Ageism

In overcoming any form of bigotry, there is usually a fairly typical pattern, which goes something like this: 

• the form of discrimination is invented and popularised, with false equivalences, faked “facts” aka lies, mis- and disinformation, and subversion of politico-economic-social structures - and that may have happened several, or even many, generations beforehand; 
• victims of the discrimination and activists start countering the lies, demonstrating that real occurs, and working towards additional political structures to counter the hate that was created - in other words, anti-discrimination laws; 
• over several decades, the anti-discrimination laws are used to fight the most egregious cases of abuse where there is also a victim who is able and willing to go through the ordeal of being a public spectacle; 
• more significantly, an increasingly larger proportion of younger people are taught counters to the hate their parents are trying to inculcate in them, together with other parents choosing decency, and some (often grudging and/or unmeant) public education, and that form of discrimination becomes less acceptable; 
• a final stage where society moves from tolerance or acceptance to welcoming, embracing and appreciating - this is when we have things like the anti-racism  concept.
  

The closest we have come to accomplishing that last step is with the fight against slavery - the fights against sexism and racism have made good progress in the last few centuries, but - globally - we have a long way to go as yet.

I was moved to write this post because of another form of discrimination - one of several I have experienced, which is ageism, which was written about in this article. 

Ageism is illegal, but both both forms of it exist - I still get frustrated by some of the ageism people my age show against those who are younger, I still get annoyed by those younger people who think older peoples experience doesn’t count, and become risible at attempts to move into anti-ageism that are either silent on the problems of ageing (I do not have the energy I did in my 40s), or patronising (we’ll look after you, or it won’t be too hard - there’s nothing wrong with my mind), or invent some other hidden excuse when applying for a jobs - such as “we’ll get back to you” as a cover for “we want someone younger who we can work into the ground because they’re too terrified of not being able to support their family” - which actually also applies to older people, but ageist assumptions lead to to IPOCs thinking older people - who could never have experienced unforeseen illnesses, accidents, financial troubles, etc (yes, I’m resorting to sarcasm).

Older people are getting organised and either countering or at least calling out (as shown by the article I liked to above) old age based ageism, but younger people are still being silenced by too many people (e.g., see here). 

We need to do better, and I have two suggestions on that. 

Firstly, much as there is comprehensive reporting on gender to WGEA, institute age-based reporting which compares the age profile of companies to society's age profile, together with an expectation that companies address any differences (I wrote about that here). 

Secondly, report on the time taken to find jobs at various age categories - again, with an expectation that shortcomings be addressed. This would also have to record those who give up looking for other work.

Addressing the ability to move into new jobs for aged people, and to be given an open-minded and open-hearted chance for younger people, is going to be crucial to our society addressing the issue of the ageing population - and just compelling people top work longer before they can access the age pension is NOT even the beginnings of a solution.