56 pages • 1 hour read
Mary PipherWomen Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing As We Age
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Social Context: Ageism as a Form of Prejudice
Ageism consists of negative beliefs, feelings, or behaviors toward a person because of their age. The term was coined by Robert N. Butler in the article “Age-Ism: Another Form of Bigotry,” published in The Gerontologist in 1969. The term “ageism” applies to prejudice by younger people against older people, as well as prejudice by older people against younger people, but Women Rowing North focuses on ageism toward the elderly.
Ageism occurs in the workplace, during interpersonal interactions, in healthcare, in legal settings, and through representations of older individuals in television, film, advertisements, and other media. Ageism includes the negative attitudes older people hold about themselves, which results from an internalization of attitudes that have been present in their minds since childhood (Levy, Becca R., and Mahzarin R. Banaji, “Implicit Ageism.” Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons, edited by Todd D. Nelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002). Wider society’s representations of these negative attitudes cause older people to separate themselves from this depiction and use substitute words for the term “old,” including “euphemisms like mature, seasoned, vintage, and experienced” (Gendron, Tracey. Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It. Steerforth Press, 2022).
Some researchers theorize that ageism originates in younger individuals’ fears of their own declining health, loss of attractiveness, and death. They also note that ageism, unlike other prejudices due to race, gender, sexuality, ability, or other identity categories, is often ignored, socially acceptable, and not viewed as problematic or disparaging: “Ageism, unlike racism, does not provoke shame” (Levy, Becca R., and Mahzarin R. Banaji, “Implicit Ageism.” Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons, edited by Todd D. Nelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002). Addressing the socially acceptable nature of ageism, Pipher notes that “jokes about old women are not taboo. In fact they are everywhere” (34).
Ageism is a result of modernization and industrialization, which created better health care, leading to longer lifespans, as well as new technology that older individuals lacked the skills to use in their jobs. Modernization and industrialization also reduced close bonds between extended family members and wider access to public education, which diminished the role of older individuals in disseminating knowledge. These factors have caused older people to have a lower status in society (Cuddy, Amy J.C., and Susan T. Fiske. “Doddering but Dear: Process, Content, and Function in Stereotyping of Older Persons.” Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons, edited by Todd D. Nelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002).
Stereotypes about older individuals purport that they are lonely, frail and unhealthy, dependent, and cognitively and psychologically impacted. In Women Rowing North, Pipher addresses such myths about the dependency and incompetency of older people, while acknowledging that some older individuals deal with health conditions and loneliness.
Ageism exhibits itself differently by gender. Older women face a “double standard of aging” that involves the idea that women enter old age and other life stages earlier than men, are viewed negatively at a younger age, and are seen as less attractive than older men (Kite, Mary E., and Lisa Smith Wagner. “Attitudes toward Older Adults.” Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons, edited by Todd D. Nelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002).
Women Rowing North addresses the challenges of older women but does not solely focus on ageism. She recognizes the wide-ranging prejudices against older women and aims to challenge them. She also refers to ageism faced by older people in general, such as assumptions that they are incompetent and the disconnection older adults feel with younger authority figures like doctors.
Social Context: The Intersection of Sexism and Ageism
Sexism involves negative attitudes and behaviors, prejudice, and discrimination toward a person because of their sex—usually against women—and the belief that one sex is superior to the other. Those who exhibit and support sexist behavior often argue that biological differences predispose women and men to specific roles: women as caregivers and men as workers, or women working in helping roles like teachers and men working in roles of authority, such as business or political leaders. Proponents of sexism often use the historical basis of gender roles to argue that these roles have always been different and unequal, so they should remain in place.
Sexism occurs in all areas of society, including the workplace, health care, the law, interpersonal interactions, language, television and film, and other media. The underrepresentation of women in roles of authority, STEM fields, historical texts, and other areas has persisted as a means to also explain women’s lesser impact and role in society. Moreover, women’s contributions are often absent from historical texts. This reinforces views that women were not active in earlier historical periods, rather than prompting interrogation of the reasons for their absence in these texts. This promotes a sexist view of the past and perpetuates current sexism. If women did not contribute to the “great” achievements of the past, their present roles are devalued and subordinate as well.
Sexism and ageism intersect for older women. Women deal with several sites of marginalization, including ageism, sexism, lookism, and sexual objectification, which make older women both “hyper-visible and invisible” due to the emphasis on their appearance (Gendron, Tracey. Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It. Steerforth Press, 2022). They are hyper-visible because of their lack of a young appearance and invisible because they are older. As Pipher shows in Women Rowing North, older women face feelings of a loss of attractiveness and sexuality due to sexism. In addition, traditional gender roles impact older women’s roles and activities, creating assumptions that they will be the caregivers for ailing partners or parents or otherwise sacrifice their own needs for others. While she aims to take a feminist perspective on older women, Pipher does not strongly interrogate these traditional roles and claims that “in some ways, women are luckier than men because familiar roles hold our lives in place. We continue to do household chores, care for family, and see our friends” (24). In this way, the author occasionally reinforces the traditional roles of women that are linked with sexism.
Ideological Context: Positive Aging and Positive Psychology
Positive aging, or successful aging, originated in a 1987 paper, “Human Aging: Usual and Successful,” published in Science by John Rowe and Louis Kahn. It introduced a new research focus on aging’s positive aspects, rather than its problems. Rowe and Kahn distinguished between “usual aging,” which entails health conditions and problems, and “successful aging,” which involves aging with few to no health problems. Rowe and Kahn expanded their ideas with a model of successful aging encompassing little or no disease or disability, high cognitive and physical abilities, and actively engaging with life. They aimed to highlight the active lives and contributions of older people (Gendron, Tracey. Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It. Steerforth Press, 2022).
Critics of the concept of successful aging note that it is unattainable and unrealistic, because it is unreasonable for aging individuals to avoid all physical deterioration or health conditions. Critics also note that the concept encourages the internalization of negative attitudes toward aging, as well as the stigmatization of older age: “The definition of successful aging as the maintenance of health, function, and engagement eventually eliminates everyone from claiming success” (Gendron, Tracey. Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It. Steerforth Press, 2022).
Researchers offering alternative perspectives emphasize addressing age-related decline while optimizing strengths and resources and the impact of individual and cultural differences; maintaining a quality of life through coping skills and social resources; aiming for longevity; and viewing successful aging as encompassing multiple areas, including an older individual’s specific criteria, life satisfaction and well-being, positive adaptation, and independent functioning (Martin, Peter, et al. “Defining Successful Aging: A Tangible or Elusive Concept?” The Gerontologist, vol. 55, no. 1, 2014, pp. 14-25).
Positive aging is influenced by positive psychology. Founded by psychologist Martin Seligman, positive psychology considers a person’s thinking, emotions, and behavior from the perspective of strengths instead of limitations, dysfunction, or disorder. It centers the positive aspects of a person’s life, such as happiness, gratitude, resilience, authenticity, well-being, and love. Positive psychology does not propose ignoring negative emotions but focuses on people’s strengths and abilities to create a meaningful and happy life. Women Rowing North cites the research of several positive psychologists to demonstrate the role of these strengths and emotions in a positive aging experience, but Pipher also acknowledges the equal existence of pain, suffering, and loss while emphasizing the opportunity to grow from negative experiences.
Pipher promotes ideas of positive aging through her emphasis on maintaining positivity through negative experiences. She does not reflect positive aging’s focus on having few to no health conditions; instead, she acknowledges that health problems, diseases, and cognitive decline will occur. In line with successful aging’s emphasis on active engagement, she promotes older women’s need to remain active through social connections, creating community, and self-care.
