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Although a large proportion of the population is ageing, youth still commands a high value in our society. This study was designed to compare older and younger women's attitudes towards apparel and media. Apparel advertising has evolved from selling a product to selling an image. Various forms of media play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards apparel. Two hundred and twentynine women are surveyed about their attitudes concerning apparel and media. A reliability analysis of the instrument was conducted. A discriminant analysis indicated that, of the 56 items on the apparel and media scales, seven items significantly discriminated between the two groups. There were few differences between age groups, which suggested that women of all ages hold similar attitudes towards apparel and media. However, older women were more tolerant of social appearance errors and more concerned with comfort versus fashion. Older women also seemed to recognise the magnitude and penetration of media in the apparel arena more than younger women, and were less satisfied with apparel currently available. Results have implications for apparel manufacturers and retailers, as well as advertising executives.

The prevalence of older people who use drugs is increasing in many countries, with evidence that some women continue or begin illicit substance use in midlife and older age. While research on older people who use drugs is limited, evidence of risk behaviours among older women who use drugs is particularly inadequate. Unsafe drug use and sexual practices that are prolonged and sustained over many years increase the possibilities for poorer health, leading to potentially greater morbidity and early mortality among older drug users. This chapter is a timely contribution to the extant literature and explores our current knowledge of the risk behaviours of older women who use drugs.

Although midlife is viewed as a transition period in the life course, the normative role expectations of midlife and older women run parallel to the stereotypes of women who use drugs. Furthermore, drug-using bodies are politically and culturally shaped through control and containment practices centred around notions of difference and risk. Acknowledging the intersection of age, race and gender, this chapter frames its position around the concepts of ‘risk’ and ‘edgework’. Utilising these theoretical concepts, this chapter argues that a shift towards a support-focussed model, rather than control of, older women who use drugs is required. The absence of a focussed, gendered analysis of the lives and experiences of older drug users, and older women who use drugs in particular, limits our understanding. Consequently, the chapter concludes with a call for well-designed studies of this increasing and largely hidden cohort of drug users.

Using the concepts of resistance, identity construction, and communicative democracy, I explore the possibility that older women's life histories create and occupy a potentially transformative space within global research on gender. First, such narratives challenge existing hierarchies of age and gender that systematically disadvantage older women. Second, older women use them to assert their own more complex identities (in opposition to those limiting identities assigned to them by others). Third, through their life stories, older women can contribute to democratic dialogue in society at large. I use life history interviews conducted with older women in Cuernavaca, Mexico from 1995 to 1997 as a specific case that supports my overall argument. I contend that the first two processes are already taking place through the act of storytelling and life history narration itself. The more radical methodological claim of this paper is that the act of constructing and communicating life stories is a legitimate and valuable exercise of (political) power.

This paper is a conceptual discussion of the marginalisation of the voices of older lesbians, gay and bisexual (LGB) women, within the collective discourse of “older LGBT* housing”. The purpose of this paper is to critically interrogate its (in)equality implications and to consider ways in which they might be overcome.

This is a conceptual discussion that draws on the social justice model of equality developed by Nancy Fraser, specifically the domains of resources, recognition and representation.

The housing needs, wishes and concerns of older LGB women are often marginalised while at the same time those of older gay men are privileged. Older LGB women’s preferences for gender- and/or sexuality- specific housing are silenced within collective homogenising discourse – by researchers and activists alike – which mobilises a “mainstream” or “LGBT*-specific” binary about housing options.

Research findings which do not include the voices of older lesbian, gay and bisexual women are inherently flawed. There is a need to ensure their voices – across the older age spectrum – are included.

The voices of older LGB women in relation to older age housing need to be better heard so that they can be better resourced.

The marginalisation of older lesbian, gay and bisexual women’s voices in relation to older age housing has profound equality and human rights implications.

Critical discussions about the gendering of older LGBT* housing discourse are long overdue. This paper seeks to open a dialogue about these important issues.

Violence and abuse often occur within the immediate family. However, violence against older women in families is still a taboo topic and professionals who work in community health and social services are often the only persons who have access to the target group. The purpose of this article is to describe research results and a training course developed within two linked European projects.

Both projects were divided into a research and a practical phase. In the first project, data were gathered via a literature review and interviews with health and social services staff. Additionally, a short survey of health and social services organisations, about what provisions they had for dealing with abuse against older women within families, was conducted. In Breaking the Taboo Two, research on existing training material for health care staff concerning violence against older women within families was carried out. Analysis of this material formed the basis for designing a two‐day training workshop for staff members in nine modules on aspects like defining and recognizing violence as well as intervention, cooperating with other organisations and caring for oneself.

A total of 14 trial workshops were carried out in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia in September and October 2011. The target groups ranged from nurses, home helps, care assistants and social workers to Red Cross volunteers from visiting services and crisis intervention. It was established that the topic is very relevant to the participants' work; however, it became clear that this is a very sensitive topic and participants need time to be able to talk openly about such sensitive issues. It also became clear that offering such workshops is an important pillar in developing service providers' policies and procedures concerning violence against older women and can contribute well to networking in this field.

No specific training courses on violence against older women for staff of health and social services could be found until now. This article highlights two projects that deal with raising awareness and training in this field. It also includes findings from a number of European countries that participated in the projects and combines findings gained from research and practical experience.

The purpose of this paper is to examine demographic details, disclosure and reporting behaviour of older women Rape Crisis Centre (RCC) service users in Ireland.

Statistical analysis of 15 Irish RCC records was carried out, using the Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) statistical database. In addition, two illustrative case studies were examined.

Older women were under-represented as RCC service users in Ireland. They were more likely to be disabled, less likely to report an incident of sexual violence and more likely to delay disclosure than younger women. Older women also had poor knowledge about sexual violence and services available to older women survivors.

Data were drawn from RCCs. Therefore, results may not reflect the population of Ireland as a whole. Population-based studies should be carried out to gauge the prevalence and nature of sexual violence among older women and assess reporting and disclosing behaviours.

The paper provides important indications of barriers to accessing RCC services among older women. Health care providers should receive education and training in identifying survivors of sexual violence among older women and providing referral where needed. RCCs should ensure that services are fully accessible to the disabled.

This paper provides unique data about older women service users which will be of value to those working with older women or in the violence against women and health sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of domestic abuse on the health and lives of older women.

A qualitative research design was used and data were collected using in‐depth interviews with 16 older women who had experienced domestic abuse. The interviews varied between one and two hours in length and, with the participant's permission, all of the interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was undertaken utilising an iterative approach. In the present study all data were manually indexed and coded.

The findings of this study illustrate that the consequences of domestic abuse for older women are far reaching, impacting significantly on the long‐term health and emotional wellbeing of those affected. This paper also highlights that there is currently little available data regarding older women and domestic abuse within the particular context of health. This is increasingly being recognised as a significant deficit in awareness and understanding within society as a whole and, more particularly, for those responsible for support and care provision. Existing policy in this field and the implications for service development are also considered.

This is a small scale study and therefore there are limitations in terms of generalisability.

This paper discusses the specific issues that arise for older women who have experienced domestic abuse within the particular context of health.

Although older women are at disproportionate risk of falling and becoming injured, little is known about the effect of falling on their quality of life. In this qualitative study, we examined the perceived causes of falling among older women, identified how older women's quality of life is influenced by falls, and explored how women can be empowered to prevent falls from occurring in their lives. Women who participated in focus groups indicated that the consequences of falling ranged in severity and duration and encompassed physical and psychosocial domains. The women took some ownership of preventing falls in their lives and believed that falls were caused by factors in the physical environment and personal health factors and practices. The results allow us to gain insight into the consequences of falls on the lives of older women, and that older women can influence change by preventing falls from occurring in their lives.

There are substantive gaps in the literature in relation to older women in prison This chapter will utilise the risk, need and responsivity framework to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics attributable to this small but significant group. To date most research into the experiences of older women in prison consist of relatively small-scale qualitative research. Wahidin (2004) argues that this group may have been overlooked and broadly neglected because of a latent form of ageism which has served to permit organisational oversight (p. 10). While others reflect on the difficulties posed by such small numbers and subsequent lack of statistical power resulting in a dearth of research (Omolade, 2014).

Britton and Jensen (2003, p. 2) emphasised a well-documented dichotomy when they stated that a ‘women’s violence stands in stark contradiction to prevailing norms around (white) femininity’. For older women, a crude lack of intersectionality and denial of reality is combined with the systemic male bias of the criminal justice system (Kerr & Shackel, 2018), limited acknowledgement of variability (Chrisler & Palatino, 2016) and how these factors are considered in terms of risk, need and responsivity (Wilson-Smith & Carr, 2017).

This chapter will utilise these considerations as a foundation together with theoretical underpinnings of development, socialisation and incarceration, in order to further develop knowledge while emphasising the hidden challenges of older women in prison and identifying areas requiring urgent development.

By age 77 a plurality of women in wealthy Western societies are widows. Comparing older (aged 70+) married women to widows in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2003–2018 and linking the data to the Current Population Survey allow inferring the short- and longer-term effects of a demographic shock – husband's death – and measuring the paths of adjustment of time use to it. Widows differ from otherwise similar married women, especially from married women with working husbands, by cutting back on home production, mainly food preparation and housework, mostly by engaging in less of it each day, not doing it less frequently. The ratio of time to money expenditures on one item – food – is higher among married older couples than among widows. Widows are alone for 2/3 of the time they had spent with their spouses, with a small increase in time with friends and relatives shortly after becoming widowed. Older French, Italian, German, and Dutch women exhibit similar differences in time use; European widows also feel less time stress than married women. Following older women in 18 European countries before and after a partner's death shows that becoming widowed reduces their feelings of time pressure.