Ageism can be defined as a type of discrimination which is associated with prejudice against some people on the basis of their age. Like sexism and racism, ageism also is involved in holding stereotypes on people who are in different age groups. The word ageism was first used by Robert N. Butler who is a gerontologist to describe discrimination against the older adults. Currently, the term is usually applied to any kind of discrimination that is based on age whether it involves prejudice against the senior-citizens, the teenagers or children.
The manifestations of ageism are usually seen in workplace environments, where it can result to disparities in payments or the difficulty in securing an employment position. Young adults mostly have difficult times to find a job and often receive low payments due for the reason that they are perceived to be lacking the required experience. The senior-citizens also have problems in finding new work, achieving promotions and also changing careers. Most employers will assume that an old person is close to retirement and hence they do not need a job even though that is very far from the truth for most of the Americans. They also assume that older employees have more medical issues than the younger employees and that they will miss work more.
It is not only wrong to discriminate the old people but it is also illegal for most of the companies. Age Discrimination in the Employment Act indicates that it is not legal for employers to discriminate against a person due to their age even though this applies only if a person is 40 years and above and also if the employer more than 20 workers(The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Pub. L. No. 90-202Code). Some of the states, cities and counties have put into place laws that offer protection to the employees of the smaller organizations. Also, some states have laws which limit discrimination that is based on age.
There are different types of age related discrimination. Adultism can be said to be a predisposition towards the adults, that is viewed as being biased against the youth, children and all the people who are not viewed or addressed as adults. The discrimination against the senior-citizens in favor of the young person is referred to as Jeunism. It includes jobs, political candidacies and the cultural settings in which the larger vitality or the physical beauty exhibited by the youth is more attractive than the supposedly greater intellectual or moral rigor associated with the adults.
However, ageism is very different from the discrimination mainly due to the following two reasons. The first one is that age classification is never static and the age classification of a person changes as one advance through their life cycle. As such, classification of age is characterized by a continual change whilst other systems of classification in the society like gender and race are constant. Secondly, no person is exempted from at one particular time gaining the status of being old, for this reason, unless they die at a young age, they have to experience ageism. Ageism as it follows can affect a person on two levels. The person may be ageist as compared to others. He or she may stereotype the other individuals based on age. The second one is that the person may be an ageist with respect to themselves. As such, ageist attitudes can affect self concept.
Some of examples which indicate age discrimination can be seen in the following situations. A haulage company that has introduced a ban on blanket for lorry drivers who are above the age of 55 and driving articulated lorries. This is because there are statistical evidence which indicates that there is higher risk of heart attack for persons who are over this age. Even though the aim to this move is to ensure the safety of the public, this matter would be better dealt with other than having the blanket ban. For instance, medical checks could be carried on the individual drivers and this would be less discriminatory.
In an interview carried out recently, Pierce Brosnan who is an actor cited age discrimination as one of the factors that contributed to him not being asked to carry on his role in the Bond film Casino Royale that was released in 2006 as James Bond. The successful actress and singer, Madona in her 50’s spoke about ageism and how she will fight so as to defy norms of the society . Kim Cattrall who is a star in Sex and the City has similarly raised issues on Ageism. In the year 2007, a study by Pew Research Center indicated that most American voters would not be likely to cast their votes in favor of a president who is past a certain age with about 45% of the voters saying that they consider the age factor.
The old people are usually perceived to be incapable of learning new things, thinking clearly, holding responsible jobs or contributing to the development of the community. Other example of ageism include: Older people cannot drive, older adults are poor in health, older people require some form of walking aid to freely get around and children and teens being ignored because of their age and the assumption that they have a low IQ. Ageism is very active in almost every place in the world and is going to be very difficult to try and stop it. The perceived age discrimination is on high levels in the ages of 20s, goes down in the 30s and then rises again in the 50s. In addition, the major driver of the perceived age discrimination can be said to age and not cohort or the historical period. The legislation on age discrimination that is due to be introduced is likely to be a headache to the employers than race, disability or sex discrimination laws. The penalties for age discrimination in the workplace will just be as severe as those in the other forms of discrimination.
The number of Americans that are over the ages of 60 has been growing everyday but the society has not embraced the aging population. These groups of people are trying to acquire equal standings in their places of work and they more than often find themselves being the victims of ageism. The worst part of ageism is that, with time it seeps into the mental healthcare. Health care professionals often view older patients as set in their ways and that they cannot change on the behaviors. For this reasons, mental health problems like the psychological disorders or cognitive impairments usually go unrecognized and hence untreated. Prevention of ageism in the place of work is the responsibility of the employer even though it can be hard to track it. Allowing ageism creates tension among the workers and results in lawsuits against a company. In order to reduce age discrimination at the work place, policies should be developed that rewards are based on performance and not tenure. The employees should get promotions and raises on the basis of their value to the company and not on their age.
It would also help to remove the employee’s date of birth in any paper work which does not require the date to be on it such as the performance appraisal and the application for employment forms. All the employees should be held in similar standards of performance. The employers should keep a detailed record on performance of all the employees and should base all terminations on conduct and performance rather than their age. By dispensing even and fair disciplinary actions on the basis of performance rather than age, age discrimination will all together be greatly reduced. The government should also ensure that it creates proper laws which protect every citizen against ageism and also proper action should be taken on those practicing age discrimination so that they can be a lesson to others.
References
Bitty, I. (2012, July 25). How Madona is challenging ageism in the industry. Retrieved from Popjustice: http://www.popjustice.com/forum/threads/26398-How-is-Madonna-challenging-ageism-in-the-industry
Brown, J. M. (2008). Equality at Work. International Labour Organization.
Harris, B. (2013, January 15). Ageism. Retrieved from Wisegeek: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ageism.htm
Howe, L. a. (2012, October 3). Ageism. Retrieved from Youthrights: http://www.youthrights.net/index.php?title=Ageism
Nelson, T. D. (2009). Ageism: Stereotyping And Prejudice Against Oder Persons. MIT Press.
Sargeant, M. (2006). Age Discrimination in Employment. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Sex and the City star slams Gervais. (2011, May 4). Retrieved from Stuff.co.nz: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/4592573/Sex-and-the-City-star-slams-Gervais
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