlive their finan-
cial resources. Although it is certainly true that, on average, women live longer
than do men, it seems more than disingenuous to blame older women’s poverty on
their longevity. In fact, discriminatory policies and practices in our society result in
women beginning retirement age with substantially fewer financial resources than
do men because most of the income and benefits for older Americans are based on
a model of White men’s full-time and long-term employment in the workforce. Re-
tirement policies effectively penalize women who work part-time or who take time
out to raise families and to provide care for elderly family members. What makes
matters worse is the consistently lower salaries that women earn in the workplace.
To get a sense of just how much lower a woman’s earnings would be over
her lifetime of work, I took the hypothetical case of Sarah who began full-time
 9. Work and Retirement 175

employment in 1975 and wanted to retire in 2015. I used the average sex differ-
ences in salary in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2004 to interpolate and sum the annual
salary shortfalls for Sarah during her 40 years of full-time paid work. The resulting
total shortfall was a whopping $480,000. This amount does not include the interest
or potential additional income that would accrue with the investment of the “ex-
tra” annual salary that Sarah would have earned if she had been a male employee.
Furthermore, both her social security earnings and private pension (if she has one)
are also affected by her lower income because they are both based on employ-
ment earnings. And, because employers often match employees’ contributions to
private pension plans, Sarah’s employer would also contribute significantly fewer
dollars to her pension savings than would be the case had her salary been higher.
Conservatively, we can estimate that the net effect of Sarah’s lower income would
be that she would end up with at least $1,000,000 less at retirement than her male
counterpart would have. That amount for every retired woman would go a long
way toward ending poverty among older women.

The Future of Retirement for Women

Middle-aged women of today blazed a new trail for women in the workplace and,
although all hopes for that frontier have not yet been realized, there have been sig-
nificant achievements. These same women will once again blaze a new trail—this
time creating models for what women can do in retirement. There are certainly
challenges ahead for women in retirement, but there are also new opportunities
to define the very meaning and structure of it. Women’s own labor force partici-
pation, accompanied by various legislative actions (to improve pension rights, for
example), has given them much more independence than previous generations of
women have had. Many of them will have the latitude to choose among numerous
options, from pursuing new careers (Brontë, 1995), to engaging in popular leisure
activities such as travel, to spending more time with friends and family, to getting
involved in politics.
There is also the potential for continued earnings in retirement without the
financial penalties on social security income that occurred in the past. This same
potential, though, in conjunction with the likelihood that future private pensions
will depend more heavily on employees’ investment prowess with their defined
contributions, will likely lead to greater expectations that older Americans will
fend for themselves in retirement. A concomitant outcome may be a diminishing
interest in ensuring that social security continues to act as a safety net for America’s
aging citizens. In addition, rapidly increasing costs of health care, reductions in
employers’ health care benefits for retirees, and the uneasy future of Medicare
together may lead most Americans to decide that they will likely have to forgo
retirement to ensure that they will be able to maintain a reasonable quality of life
in their elder years.
The idea of retirement often conjures up an image of retirees engaged in leisure
activities. This image may have been a good picture of retirement for many workers
in the past. In 1996, for example, only 17% of women and 27% of men between
176 Judith A. Sugar

Table 9.6. Personal definitions of retirement of American pre-retirees aged 50–70.

Possible aspects of retirement Percentage of respondentsa
Spending more time with family and friends 78
A chance to relax 73
A chance to have more fun 73
A chance to do things you never had time for 72
Receiving retirement benefits from social security or pension 72
payments
A chance to travel 67
Doing volunteer or charity work 57
Slowing down and working fewer hours 56
Working for enjoyment, not money 53
A chance to stop working for pay completely 48
Having to do some kind of work to help pay bills 42
A chance to leave your main career to try a different type of work 28
Feeling less useful or less productive 20

Note. Adapted from AARP (2003a), p. 13.

a Foreach possible aspect, the percentage is based on those respondents (N = 1637) who indicated it
was very much or somewhat part of their personal definition of retirement.

65 and 69 years of age, were participating in the workforce (Purcell, 2000). How-
ever, evidence is accumulating that retirement will be quite different for the baby
boomer cohort. Based on a nationwide survey of 2001 employees between 50 and
70 years of age, AARP (2003a) reported that 63% of preretirees planned to work
at least part-time after the age of 65, and another 5% said that they planned never
to retire. These preretirees’ personal definitions of retirement in part reflect the
new financial realities for this and future cohorts of retirees. Their definitions also
reflect different attitudes toward work. Table 9.6 lists the proportion of survey
respondents who indicated that specific aspects of retirement were “very much” or
“somewhat” part of their personal definition of retirement. Many of their choices
are related to postretirement work, including “slowing down and working fewer
hours,” “having to do some kind of work to help pay bills,” and “a chance to
leave your main career to try a different type of work.” Nevertheless, middle-aged
Americans are looking forward to many aspects of retirement enjoyed by current
retirees, including spending more time with family and friends, relaxing, having
more fun, and “doing things they have never had time for.”
Similarly, the reasons given by Americans age 50 and over for working in
retirement are diverse. When they are forced to choose only one, financial concerns
are paramount, but most Americans have other reasons, too, which include a desire
to be mentally and physically active, generativity, pleasure, and social interaction
(AARP, 2005a; see Table 9.7).
A vast array of volunteer and recreational choices already exist, and many more
can be expected as the marketplace more fully recognizes the potential for re-
tirees to be engaged in their communities and to seek new experiences. In 2002
Americans age 55 and older contributed more than $160 billion to society through
their volunteer and caregiving activities (Johnson & Schaner, 2005). Furthermore,
 9. Work and Retirement 177

Table 9.7. Major reasons given by older Americans for working

in retirement.
Reasons Percentage of respondentsa
Financial
Income 61
Health benefits 52
Cognitive
Staying mentally alert 54
Learning new things 17
Physical
Staying physically active 49
Generativity
Remaining productive/useful 47
Helping others 29
Pleasure
Enjoying fun activities 37
Pursuing a dream 14
Social
Being around others 24

Note. Adapted from AARP (2005a, March).

a For each reason, the numbers are the percent of respondents who indicated

that it was important to them.

initiatives such as the Gerontological Society of America’s research on Civic En-

gagement in an Older America to increase older adults’ opportunities for civic
and social engagement, and the alliance between AARP and Monster, a leading
online career site, to provide career resources including local job listings (AARP,
2005b) are only the beginning of what will be many exciting new possibilities for
the work and retirement of women over 50.

Recommendations for Research and Policy

on Work and Retirement
A significant portion of the more recent research on work and retirement issues
of adults over age 50 has been conducted by AARP (e.g., AARP, 2002, 2003a,
2003b, 2005a). That AARP would have a major interest in these issues in this
population is understandable because its target market is the American population
age 50 and over. Nevertheless, it is disappointing that its reports have so little
information regarding women per se. AARP’s reports include isolated examples
of sex differences for some measures, but analyses of the data it collects from
female respondents are conspicuously absent. In its report on Boomers at Midlife
(AARP, 2003b), for example, of the 96 tables of data, only nine show women’s
responses, and of the 16 tables of data dedicated to race/ethnicity, none show
women’s responses separately.
When it comes to retirement issues, it may be somewhat less surprising that the
vast majority of research focuses on retirees or soon-to-be retirees who are male.
Retirement is usually defined as cessation of a full-time job, and, until recently,
178 Judith A. Sugar

most women have not been employed full-time for long enough to be said to retire
or to qualify for their own social security benefits. Furthermore, researchers have
not wanted to deal with the complexity of women’s multiple entries and exits from
the workforce and their attendant implications for retirement.
In addition to focusing on men, retirement research has also focused heavily on
the financial issues of leaving the full-time workforce—financial planning for re-
tirement, methods of accumulating wealth, and managing assets after retirement—
and has largely ignored the social, emotional, and psychological issues. Employ-
ers, too, when they offer seminars or workshops on retirement for their employees,
typically devote the time to the financial issues.
There is a substantial body of literature on women’s careers and work experi-
ences, but there are still too few data in this arena, and with the rapidly changing
work environment much of what we know needs to be reconceptualized or com-
pletely overhauled (Moen & Roehling, 2005). We also have much to learn about
women’s retirement, notwithstanding more recent publications (e.g., Hall, 2002;
Mellor & Rehr, 2005; Riggs, 2004). More research is needed on issues related to
retirement for women. Attention should be paid to the diversity among women,
including race/ethnicity, sexuality, ability status, and partner and parental status.
Even basic demographic data are needed. Topics that are underexplored, or not
explored at all, include decision-making about retirement, activities and work after
retirement; and psychological effects of work, work past the “traditional” age of re-
tirement, and retirement, including how they impact personal identity, self-esteem,
and social well-being.
Women who pioneered working full-time are now pioneering the stage of life
beyond full-time employment. There are few role models. Many women are dis-
appointed and frustrated that, after so many years of fighting for equal rights in the
workplace, there could still be such large gaps in wages and benefits, as well as em-
ployment and retirement policies that still adversely affect women. The wage gaps
are bad enough in and of themselves, but they also have long-term and significant
consequences for women’s quality of life as they age.
Policy issues to be addressed include current and proposed provisions of so-
cial security and amendments to the Social Security Act to overcome its inherent
discrimination against women. Changes to social security should include elimi-
nating the possibility that partners can opt out of survivor coverage and allowing
adjustments for interruptions in work histories that are a consequence of childcare
and parentcare. With lower salaries throughout their careers, women are signifi-
cantly more likely than are men to become impoverished as they age, so improving
salaries for women should also be a priority. Such changes, of course, will have
positive impacts not just for women, but for everyone.

Rethinking Work and Retirement

In place of a linear life pattern of education, followed by work, followed by re-
tirement, a cyclic life pattern seems to be more suitable and attractive, especially
given the increasing longevity of both women and men. A cyclic life pattern is
 9. Work and Retirement 179

one in which education, work, and leisure are intermingled. Thus, for example, a
period of education could be followed by work, then more education, then some
leisure, then more work, then leisure again, etc.
Linear life pattern

education work retirement/leisure

Cyclic life pattern

education work education leisure work leisure education

This idea, of course, is not new to American women, and, in fact, has been
quite common for many of them. What is new, though, is to use the cyclic pattern
as a model for education, work, and leisure across the lifespan and to develop
policies and practices that would support it. In addition, it would advantageous to
expand and create new opportunities for work other than full-time “permanent”
jobs. Limited time, part-time, and project-oriented jobs that are meaningful and
fulfilling would be desirable to many people. Women of all ages would benefit
from these new choices if they were supported in the public and private spheres
and if they improved the quality of life in work and retirement.
We need to rethink the work environment and develop new policies and practices
to make room for the millions of middle-aged women and men who do not want
to exit completely and permanently from the workforce when they reach the age
where they could begin to collect social security, private pensions, or both. To
provide the opportunities most future older adults desire will require reshaping
jobs as well as the workplace to accommodate part-time employees of all kinds—
those who would like to work full-time for a few days a week, those who would like
to work for a few hours every weekday, perhaps sharing a job, those who would
like to work on time-limited projects perhaps full-time for a few months each
year, and so forth. With unprecedented numbers of women poised for retirement,
the future for “midcourse” women (Moen, 2003) with unprecedented numbers of
healthy years of life before them is wide open.
Aging is not ‘lost youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength.
Betty Friedan (1994)

Acknowledgments. Preparation of this chapter was supported in part by the Geron-

tology Academic Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. The author wishes
to thank Courtney Benvenuto, Susan G. Harris, and Erik Schwinger for research
assistance.

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10
Empowerment: A Prime Time for
Women Over 50
Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

In preparing this chapter, the first author noted: “As someone who achieved a
variety of offices and received many awards after age 50, I felt very much in
control of my own life, but in no way felt that I was able to or wanted to control
others.” Thus, although it is important to understand that empowerment and power
are tightly intertwined, these two concepts are different.
Power is often related to our ability to make others do what we want, regardless
of their own wishes or interests. For most people, the word “power” typically
brings to mind thoughts concerning control and domination (Page & Czuba, 1999).
Traditional social science emphasizes power as influence and control, often treating
power as a commodity or structure separate from human action. In this way, power
can be viewed as unchanging or unchangeable, and available only to a select few
(Page & Czuba, 1999).
Alternatively, empowerment refers to individuals gaining command over their
own destinies (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000) as well as helping others
to attain this control as well. Something that is empowering makes individuals
feel more confident that they are in control of their own lives. Empowerment
involves learning to redefine who we are and what we can do, to speak in our own
voice, and to change the way we perceive our relationships to institutionalized
power (Chamberlin, 1997). In general, an individual or even a group moves from a
state of relative powerlessness to power through the empowerment process (Pillai,
1995). This process encompasses attitudes, values, and beliefs about the self,
especially beliefs about the ability to exert control over one’s destiny (Chadiha
et al., 2004).
Empowering others is the process of supporting people to construct new mean-
ings and use their freedom to choose new ways to respond to the world, often to
the benefit of others. Empowering others involves providing individuals with the
appropriate tools and resources to enhance their self-confidence and self-esteem,
to develop leadership skills, and to strive for personal and professional success.
Empowering others entails making a systematic and sustained effort to provide
others with more information, knowledge, support, and opportunities to use their
power for mutual benefit.

182
 10. Empowerment 183

Yoder and Kahn (1992) suggested a reconceptualization of power; in this per-

spective, empowerment can be viewed as the power-to, rather than power-over.
Power-over refers to the coercion and domination of one group over another group,
or one person over another person. This power structure can be seen in societal,
organizational, interpersonal, and individual levels, and it is used to force a person
or entity to do what one individual wants. On the other hand, power-to equates to
personal empowerment. In this conceptualization, individuals have the power to
control their own feelings, thoughts, and actions. The focus is not on controlling
others, but rather on using personal power to make improvements in one’s life and
to gain success for oneself. The power-to approach views empowerment as more
of a process than an entity; the focus is on power as energy, potential, and com-
petence, as opposed to domination, coercion, and/or competition (Browne, 1995).
Such an assessment of power considers the empowerment of women and men to
include women and men not only empowering themselves (i.e., developing per-
sonal agency) but also changing broader social structures (i.e., collective activism).
According to Browne (1995), this form of empowerment is a process of libera-
tion of self and others; it is a life force, a potential, a capacity, a form of growth
and energy, where one works toward building both community and connection to
others rather than solely striving toward achievement for one’s individual good.
This definition indicates that power is much more than coercion and domination;
it is relational, is sustained by societal forces, and is a dynamic process (Yoder,
2003).
Empowerment may also be viewed as a primary goal of feminist therapy, and
the process begins with the assumption that the therapist and the client are equal
in the therapy dyad (Denmark et al., 2005). Although clinical and counseling psy-
chologists view personal empowerment (i.e., agency) as a step toward enhanced
psychological well-being, feminist psychologists integrate both individualistic in-
dependence and communal interdependence into their conceptions. Feminist psy-
chologists found the traditional psychological notion of power, with its emphasis
on dominance, control, or influence over others, discomforting, and they empha-
size that power must be understood as relational. Thus, power exists within the
context of a relationship between people or things; it does not exist in isolation,
nor is it inherent in individuals (Page & Czuba, 1999). Thus, along these lines,
women feel empowered in and by themselves and in their relationships (Yoder,
2003).
This chapter covers issues related to empowerment, including how feminist
psychologists view empowerment; the effects of culture, race, and class on em-
powerment; how women can help other women become empowered; the role
of women’s organizations; and international policies that promote the empow-
erment of women. Empowerment is also discussed in terms of midlife and
how growing older affects women’s sense of empowerment during different
phases of their lives. Feminist women were asked to comment on their views
of empowerment, and their perspectives are used to help us to illustrate this
concept.
184 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

Feminist Women Look at Empowerment

To discover how feminist psychologists view empowerment, a questionnaire was
distributed to 100 feminist women, 25 of whom responded. The majority reported
that they believe that women are most empowered during midlife, between the
ages of 40 and 60. In contrast, for men, the respondents indicated a much wider
range: Men are most empowered between the ages of 30 and 70. The respondents
indicated that women were the least empowered below the age of 30 and above
the age of 70, and the majority identified 80 and older as the least empowered age
group for men. This perception of a gender difference is noteworthy. The age span
of empowerment for men is perceived as twice as great as that of women, and the
least empowered men are seen as 10 years older than the least empowered women.

How Can We Increase Empowerment for Women?

In addition to gender, other factors related to empowerment that respondents re-
ported as most important were: education, occupation, socioeconomic status, hold-
ing political office, organizational activities, and ethnicity. Answers to this ques-
tion were varied, and yet all pointed to the importance of empowerment in various
spheres of women’s lives. The following are some of the suggestions respondents
gave for increasing women’s empowerment.
First, many respondents spoke about the need for empowerment in the political
system. Through this empowerment, women can become more organized collec-
tively and, thereby, influence important social issues. In this sense, empowerment is
characterized as an active entity: It involves fighting for good legislation, involving
oneself in all aspects of society, influencing legislators, as well as communicating
one’s ideas and attitudes. In this view of activism, many of the respondents spoke
about the necessity to involve the younger generation and to teach that through
an active, empowered stance, change can be made. Individuals in high positions
should use their influence in order to empower others and to push for social changes
that will result in the equality of all people. Therefore, the relationship between
empowerment and change was stated repeatedly in responses from the participants.
A second premise that ran through many responses was encouragement and the
belief that this was a necessary activity for further empowerment. Respondents
believed that women first need to acknowledge that they have the right to be
empowered. In other words, empowerment encourages women to view themselves
as centers of power, teaches them how to use that power, and instructs them in how
to believe that they can accomplish the things that they wish to do.
Another common theme that ran through the respondents’ suggestions was
the significance of education for both women and men. Women and men should
not be positioned against each other, but rather both should be encouraged to
use their resources for the benefit of all. Some believed that mutuality is the
goal for all people; therefore, empowerment is not meant to be an “us against
them” mentality. Education for both women and men was seen as critical to foster
empowerment. According to Lips (2005), making gender stereotypes less rigid
should be empowering for both women and men, as it increases their sense of
 10. Empowerment 185

effectiveness and self-actualization. Many of the respondents reported that they

believe it is important that individuals organize and work together for mutual
empowerment.
As noted by the respondents, midlife is often deemed the age period during which
women are most empowered. It is the time when women realize that they have
accomplished a great deal in their lives and that they have the education and knowl-
edge of the world needed to advocate successfully for themselves and others. Many
women in midlife have taken on leadership roles and are in positions of power and
leadership, which helps them to advocate successfully for themselves (thus empow-
ering themselves) and also to aid in the empowerment of others (Babladelis, 1999).

Midlife, Aging, and Empowerment

It is helpful to understand the political, economic, cultural, and societal situation in
which women find themselves during midlife. In U.S. society, older women, despite
often leading rewarding and productive lives, fall prey to negative stereotypes.
Women in midlife and beyond are typically viewed as grey, wrinkled, and no longer
sexually attractive. They are often excluded from social situations and undervalued
by employers. Aging is something that is embarrassingly covered up—grey hair is
often dyed and saggy faces are often surgically lifted. Television often shows older
women taking aspirin, Geritol, and baking sweets for their grandchildren (Lott,
1987). Women in this age group are frequently depicted as stubborn, helpless,
forgetful, and dependent—if they are shown on television at all.
Aging in Western societies has often been associated with issues related to
declining health, social care, and welfare. These issues have dominated the study of
aging, which has caused exceedingly negative accounts of later life. By assuming
that fulfillment in aging is dependent on the ability of individuals to accept or
adapt to physical and social change, we are perpetuating the stereotype of aging
as a period of inevitable decline or loss and something to be endured. Too much
emphasis is placed on personality and physiological adjustment and not enough
on social inequalities that begin in midlife (Wray, 2004).
On a positive note, although many individuals view midlife development for
women in a pessimistic manner, others realize that change is possible for women
during this developmental period. For the majority of women, midlife is not char-
acterized by a deterioration of capacities, but rather the opposite—it is a time of
productivity and happiness (Denmark et al., 2005). Many women over 50 are in the
prime of their lives, able to negotiate successfully many spheres of life including
home, family, career, and friends. Those who view midlife as a time of productivity
focus on the potential of women during midlife for increased competence and a
greater sense of identity, which is the essence of empowerment (Stewart et al.,
2001).

Development Stage: Midlife

Identity is typically viewed as an achievement of adolescence or early adulthood;
however, some psychologists, particularly Erikson, have suggested that women
186 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

and men might not achieve their identities at the same point in development.
Rather, Erikson proposed that women might not achieve a sense of identity until
later in life, in the context of intimate relationships. Identity development seems to
have important implications for well-being in midlife. For instance, research has
indicated that identity development is positively related to midlife self-esteem and
life satisfaction in women (Stewart et al., 2001).
Erikson’s theory also posits that midlife adults face the conflict of “gener-
ativity versus stagnation” and acquire the ego strength (i.e., virtue) of care in
its resolution. Erikson suggested that women, like men, experience a midlife
generativity crisis, which results to some extent from age-related social pressures
to make a contribution to the next generation. This crisis results in a capacity and
commitment to care for ideas, cultural products, institutions, values, and other
people (Stewart et al., 2001).
Generativity has only recently been widely discussed. It refers not only to bear-
ing and nurturing children but also includes creativity (i.e., the production of new
works and things) and the generation of new ideas. Thus, generativity includes
both creating and caring (De St. Aubin et al., 2004). Conventional gender pat-
terns of generativity have changed due to substantial changes in gender roles over
time, including the increased vocational aspirations of women and the increased
domestic responsibilities of men. Feminists have challenged traditional definitions
of generativity as a result of these new conceptions of adult development (De St.
Aubin et al., 2004).
Researchers have found a number of differences between middle-aged women
and men. The most profound difference in attitude between men and women at
middle age is that women are twice as likely as men to be hopeful about the future.
More and more women see midlife not as a crisis, but rather as a challenge, or,
on a more positive note, as an opportunity to better themselves. They also have a
more powerful urge to help others or to make a contribution to some larger good.
Women are typically more willing than men at midlife to consider trying something
completely new in a search for greater flexibility, challenge, or satisfaction. They
are more likely to be optimistic, despite obstacles due to aging. Optimism in
middle-aged women takes many forms. Women at midlife believe that they will
stay healthy longer than women of previous generations. They are joining gyms
at twice the rate of their male peers (Gibbs, 2005). In addition, full-time college
enrollment by older women rose to 31% in the past decade (Gibbs, 2005). The
National Center on Women & Aging at Brandeis University (as cited in Gibbs,
2005) found that women age 50 and older said that they feel happier about getting
older than they had anticipated. Thus, women at midlife feel more confident about
their coping skills, which enhances their sense of mastery of life.

Why Midlife and Beyond Is a Time of Empowerment

The responses to our empowerment questionnaire correspond to published research
and indicate the same conclusion: Midlife and beyond can be a particularly em-
powering period in a woman’s life. This reality is in opposition to the stereotypes
 10. Empowerment 187

that are present in the culture about this time in women’s lives. A recent article in
Time magazine (Gibbs, 2005) focused on how midlife women in this generation are
taking advantage of this critical life period in order to reinvent themselves. Rather
than falling prey to the obstacles of midlife, women are figuring out how to turn
challenges into opportunities. As a result of higher incomes, better education, and
considerable experience at managing multiple roles, women may actually realize
that there has never been a better time than now to have a “midlife crisis.” Because
such a large cluster of women are experiencing middle age (i.e., there are roughly
43 million American women ages 40 to 60), some rules may have to be rewritten
and boundaries shifted to accommodate them. The word “crisis” may not apply to
midlife for women in this generation because they are creating a new model for
what midlife might look like.
Gibbs (2005) found that women, more specifically, middle and upper middle
class and professional women, from their 50s on, often experience the most fruitful
and satisfying period of life. Many women, at this time of their lives, realize skills
and strengths that were never before tapped or exercised. Others experience this
period as one of tremendous growth, and they frequently redefine their personali-
ties. In some cases, occupational and social pursuits are picked up where they had
been left off for years due to marriage and familial responsibilities. Women have
a great deal to look forward to during this exciting period in their lives such as
travel, work, sociability, and study. The midlife years are a time to try new things,
to go to places never visited before, and to do things not done earlier. Books and
magazine articles urge women at about age 50 to take the time to think seriously
about what is most important to them and what they want to accomplish with the
rest of their lives.
Staying involved in professional organizations and volunteering are ways for
older women to have an influence and a voice. Of course, one probably has the most
impact with continuing professional involvement. The vast majority of women who
are chairs of academic departments, high level executives, and owners of small
businesses are also in this age bracket.
This is also a wonderful time of opportunity and freedom, and many women
exert their influence politically. Currently, the number of midlife women in the
population is larger than ever, which means that there is an increasingly important
role for older women in public life. Many older women activists consider feminism
broadly in this context and perceive their activities as a means of nurturing others.
Women in their 50s and beyond are in perfect positions to make great impacts on
local, national, and even worldwide levels. For example, nearly all of the women
in the United States Congress are at least 50 years old (Congressional Research
Service, 2004).
Times are changing for women in general, and “the daughters of today’s women”
are more likely than their mothers to be well-educated, to have explored several
personal options, and to have had long years of employment experiences. There-
fore, they are more likely, when grey hair and wrinkles appear, to resist being
pushed aside by younger people (Lott, 1987). Currently, older active women in
the United States and worldwide can and do have an impact on the world around
them, at least in part by virtue of their age. Women gain personal power, prestige,
188 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

and influence as they grow older. The perceived balance of interpersonal power in
the latter half of women’s lives increases in favor of older women. This increase is
also apparent in terms of equality between men and women during the later stages
of a woman’s development. It is interesting that it is the social status of a woman
that impacts on her power, and it is those women who have achieved a higher social
status who can expect to have a greater amount of perceived power in their middle
and later years (Todd et al., 1990). Conditions for gifted women during their 50s
and beyond are particularly positive.
Some women say that life “begins” at 50, and it is not uncommon for women
at midlife and even later to discover new talents and interests and employ them
successfully (Allington & Troll, 1984). One study (Mitchell & Helson, 1990)
indicated that women in their early 50s gave higher satisfaction ratings to their
lives than did either older or younger women. An increasing number of women
are beginning or returning to college or work in middle or older adulthood after
years of devoting their lives exclusively to their families. These women are referred
to as “reentry” women. Despite the obstacles these women face, reentry women
tend to do very well in their pursuits. In college, they work hard and participate
actively in their education. Research (De Groot, 1980) shows that women who
attend college at an older age are more assertive and, as such, expect and receive
more spousal support, which increases the likelihood of their success. Middle-
aged women also function effectively in the workplace and experience great job
satisfaction. This is particularly true for those in “careers” as opposed to those with
“jobs.” In one study (Coleman & Antonucci, 1983) older women in the workforce
reported experiencing greater psychological well-being, self-esteem, and health
than did their homemaker counterparts. These findings attest to the possibilities
and opportunities that arise during midlife for women. The population of reentry
women is likely to increase as life spans grow longer and good health care continues
longer in life.
All of these factors combine to make midlife and beyond a fruitful and pro-
ductive time in women’s lives, one that breeds empowerment. Women perceive
themselves as intelligent, assertive, and determined in middle age, and they are
serious about the task of empowering themselves and others (Babladelis, 1999).
Women in midlife are geared through family, economic, and social factors to be
able to focus on their own needs, and they often have the means to ascertain them
successfully.
The 50s onward appears to be almost a golden age for certain women. Stud-
ies (e.g., Mitchell & Helson, 1990) have shown that women feel secure, enjoy
good health, and experience a fairly autonomous and androgynous period of time.
College educated women in their early 50s who were polled as to their quality
of life and current life satisfaction rated their lives as “first-rate” (Mitchell &
Helson, 1990). Good health and increased income during these years also con-
tribute to feelings of security, greater self-confidence, involvement, and breadth of
personality by women who are older. Considering the 50s onward as the empow-
ering prime of life for women is an appropriate classification (Mitchell & Helson,
1990).
 10. Empowerment 189

The “Empty Nest” Syndrome

The effects of the so-called empty nest syndrome (i.e., when children leave home)
vary from person to person. Midlife women who work can enjoy benefits such
as professional development, financial autonomy, intellectual stimulation, an ex-
panded social group, and a sense of self-independent of the family. These women
may associate an empty nest with a sense of relief and an opportunity for greater
marital satisfaction (Rollins, 1989). As relationships mature during midlife, tender
feelings of affection and loyalty tend to replace passion and sexual intimacy as a
main focus (Reedy et al., 1981). Thus, some marriages, although turbulent in early
adulthood, turn out to be better adjusted during middle adulthood. Many women
view their children’s departure as an overall positive event, even if they have mixed
emotions about it (Troll, 1989). The empty nest is really only problematic for those
women whose lives revolve around their children to the exclusion of outside inter-
ests and activities. This may suggest that in today’s day and age, with many more
than one-half of American women working outside the home and building their
own careers, the empty nest syndrome is becoming less and less common.

Conceptions of Empowerment: Race, Class, and

Cross-cultural Factors
It is important to include in any discussion about empowerment, the socially bound
structures of inequality that make empowerment more or less difficult for certain
groups of women. Within the United States, discrimination based on race, class,
and culture all work against women of these groups, making empowerment a
critical force in their lives but a challenging one to achieve.

Empowerment and Race

In addition to sex discrimination, African American women must mediate and
overcome the disadvantages placed on them due to race (Parker, 2003). Therefore,
Women of Color must mediate different levels of oppression, which can make
empowerment doubly challenging in these women’s lives.
In the process of defending against the sexism and racism of society, African
American women have developed strategies and processes of their own in order
to empower themselves. Unlike European American women who are faced only
with patriarchal systems of domination, African American women are part of that
reality but also are faced with racist systems of domination. This duality has created
the need for African American women to empower themselves in unique ways.
A review of the literature (Parker, 2003) shows that there are five themes specific
to midlife African American women and their empowerment. These are: devel-
oping and using voice, being self-defined, being self-determined, connecting and
building community, and seeking spirituality and regeneration. African American
women have developed a Black feminist standpoint, which conceptualizes
190 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

self-definition and self-determination as the power to name and decide one’s own
destiny. Community, spirituality, and speaking out against oppression have also
been used as tools and methods through which to attain empowerment.
Especially in working contexts, African American women must “negotiate and
reconcile the contradictions separating internally defined images of self as African
American women whose identities are (re)produced through patriarchal systems
of domination and subordination” (Parker, 2003, p. 262). It is this process of
negotiating identities that has given African American women unique ways of
empowering themselves. They actively strive to use the strategies mentioned above
to work against the stereotypes that patriarchal society has developed.
The empowerment model is a model of social change and therapeutic interven-
tion that focuses on promoting assets, strengths, and resilience in people (Querimit
& Conner, 2003). This has important implications for Women of Color in midlife
and beyond. Quermit and Conner (2003) studied this model in youth of Color but
many comparisons can be made to older Women of Color as well. Women over
50 still must overcome social inequality, but now they have achieved more skills
and assets on which to rely. They can depend upon these developed strengths in
order to empower themselves, despite the social inequalities and oppression in
their lives. In this way, age becomes a mediating factor and an aid in empowering
older Women of Color.
The following is a case example of an African woman who used many of the
strategies noted above to empower herself. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of
Liberia, is a prime example of a woman over 50 who promotes empowerment
for women. Elected by a stunning 60% of the vote in November 2005 to become
the first female elected leader in Africa’s history, Johnson-Sirleaf now has the
responsibility of mending her broken country. A Harvard graduate in economics,
Johnson-Sirleaf is currently tackling the economic and social problems in her
country. Born to two Liberian parents who were adopted by American Liberians
living in the United States, she was instilled with a sense of duty and honesty.
On the way, however, she has not forgotten issues important to the women of
her country. She is working to raise public consciousness about issues of wife
abuse, rape, and women’s inheritance of property. A rape victim herself, she,
along with a group of lawyers, has worked to enact laws that ensure that rapists
will be penalized with stricter sentences. According to Hammer (2006), Johnson-
Sirleaf is one of the growing number of women in Africa who are climbing to
power and working toward women’s empowerment initiatives. African women are
“breaking the male stranglehold on national legislation, cabinets, courts, and other
government institutions. They’re making laws, changing attitudes, inspiring other
women to follow them” (Hammer, 2006, p. 32). In other words, Johnson-Sirleaf
embodies the concept of the empowerment of women.

Empowerment and Class

The discussion of class is clearly related to empowerment. Many Women of Color
are also living in poverty or struggling to provide for themselves and their families.
 10. Empowerment 191

Women immigrants, and women of all ethnicities born into families below the
poverty line, report that monetary disadvantage has led to part of the disempower-
ment that they experience (Darlington & Mulvaney, 2003). Darlington and Mul-
vaney (2003) distributed a questionnaire to 25 women who identified themselves
as Hispanic, Cuban American, Spanish, White Spanish, White Cuban American,
and “multi.” Questions were aimed at determining these women’s view of power
and empowerment in the United States. Some women’s statements make clear the
connection between class and empowerment. As a response to what they thought
power meant in the United States today, one women stated that power in American
society is “to be White and to have money” (all quotes p. 131). Other responses
included that power is “wealth, it seems only rich people are powerful,” “I think
power is related to wealth; it’s also related to how much you’ve got in terms of
what you drive and what you wear,” and “Power is viewed as a tool for control.”
In terms of power definitions in Latin American countries, these women said that
power was also related to control. One woman said that power is “To be of high
class, have studied in good private schools, and to come from a wealthy family.”
Andrews et al. (2003) studied the conceptualization of empowerment by women
in poverty and lower socioeconomic classes, specifically from the southern United
States. These women had to endure geographic isolation, unemployment, low
educational attainment, and limited access to services. Participants’ comments
about a fictitious woman named Angela and her life story were audiotaped for
analysis to capture the women’s beliefs about what methods are possible for Angela
to use to break free from the difficult situation in which she finds herself (Angela
is poor with few resources). The women were asked to comment about Angela’s
life and about her strengths and limitations. Empowerment was woven into their
answers, and most women thought that Angela needed to take control of her life,
despite the challenges with which she is confronted due to her class status. Their
conceptions of empowerment were in strong relation to notions of class and the
need to break free from the trouble that low socioeconomic status creates (i.e., to
empower oneself). There were themes in their responses of optimism, persistence,
ability to let go, ability to seek and accept help, and spirituality. Their responses
indicated that empowering attributes were closely related to interpersonal and
environmental factors and were not in isolation to what was experienced day to
day.
The results of that study make it clear that class is a large consideration in
women’s conceptions of who is empowered and who is not. In both the United
States and in immigrants’ countries of origin, the upper classes have more power,
and they are “entitled” to greater advantages that the society has to offer. In the
United States and elsewhere, class is, therefore, also related to empowerment,
in that lower classes must strive harder to empower themselves in a society that
is structurally skewed against them. Becker et al. (2004) also sought to opera-
tionalize individual notions of empowerment in a sample of advocates working
with low-income mothers. Overall, these authors used the term empowerment out-
right as “setting goals, gathering information, defining needs, and making and
implementing decisions” (p. 332). All of these were ways in which the women
192 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

could empower themselves and, in doing this, help to alleviate the pressures put
on them by their class status.

Empowerment and Cross-cultural Factors

It is important to bear in mind that notions of empowerment vary with culture and
ethnic background. Agency and self-sufficiency are often used as theoretical indi-
cators and measures of “successful” aging and quality of life. Along these lines,
success is associated with individual potential, or with the ability to adapt to the
challenges of getting older. However, this is highly problematic for two reasons.
First of all, these notions are derived from dominant Euro-American conceptions of
what constitutes power, which are often associated with notions of independence
and autonomy that are Western-specific. Such concepts vary according to time
and space and confer different meanings across different ethnicities, cultures, and
historical time periods. Second, existing knowledge of what constitutes autonomy,
independence, agency, and empowerment in later life tends to be uncritically and
universally applied, which results in the endorsement of dominant values and per-
ceptions (Wray, 2004). Instead, researchers should investigate how diverse social,
cultural, and historical backgrounds shape perceptions and experiences of success-
ful aging. Specifically, the impact of cultural and ethnic affiliation on notions of
agency, empowerment, and disempowerment should be assessed. To understand
what constitutes agency and empowerment necessitates an analysis of the values,
beliefs, and norms that distinguish cultural groupings.
It is also important to note that various countries have different cultural levels of
gender empowerment. In 2004, the United Nations Development Program ranked
78 countries based on number of seats in Parliament held by women, the number
of female officials and managers, the number of female professional and technical
workers, and the ratio of estimated women’s to men’s earned income. Results
indicated that Norway attained the highest gender empowerment rank, the United
States was 14th, Japan was 38th, and Saudi Arabia was 77th (United Nations
Development Program, 2004). See Table 10.1.
Wray (2004) investigated experiences of agency, empowerment, and disem-
powerment in 170 British women between 60- and 80-years-old. These women
came from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, which affected their perceptions
of what constituted agency and control in their lives. For instance, quality of life
may be defined in a number of ways: medical/health factors, social support, per-
sonal development and fulfillment, income, and relations with others. However,
results indicated that there was some agreement across groups that good health
was an important quality of life issue. The majority regarded having a degree of
control over their health and agility as central to agency and autonomy. Yet, despite
this, health-related problems (e.g., asthma, diabetes, arthritis) did not prevent the
women from getting on with and enjoying their lives (Wray, 2004). In addition,
religious and spiritual beliefs were an important factor that influenced their quality
of life. However, differences emerged between ethnic groups in the significance
attached to beliefs as sources of collective agency and empowerment. The majority
 10. Empowerment 193

Table 10.1. Gender empowerment by country.

Female Female Ratio of
Gender Seats in legislators professional estimated
empowerment parliament senior and women’s to
measure held by officials and technical men’s
(GEM) women managers workers earned
Country rank (% of total) (% of total) (% of total) income
Norway 1 36.4 28 49 0.74
Canada 10 23.6 34 54 0.63
New Zealand 11 28.3 38 52 0.69
Austria 13 30.6 29 48 0.36
United States 14 14.0 46 55 0.62
Mexico 34 21.2 25 40 0.38
Japan 38 9.9 10 46 0.46
Venezuela 61 9.7 27 61 0.41
Republic of Korea 68 5.9 5 34 0.46
Pakistan 64 20.8 9 26 0.33
Saudi Arabia 77 0.0 1 31 0.21

Source: (United Nations Development Program, 2004).

spoke of the happiness, sense of well-being, belongingness, hope, and empower-

ment that they derived from their beliefs and how these feelings emerged in their
daily lives.
Overall, interdependence was an important source of empowerment and agency
(Wray, 2004). Having a continuing role to play in the lives of their children con-
tributed feelings of authority, self-worth, and power. Here, power is an aspect of
interdependency and reciprocity rather than of independence and self-sufficiency.
The absence of this type of collaborative reciprocity and/or the loss of the parenting
role was cited as potentially disempowering across ethnic groups. Grandparenting
was also perceived differently across culture. For some African Caribbean and
Dominican women, and for a small number of White British women, grandpar-
enting provided opportunities to act autonomously. For other women, child-care
and domestic responsibilities were viewed in a more negative light. Some British
Muslim women spoke of their preference to live apart from their children due to a
desire for freedom from familial responsibilities and for independence. There was
evidence to suggest that a number of British Pakistani and Indian women lived
alone and preferred it that way. Women living in extended families often found
their living arrangements to be both empowering and disempowering. On the one
hand, playing an active role as a family member was viewed in a positive manner.
Alternatively, others viewed living with offspring as undesirable due to their need
for privacy or freedom from responsibilities and obligations.
Overall, Wray ( 2004) demonstrated that women from different backgrounds
use different strategies to pursue active lives and to remain in control as they grow
older. Thus, what constitutes agency and empowerment for women in mid and
later life is a question that generates a variety of responses, all of which deserve
equal attention and investigation.
194 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

Organizations That Promote Empowerment

As we have seen previously, midlife and older women tend to participate more
actively in politics and in organized efforts for social change. Some older women
view their efforts as connected to feminism (Garland, 1988). In fact, midlife women
have been instrumental in improving their positions through organizations like the
Gray Panthers, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Association for
Women in Psychology (AWP), and groups connected to the United Nations.

The National Organization for Women (NOW)

NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States, with
500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District
of Columbia. NOW has decades of experience in political advocacy, training local
activists, and providing their members with the resources to organize and to be
strong advocates for women’s rights. NOW’s goal is to take action in order to bring
about equality for all women. Activists strive for the “feminization of power” and
support women’s rights candidates for election to federal, state, and local govern-
ments. NOW works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace,
the schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society; to secure abor-
tion, birth control, and other reproductive rights for all women; to end all forms of
violence against women; to eradicate racism, sexism, and homophobia; and to pro-
mote equality and justice in our society. NOW’s actions have greatly contributed to
extensive changes that have put more women in political posts. NOW’s efforts have
also increased educational, employment, and business opportunities for women. In
addition, NOW has worked for stricter laws against violence, harassment, and dis-
crimination against women. NOW’s official priorities are to win economic equality
and secure it with an amendment to the U.S. constitution that will guarantee equal
rights for women; to champion abortion rights, reproductive freedom, and other
women’s health issues; to oppose racism and fight bigotry against lesbians and
gay men; and to end violence against women. Now activists use both traditional
and nontraditional means to push for social change. They do extensive electoral
and lobbying work, and they bring lawsuits. They organize mass marches, rallies,
pickets, nonviolent civil disobedience, and immediate, responsive “zap” actions
(National Organization for Women, 2006).

The Gray Panthers

The Gray Panthers is a national intergenerational grassroots organization that was
founded by older people. Members strive to achieve progressive social change in a
variety of domains that affect people of all ages. Such issues include antidiscrim-
ination, social and economic justice, affordable housing, universal health care,
peace, educational improvement, and environmental preservation. Gray Panthers
believe that, in an interdependent world, the welfare of all is achieved by policies
 10. Empowerment 195

that preserve peace, heal the wounded environment, and respect the rights of all
individuals to share in determining policy. Furthermore, they seek to unite young,
old, women, and men of all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds for the study
and promotion of social justice. They reason that governments exist in order to
facilitate the achievement of social justice for all (Gray Panthers, 2006).

Association for Women in Psychology (AWP)

Other organizations are more focused on particular issues. For instance, the AWP
was founded in 1969 at the American Psychological Association’s (APA) annual
convention; however it operates outside of the APA’s organizational structure and
maintains a broader-than-psychology membership and vision. AWP sponsors re-
gional and national conferences on feminist psychology as well as several annual
awards. They frequently collaborate with other organizations to promote a feminist
approach to research, teaching, and mental health, and they maintain an active liai-
son program with other feminist and psychological organizations. AWP has been
an official non-governmental organization (NGO) of the United Nations since 1976
and has participated in international conferences.
AWP is a not-for-profit scientific and educational organization committed to
encouraging feminist psychological research, theory, and activism. AWP has a
strong a history of supporting and celebrating differences, deepening challenges,
and experiencing growth as feminists. AWP is devoted to reevaluating and re-
formulating the role that psychology and the mental health field generally play
within women’s lives. They seek to act responsively and sensitively with regard to
women by challenging the unquestioned assumptions, research traditions, theoret-
ical commitments, clinical and professional practices, and institutional and soci-
etal structures that limit the understanding, treatment, professional attainment, and
self-determination of women and men, or that contribute to unwelcome divisions
between women based on race, ethnicity, age, social class, sexual orientation, or
religious affiliation. Thus, AWP’s role includes the education and sensitization
of mental health professionals, the encouragement and recognition of women’s
concerns and those who promote them, the reconceptualization and expansion
of perspectives within psychology, advocacy and critique regarding professional
and institutional practices, and the provision of opportunities for creative feminist
contributions and the dissemination of feminist ideas (Association for Women in
Psychology, 2006).
Lobbying by AWP was directly responsible for the establishment of the So-
ciety for the Psychology of Women (APA Division 35) in 1973. Joint AWP and
Division 35 efforts resulted in the establishment of a Women’s Program Office at
APA’s national headquarters. The AWP agenda includes efforts to eliminate racism
in public and private organizations. One goal of the association is to make people
aware of the interface between gender and race in the psychology of women. One
of AWP’s primary purposes is feminist activism. AWP is devoted to achieving var-
ious objectives: (1) challenging unfounded assumptions about the psychological
“natures” of women and men; (2) encouraging feminist psychological research on
196 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

sex and gender; (3) combating the oppression of Women of Color; (4) develop-
ing a feminist model of psychotherapy; (5) achieving equality for women within
the profession of psychology and allied disciplines; (6) promoting unity among
women of all races, ages, social classes, sexual orientations, physical abilities,
and religions; (7) sensitizing the public and the profession to the psychological,
social, political, and economic problems of women; (8) helping women to create
individual sexual identities; and (9) encouraging research on issues of concern to
Women of Color.

American Psychological Association—Division 35—Society

for the Psychology of Women
Division 35 was founded in 1973 in order to focus on the psychology of women.
Today, there are over 2400 members. The Society is “devoted to providing an or-
ganizational base for all feminists, women, and men of all national origins who are
interested in teaching, research or practice in the psychology of women” (American
Psychological Association, 2005). The purpose of Division 35 is to promote fem-
inist research, theories, education, and practice; to encourage scholarship on the
social construction of gender relations across multicultural contexts; to apply femi-
nist scholarship to transforming the knowledge base of psychology; and to advocate
action toward public policies that advance equality. Empowerment is, therefore,
very highly linked to the goals and purpose of this division within APA. Through
many different media, women are encouraged to strive toward empowerment and
also to facilitate the way for structural changes to be made to help achieve empow-
erment for future generations.

The United Nations

An international organization that can facilitate the advancement of empowerment
for the world’s women is the United Nations. The UN plays a central role in
the promotion of peace and security, development, and human rights around the
world. Since its founding, the UN has been working to affirm the fundamental
equality of all people and to counter discrimination in all its forms. Through UN
efforts, governments have concluded many multilateral agreements that make the
world a safer, healthier place with greater opportunity and justice for all of us.
The United Nations provides the means to help resolve international conflicts and
formulate policies on matters that affect everyone. At the UN, all the member
states—large and small, rich and poor, with different political views and social
systems—have a voice and a vote in this process (United Nations, 2006). One
of the UN’s central mandates is the promotion of higher standards of living, full
employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development.
As much as 70% of the work of the UN system is devoted to accomplishing this
mandate. Guiding the work is the belief that eradicating poverty and improving
the well-being of people everywhere are necessary steps in creating conditions for
 10. Empowerment 197

lasting world peace. The UN and its agencies, including the World Bank and the
UN Development Programme, are the premier vehicles for furthering development
in poorer countries.
The millennium development goals (MDGs,), issued by the UN Secretary Gen-
eral Kofi Annan in 2001, are a “roadmap” for implementing the Millennium Dec-
laration, which was presented at the September 2000 UN Millennium Summit. The
Millennium Declaration reflects widespread international recognition that the em-
powerment of women and the achievement of gender equality are issues of human
rights and social justice. Equality and women’s empowerment are fundamental
to the achievement of all of the MDGs, whether it is the eradication of poverty,
protection of the environment, or access to healthcare. Attempts to meet the MDGs
without integrating gender equality would both raise the cost and diminish the suc-
cess. Because the MDGs are mutually reinforcing, success in attaining the goals
will have positive effects on gender equality, just as advancement toward gender
equality in any one domain will help to promote each of the other goals (Women’s
Environment & Development Organization, 2004).
By the year 2015, all 191 UN Member States have pledged to meet the
MDG goals. The eight MDGs include: (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
(2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote gender equality and em-
power women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal healthcare; (6)
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustain-
ability; and (8) develop a global partnership development (Millennium Project,
2006).
Goal #3 makes clear the importance of activating a comprehensive, rather than
a piecemeal, program to advance gender equality. Accordingly, Goal #3 encom-
passes gender equality in all aspects of women’s lives—gender-based violence,
cultural stereotypes, trafficking and prostitution, armed conflict, political life, laws
and legal status, government structures, the media, education, employment, health
care, family planning, poverty, the environment, rural life, and marriage and family
relations. The full range of measures that must be taken to achieve gender equality
and women’s empowerment have already been comprehensively mapped out in
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as in major provisions of
other international instruments and conference documents (UNIFEM, 2004).
In addition to the UN’s international policy programs and organizations, the
NGOs within the UN promote social awareness and activism of various issues.
Two specific NGOs, the committee on the status of women and the committee on
ageing, are active in promoting the empowerment of women. The committee on
the status of women, specifically the sub-committee of older women (SCOW), is
a group of women, primarily over 50, who promote issues and education of issues
that are relevant to women in this age group. The NGO committee on the status of
women (NGO CSW) was founded after the UN general assembly proclaimed 1975
as the International Women’s Year and recommended that international action be
intensified to: promote equality between men and women; ensure full integration of
women in the total development effort; and recognize the importance of women’s
198 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

increasing contribution to the development of friendly relations and cooperation

among states; and to strengthen world peace. The NGO CSW New York provides a
forum for exchange of information, education, and awareness and for substantive
discussion on issues and policies related to women under consideration by the
United Nations as well as other relevant women-related studies and programs
(Women’s United Nations Report Program & Network, n.d.). SCOW prepares
statements and prepares events related to issues and changes that need to be made on
behalf of older women. The women in these committees exemplify empowerment
at its best: Women work together to promote key issues and, in doing, so they affect
positive change for women of all ages. The NGO Committee on Ageing’s work
also coincides with the empowerment of women. This NGO works to promote
issues relevant to older persons, many of whom are women.
UNIFEM, or the United Nations’ Development Fund for Women, works on
behalf of women from all countries of the world. It provides financial and technical
assistance to innovative programs and strategies to foster women’s empowerment
and gender equality. Specifically, the UNIFEM Arab States Regional Office’s
projects and programs target many different aspects of women’s lives in this region,
such as economic rights, human rights, and involvement in the political process.
UNIFEM programs promote women’s leadership in all sectors, with the goal of
giving women an equal voice in shaping the policies that affect their lives and
choices. Through its projects and activities, UNIFEM aims to achieve the following
objectives to support women’s leadership: (1) peace and security—strengthening
gender focus in prevention, making gender perspectives central to peace processes,
and supporting gender justice in postconflict peace-building; (2) gender justice—
women’s empowerment and equal participation in leadership and political decision
making are necessary elements for ensuring that gender equality is integrated
into policy making and constitutional, electoral, and judicial reform (UNIFEM,
2004).

Women and Leadership: Using Leadership

to Empower Others
Women have increasingly gained greater leadership roles in organizations and thus
have had a greater impact on corporate strategy. The management literature sug-
gests that the values of future organizations may suit women to a greater degree than
was the case for women in the past (Colwill & Townsend, 1999). Self-knowledge,
building relationships, facilitation skills, and empowering others are emerging as
essential skills for all managers. These skills are increasingly identified as the
central elements for successful executives, a movement away from the traditional
male autocrat of the 1970s. Research (Colwill & Townsend, 1999) has shown that
many characteristics identified as “good management skills” are also character-
istics ascribed to “traditional women.” Many of these good managerial abilities
relate to communication patterns. For instance, overall, women value communi-
cation and relationships, such as working together toward a common purpose, and
 10. Empowerment 199

understanding others (Colwill & Townsend, 1999). Women are more exploratory
and less instrumental in their communication than men are. They are more likely
to communicate issues that are judged unnecessary by men, but, in doing so, they
can impart a broader understanding to others (Colwill & Townsend, 1999).
Merely being recognized as a leader does not make one either powerful or em-
powering. For example, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Northern
Ireland, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard
of the Netherlands are primarily figureheads. Other leaders are powerful or have
been powerful but not empowering, such as Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and
Condoleezza Rice. Women leaders who have worked to empower other women
include Susan B. Anthony, Betty Freidan, Gloria Steinem, Hillary Rodham Clin-
ton, Oprah Winfrey, and Donna Shalala, President of the University of Miami and
former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although
Hillary Clinton became known as the First Lady of the United States, it was not
until she was into her 50s that she was elected a U.S. senator in her own right.
Empowerment is demonstrated not only in the political sphere but in others as
well. Take the American painter, Grandma Moses, as she is commonly called.
Anna May Robertson Moses was the third of 10 children, and she was encouraged
as a child by her father to paint and draw. She worked on a neighboring farm from
the age of 12 until her marriage to Thomas Salmon Moses in 1887. While living on
the farm that the couple owned and worked together, Grandma Moses decorated
certain objects in her home with painted scenes, but it was only in her 70s, with no
prior artistic training or formal classes that she started to paint in oils. Her paintings
are on display in museums worldwide and have brought her to the forefront as an
example of what can be accomplished by women over 50 (ArtCyclopedia, 2005).
According to Pillai (1995), empowerment is an active multidimensional process
that enables women to realize their full identity and power in all spheres of life.
Empowerment for women involves having a say and being listened to as well
as being able to create from a woman’s perspective. Empowerment insists that
women be appreciated and acknowledged for who they are and what they do.
Once recognized, they are more effective in their future endeavors. They develop
a capacity to face the social facts of their actual situation boldly. They are able to
come to a better understanding of themselves and their circumstances once they
examine the truth of their lives. An empowered woman becomes free of social,
cultural, and, perhaps most important, psychological barriers (Pillai, 1995).
Just as many individuals are not entirely self-actualized according to Maslow’s
theory, many individuals also are not fully empowered (Maslow, 1943). There are
various steps that women can take in order to become more empowered. Women
can

r gain control of our lives (e.g., through sufficient education, self-exploration,

finding interests, skill development, choosing a satisfying career and lifestyle,
receiving therapy);
r gain awareness about our own situations, our rights, and available opportunities;
r bring our capabilities to optimum use;
200 Florence L. Denmark and Maria D. Klara

r lead fulfilling lives;

r enhance confidence, self-esteem, self-respect, and self-dignity;
r gain economic independence and control our own resources;
r capacity building and skill development, especially the ability to plan, make
decisions, organize, and carry out activities;
r learn to deal with the people and situations/institutions around us;
r participate in decision making at home, in the local community, and in the greater
society;
r learn from our past and build our future;
r develop an assertive belief system;
r build relationships (e.g., romantic, friendship, career networks);
r move from passive inaction to active participation;
r be able to influence choices and decisions that affect the whole society;
r be organized and gain respect as equal citizens and human beings with contri-
butions to make;
r move beyond ourselves and contribute toward the empowerment of others;
r cooperate with other women toward a common good.

Conclusions
Empowerment is an issue that is relevant to women of all socioeconomic classes,
races, and cultures. It is particularly pertinent in any discussion of women at
midlife, considering that middle class women of this age group frequently have
the necessary capabilities needed to make positive changes in their lives and to turn
the balance of power in their favor. There are various steps to empowerment that
these women have used. Many have been successful at gaining control of their lives,
enhancing their confidence and self-esteem, gaining awareness of their situation,
and developing an assertive belief system. However, some women, particularly
those of lower socioeconomic status or ethnic minorities who are discriminated
against, find themselves in a particularly challenging situation when it comes
to empowerment. Societal structures and discrimination make it exponentially
difficult, but not necessarily impossible, to follow these steps to empowerment for
these women.
One critical component to empowerment is moving beyond ourselves toward
the empowerment of others. Empowerment must be viewed not only as personal
empowerment, but also as the empowerment of other women. Women must work
toward the empowerment of all women, and one way to support this is to cooperate
with other women toward a common good. One way that this has been accom-
plished is through the establishment of groups and organizations that have been
constructed to help women empower themselves, such as NOW, AWP, and the
Gray Panthers.
In addition, in the political sphere, world policy is finally beginning to sup-
port the empowerment of women by encouraging policies that empower women
and give them the much needed resources to help fight poverty, discrimination,
 10. Empowerment 201

and inequality. Women in midlife can be examples of the productive, able, and
resourceful qualities that most women possess. With increased support from orga-
nizations and government, as well as with the increased cooperative participation
of women of all ages, women’s empowerment will continue to increase.
Overall, women over 50 are in a prime period in their lives where they can
exemplify and expand empowerment for themselves and other women. Now that
the children have grown up and left the house, women have more time to dedicate
to efforts to enhance their lives and their societies. They also have more financial
resources at their disposal and the means to set goals and attain them. This includes
an increased sense of confidence, which comes with age and experience. More life
experience gives women key assets to learn new strategies and the personal ability
to put these strategies into effect. Women over 50 have many key elements in place
to continue to promote the empowerment of themselves as well as that of other
women of all ages.

Acknowledgment. We thank Lani Sherman for her assistance with the question-
naire distribution.

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Index

Advance directives, 70–71 dissatisfaction, 13, 15, 43

African American women, 189–190 image, 6–9, 12, 14–19, 21, 43, 87, 95, 98
Age shape, 19
age group boundaries, 104 size, 10, 12, 13
categorization of, 104 surveillance, 11
libido and, 105 Body weight
power structures, 96, 98 thinness, 10, 19–20
socio-cultural construct, 97 weight concerns, 9
well-being and, 104 weight consciousness, 8–9
“young-old” and, 96 Bone density screening, 59
Age concealment, 13 Bone disease, 59
Age identity, 103, 131 Brain health, 61–62
Alzheimer’s Disease, 61–62 Breast cancer, 15, 20, 55, 57
American Association for Retired People Burden, 119, 140, 151, 154–157
(AARP), 79–80, 82–83, 85, 87, 89–91,
177 Cardiovascular, 11, 55, 57, 59, 85, 89
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 73 Care giving
Androcentric bias, 32 aging, 151
Anticipatory grief, 152 cancer, 152
Arousal, 26–27, 30, 33, 35, 37, 39–41 dementia, 151, 155–156, 157
Arthritis, 14–15, 59–61, 65 family role, 150–158
Association for Women in Psychology (AWP), grief, 151–152, 158
194–195 loss, 150–151, 157
At risk populations, 86 parents, 150
disabled, 87 relationships, 156
elderly, 102 responsibility, 149–151, 153–154
socioeconomic status, 87 reversal, 151
women of color, 57, 81, 118, 172, 189–190 support services, 151, 158
black, 189 support, 149–153
Hispanic, 86–87, 172, 191 transition, 151
Authenticity/authentic, 19–20, 26, 46, 95, 114 Caregiver strain, 155
Chronic illness
Balance, 21, 84–85, 96, 98, 107, 117, 120 arthritis, 14–15, 59–61, 65
Beauty/beauty ideal, 9, 12–13, 16, 18–19 cancer, 15, 20
Bereavement, 157 osteoporosis, 60–61, 84
Black feminist standpoint, 189 Committee on Ageing, 197–198
Body Communal relations, 114
consciousness, 14, 80 Conflict, 123

204
 Index 205

Convenience, 8 Feminist psychologists view, about

Convention on the Eliminations of all Forms of empowerment, 183–184, 183–184
Discrimination against women Feminist therapy, 183
(CEDAW), 197 Feminist(s), 10, 20
Coping strategies, 58, 64–66, 72 Flexibility, 19, 42, 83–85, 101
Cosmetic surgery/plastic surgery, 7 Friendship networks, 116
Cross-sex friendships, 113
Culture and empowerment, 192 Gender roles
diversity of, 115
Depression, 39, 44, 58, 63–65, 72 expectations, 115
Discrimination against women, 178 and life course, 115
Divorce, 105, 116, 125–126, 133 menopause, 115
Dual-career families, 134 reproductive role, 116
Dyspareunia, 28, 30 role change, 115
Gender roles, 115
Eating disorders, 9–10 Gender stereotype, 57, 80, 184
Empowerment Gendered-age
class, 189 identity, 101
cross cultural factors, 190 lifestyle options, 96, 103
definition of, 189 revised gendered-age roles, 96
different countries, 189 role, 96
Empty nest syndrome, 189 social category, 96
Encouragement, 45, 184, 195 socio-cultural meanings of, 96
Environmental conditions, 12, 33, 62, 70 traditionalism, 97
Erikson, E.H., 121, 185–186 and well-being, 97
Estrogens, 54–55, 57–58 Generativity, 121, 176
Ethnicity hypothesis, 86 Grandfather, 143
Exchange theory/exchange relationships, 114 Grandma Moses, 199
Exercise & physical activity Grand mothering style, 135
aerobic, 61, 80, 82, 84, 87–90 Grand parenthood, 131–132, 134, 136–139
anaerobic, 89 functions of, 134
barriers to exercise, 87 Grand parenting, 131–132, 135, 137–138
beginning a program, 88 Gray Panthers, 194–195
benefits, 89, 92
classes, 87, 89–90 Health care
companionship, 114 poor health care, 81–82
duration and frequency, 80 quality of, 81–82
hectics, 83 Heart disease, 54–56
infirm, 83 Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), 16,
maintainers, 83 54–55
mind & body, 83, 85 Hormone replacement, 16, 54–55
overcoming barriers, 87 Hot flashes, 14, 16, 28
socializers, 83 Husbands, 10, 39–41, 113, 116
unmotivated, 83 Hypertension, 68, 81–82
weight bearing, 84–85 Hypoactive sexual desire, 36

False friends, 123–124 Identity development, 121, 186

Family roles, 103, 118, 132–133, 137, 140, Illnesses & disease
150 chronic illness, 9, 14, 19, 63–66, 73
Family status, 152 risk factors, 82
Feminine/femininity, 6, 16, 18, 20 Informed consent, 69–70
Feminist movement/women’s liberation Interdependence, 96, 117, 183, 193
movement, 101–103, 106, 127 International Women’s Year, 197
206 Index

Intimacy, 116 Musculoskeletal, 61, 65, 83, 85, 89

Invisibility/invisible women, 7, 19, Mutuality, 154, 184
21
Nutrition
Johnson–Sirleaf, Ellen, 190 American diet, 82
joint replacement, 61 New View Campaign, The, 37, 45

Lesbian(s), 19–20, 42 Obesity, 81–82, 86

Life transitions, 125 Objectified body consciousness, 14
Locus of control, 11 Off time transition, 137
Loss of desire, 28, 31–32 Older women
baby boomers, 80, 95, 126, 166, 170
Marginality hypothesis, 86 career advancement, 168
Marketing of fitness, 80 careers, 53, 88, 134, 140, 167, 170, 172,
Masculine role 174–175, 178
assertiveness, 100 caregiving, 174
competence and, 98 cohorts, 21, 31, 103, 173, 176
cultural representations of, 99, 107 employment, 164–166
instrumentality, 100 labor force, 165
“new” identities, 96, 103–104 longevity, 140, 170, 174, 178
prime of life, 188 occupations, 168
Maslow Theory, 199 parentcare, 175
Media images pensions, 172
in films/movies, 8 poverty, 178
in magazines, 7–8 retirement, 172, 177–178
Medicalization, 36–37 salaries, 166
Menopause, 8–9, 15–19 sandwich generation, 147, 152, 170
Mental health, 15, 31, 35, 44 social security, 174–175
Mental illness, 19, 28 work force, 165
Metabolism, 81, 84, 90 work, 164–177
Middle age Osteoarthritis & joints, 60–61, 83–84
changes in modern society, 132 Osteoporosis & bone strength, 59
and caregiving, 138, 140
and ethnicity, 166 Pain management, 148, 152
friendship after 50 Patient-provider relationship, 67–68
experience, 119 Perimenopausal, 9
roles, 114–116 Perimenopause, 9
and health, 132, 137 Physical abilities
life style, 132 physical fitness, 61, 82–83, 89
perceptions of, 136, 139 Physical activity
socialization to, 138 cycling, 80, 89
stereotype, 135 gardening, 83, 85, 91
as symbol, 131 pilates, 80, 85
transition to, 131, 136–137 Tai Chi, 85
typology, 135 walking, 80
Middle-age, 26, 29–31, 38–39, 79–83, 85, yoga, 80, 85
87–91, 99, 102–103, 105–107, 113, 121, Physical fitness, 61, 82–84, 89
141–142, 175, 179, 186 Physical inactivity
Midlife women, 7–12, 14, 17, 19–20 causes, 86–87
Millennium Development Goals, 197 consequences, 86–87
Mortality, 82–83, 151 Politics–political system, 184
Moses, Anna May Robertson, 199 Popular media
Muscle strength, 83–84, 89 double standard, 97, 99
 Index 207

gendered-age identity, 106 Society for the Psychology of Women (APA

representations, 99, 104, 106–108 Division 35), 195–196
and socio-cultural constructs, 97 Socioeconomic status, 31, 68, 86
Postmenopausal zest, 17 Spirituality, 152, 189–191
Power Sport
self support, 103 masters level, 90
and well-being, 103 Steps to empowerment, 200
Power-definition of, 182 Stereotypes
Power-over, 183 grandparents of, 135, 184–185
Power-to, 183 aging of, 185
Preference theory, 142 Stress, 44, 46, 62–63
Professional organizations, 187 and anxiety, 99
Proximity, 148 Sub-Committee of Older Women, 197
Support network, 152
Quality of life, 35, 39, 66, 81 Surrogate grandparents, 135

Red Hat society, 126 Target Heart Rate (THR), 90

Re-entry women, 188 Title IX, 79–80
Relationship satisfaction, 26, 39–41
Resistance training, 84, 89 UN Development Programme, 198
Role overload, 154 UNIFEM, 198

Safety issues, 41, 87, 173, 175 Vaginal dryness, 16, 27–29, 42
Same-sex friendships, 112 Viagra, 33, 36, 41–42
Sedentary, 82, 85, 89 Vulnerability
Self-concept, 8, 11, 97, 118 body image, 64, 71
Self-confidence, 19, 96, 182, 188 romance, 64
Self-efficacy, 11, 65, 100, 155 sex appeal, 64
Self-esteem, 11–12, 15
Self-worth, 11, 193 Well-being
Sexual desire, 26–27, 29–31 and socio-cultural changes, 95–96, 106
Sexual dysfunction, 34, 36 androgyny, 100
Sexual response cycle, 27, 33, 45 autonomy, 98, 100, 114, 189, 192
Sexual responsivity, 29 confidence, 99
Sexual revolution fragmented structure of, 95
gendered-age norms, 102 gendered balance, 100
life-style options, 102 gendered meaning, 96
and well-being, 102 in middle life, 98
Sexual satisfaction, 30, 35, 39, 41–43, 46 Widowhood, 116, 125
Sexual self esteem, 35 Women
Sexualized society education and, 198
cultural standards of, 97 leadership and, 198
male domination, 97 Women of color, 57, 81, 86, 118
Social care, 185 Asian/Asian American/Asian-African
Social class, 37, 92, 115–116, 119 women, 118
Social construction, 95, 103, 106, 196 Black women/African American women,
Social norms/cultural norms 189–190
appearance comparisons, 19, 107 Hispanic women/Latinas, 15, 20, 87, 119, 172
Social support, 58, 63–64, 66–67, 72 Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), 16, 54–55