Age isn’t the problem. Ageism is

Everyone gets older: from the moment we are born, we age. It’s an inevitable, universal experience. Yet somehow, the everyday process of growing older is seen as a negative experience, thanks to a form of bias known as ‘ageism’.

What is ageism? It’s a narrow way of seeing people– especially older people – that stereotypes us based on our age and overlooks our individual characteristics.

Ageism views older people as all having the same narrow range of behaviours, capabilities, preferences, limitations and needs. Our individual voices and lives become invisible, and people treat us as though the stereotypical assumptions are true.

‘Ageism refers to the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) directed towards people based simply on their age.’ (Australian Human Rights Commission)i

Over a long time, ageist language and assumptions have become part of the way our society thinks. That means it can be hard to recognise them as a problem, but they are.

Ageism harms older people. It causes distress, unhappiness, loss of dignity and respect, and loneliness. It may cause age discrimination and elder abuse. Ageism is a human rights issue.

Growing older does not cancel our rights or take away our individual abilities, goals, dreams or needs – but ageism can have this effect. As former Age Discrimination Commissioner the Hon Kay Patterson AO said, ‘Age isn’t the problem. Ageism is.’ii

What does ageism look like?

People with ageist attitudes may not realise that what they say, think and do is harmful. You may not even have realised something you experienced was ageist. That’s why it’s important for us all to start talking about what ageism is and what it looks like.

Here are some examples of ageist treatment.

• You’re ignored or talked down to in shops, meetings or workplaces.

• When you tell someone about rudeness, abuse or unfair treatment that you’ve experienced, you’re dismissed as ‘old’, overreacting or ‘imagining things’.

• People insist on doing things for you that you’re capable of doing yourself.

• People speak loudly or slowly to you without asking whether you need them to.

• Health care and other service providers talk past you to your companion or carer.

• You’re denied health services or not taken seriously because your symptoms are ‘typical for someone your age’.

• Your opinions and contributions are dismissed as ‘outdated’.

• You’re somehow made to feel you’re too old to continue doing your job or the activities you enjoy.

• People assume you can’t understand or use technology.

• People assume you’re retired.

• When redundancies loom at work, people think you’re keen to get one because you’ll be ‘counting down to retirement anyway’.

• Your job or promotion applications are rejected, even when you’re appropriately qualified for the positions.

• You’re the butt of jokes and stereotypical comments about older people, older age, ageing, or looking ‘young for your age’.

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Ageism in employment: Angeline’s* story

Angeline turned 65 while she was employed in the public service in Canberra. When her job was made redundant, she applied for other suitable roles within the same department. However, despite being qualified for these positions, she wasn’t considered for any of them for all kinds of odd reasons. Angeline’s manager and a colleague were overheard one day saying, ‘Really, she should be retired by now.’

Angeline commenced action against her employer to try to stay employed, but she later withdrew it as the matter would have taken a long time to resolve.

‘The end result was that I was forced out of a career that I really cared about at least 3 or 4 years before I was ready to go,’ says Angeline.

Why does ageism matter?

Ageism is a significant issue for older people because it limits our active and full participation in society and prevents us from living the way we want to. This affects our dignity, employment opportunities, mental and physical health, relationships and socialisation.iii

• Being passed over for promotions or job vacancies can contribute to financial insecurity and lower self-esteem.

• Being ignored and treated as invisible damages mental health and decreases social confidence.

• Being excluded from workplaces, social activity and conversations can cause isolation and loneliness.

• Discrimination can create barriers to accessing services and resources, lowering quality of life.

• Discrimination and projected invisibility causes feelings of shame, anger, vulnerability and sadness.iv

• If ageist attitudes, behaviours, practices and policies deny us our rights, we may even experience elder abuse.

As we grow older, we hope that our families, friends, service providers and communities will respect us, acknowledge us, support us, and respond to our needs. Sadly, ageism can mean that this doesn’t happen.

Ageism in health care: Susan’s* storyv

Susan, 82, gradually developed severe arthritis in her hands. She has been seeing the same GP for many years, but it wasn’t until her daughter, Louise*, described the extent of Susan’s pain and deformities to her own GP that the 2 women learned the arthritis could have been treated long ago. When Susan raised this with her GP, she was told, ‘What can you expect at your age?’ and ‘At your age, it’s quite normal to have these things.’

This time Susan persisted. She was referred to a specialist at the hospital, who was shocked that she had not been referred 5 years earlier. Susan had been denied the opportunity to receive treatment and medication because of her age.

Ageism in Australia: the numbers

How common is ageism in Australia? In a 2021 study, the Australian Human Rights Commission found that:

• 64% of older participants felt they had been treated differently because of their age in the preceding 5 years

• 47% had experienced having age-based assumptions made about them

• 28% had been ‘helped’ without being asked

• 17% had been turned down for a job.

In the study, 90% of all participants agreed that ageism (towards any age group) exists and 60% admitted they had made age-based assumptions about other age groups.vi

Where does ageism come from?

Humans live in societies. Societies develop ideas, over time, about the way things are, to help people make sense of the world. If those ideas become ingrained in mainstream thinking, they seem ‘natural’ and we may not think to question them.

Certain ideas and views about older people and old age have taken root over a long time, and this is where ageism comes from. Mainstream Australian culture generally doesn’t value older people the way that some other cultures, including Indigenous cultures, do.vii Like many western societies, we tend to glorify youth and dismiss older people.viii

‘The meaning we assign to being old, and the concept of age identity, is socially constructed,’ says US gerontologist Tracey Gendron. ‘Our understanding of what it means to “be old” exists because people have accepted it, not because it exists in objective reality.’ix

This acceptance of ageism as ‘natural’ has left the problem unchallenged until recent years. Advocate and campaigner Dr Marlene Krasovitsky says,  ‘[We] need to build awareness of how deeply ingrained and highly tolerated ageism has become. It’s a relatively new construct for people – until they experience it …

‘The last 6 or so years have seen an expansion of the [discussion] on ageing and much better understanding of ageism.’

Ageism as elder abuse: Peter’s* story

Ageist beliefs caused financial and psychological abuse to 90-year-old Peter. His son, Andrew*, who was in financial trouble, believed that Peter was too old to need or manage his own money. Seeing an answer to his own problems, Andrew convinced Peter – and his GP – that he was developing dementia.

Soon Peter was on medication that had a sedative effect, supporting Andrew’s claim that his father lacked decision-making capacity. Andrew was appointed as Peter’s guardian and financial administrator with access to, and control of, his money.

Resolving this situation cost Peter not only extreme and prolonged distress, but also more than $40,000 in medical tests, legal fees and guardianship hearings.

Ageism in the media

The media has played a big part in sustaining ageism over the decades. The way older people have been shown in the media has reinforced the stereotypes and put older people outside of the mainstream of society.

• Older people are rarely shown in the media. In 2013, 14.2% of Australians were aged over 65, yet only 4.7% of advertising content and only 6.6% of editorial media content featured someone from that age group.x In 2024, Screen Australia found, the 23% of Australians who were aged over 60 were represented by only 6.7% of the main characters in TV dramas.xi

• When older people do appear, they are stereotypical and don’t represent how varied people’s lives really are. Later life is often shown as ‘a time of frailty and decline’ involving conflict with younger generations. Ageing is presented as ‘something to be solved, fought or cured’.xii

Are you ageist?

You might be surprised! Many forms of bias are unconscious – attitudes that we’ve absorbed from the society around us.

Many Australians see older people homogenously as nice, likeable, polite, respectful and good at listening but also frail, inflexible, forgetful ‘onlookers to life’ who lack technological skills and vitality.[xiii] Is that your perception?

Take this 2-minute EveryAGE Counts quiz to find out where you sit on the ageist spectrum.

What can we do about ageism?

Because ageism comes from long-held social beliefs about older people, it’s important that we change those beliefs. We can create new stories about old age – ones that reflect the positive things about growing older and the diversity of older people’s experiences.

Many Australians believe the responsibility for addressing ageism mostly lies with governments and media and that workplaces are the most important setting in which to act on it.[xiv] However, we can all play a part in changing wider perceptions of older people, no matter where we are.

Together, we can:

• change how we talk about ageing to acknowledge and celebrate age diversity, focus on solutions instead of problems, tell real stories rather than stereotypes, and replace ageist terms

• speak up when we witness ageism, by stepping into the situation or complaining formally to relevant organisations

• recognise and value older people’s contributions to society, both past and present, and their individuality

• start public awareness campaigns to establish a more realistic picture of older age and foster understanding between the different age groups

• create new media representations of older people to show the true diversity of the older age experiencexv

• undertake policy reforms such as strengthening anti-discrimination laws, reviewing existing social policies, and developing a national human rights Act

• introduce workplace changes, such as training recruitment officers to recognise and eliminate ageism in hiring and promotion processes; introducing flexible work arrangements that accommodate the specific needs of older people; and providing skills training so older people can keep working if they want to

• step up advocacy to amplify the social voice of older people, give the media more access to older people as representatives, and keep lobbying policymakers.

*Names have been changed for privacy