Consuming to work: gendered ageism in the Australian labour market

1
Consuming to work gendered ageism in the
Australian labour market

• Susan Ainsworth and Leanne Cutcher
• Work and Organisational Studies
• The University of Sydney

2
Intersection of 2 trends gendered aspects
Workforce ageing and age discrimination in
employment
Increased consumption of anti-ageing products
and services
3
Workforce ageing and age discrimination in
employment

• By 2021, 20 of Australias population will be
  over 65 (Encel 2003)
• Australias workforce participation rates for men
  and women 55-65 are among the lowest in the OECD
  (OECD 2005)
• Progress in combating age discrimination slow and
  uneven (Duncan 2001 Glover Branine 2001
  Loretto White 2006 McGoldrick Arrowsmith
  2001 Redman Snape 2002 Taylor Walker 1998
  Urwin 2006)

4
Workforce ageing and age discrimination in
employment

• Negative stereotypes persist despite large body
  of evidence debunking them (Encel 1999 Johnson
  Zimmerman 1993 Laczko and Phillipson 1991
  Metcalf with Meadows 2006)
• These stereotypes have been found to influence
  employment related decisions (Avolio Barrett
  1987 Brooke and Taylor 2005 Ferris, Yates,
  Gilmore Rowland 1985 Finkelstein, Burke Raju
  1995 Rosen Jerdee 1976)
• Organisations tend to use young, vibrant bodies
  as symbols of their brand ethos (Tyler Abbott
  1998 Pettinger 2004 Spiess Waring 2005)

5
Cultural meaning of ageing

• Ageing is an embodied and gendered process
  (Tulle-Winton 1999)
• Western societies ageing is problematic,
  negative (Gullette 1997 Warren 1998)
• Successful ageing the extent to which you can
  minimise or hide it (Andrews 1999)

Rise of anti-ageing industries
6
Why is it problematic?

• 1. Contributes to cultural repression of older
  age groups
• 2. Physical limits to which ageing can be hidden
  or masked
• 3. To what extent do people face discrimination
  in employment because they present an old
  appearance ?

7
Implications

• Individual
• How much time and money is spent trying to look
  younger so people can compete in the labour
  market?
• Organisational
• Are they limiting themselves by using images of
  youth to appeal to a customer base which is
  itself ageing?
• Are they limiting their potential workforce by
  explicit or implicit age bias in their corporate
  image?
• Government
• Does this ageism undermine attempts to increase
  the workforce participation of older Australians?

8
Getting the real picture

• Focus groups
• Pilot with women
• Larger study will include men
• Self-nominate
• If you or your organisation are interested in
  being involved in the focus groups please contact
  either Susan (s.ainsworth_at_econ.usyd.edu.au) or
  Leanne (l.cutcher_at_econ.usyd.edu.au)
• or Phone [phone].

9
References

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10
References

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