still crucial exceptions, the main one being that this does not apply to those over 65.
If a task genuinely has to be done by someone who has a particular characteristic related to age, it is currently lawful to discriminate in order to achieve this. An example would be the case of an actor having to play a role of a young character—here there can be discrimination against old actors and a young one can be selected. But it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against someone because he or she is over 50 unless they can justify their actions, or it is covered by one of the exemptions included in the law. An example of discrimination could be the case of a job applicant aged 60 who has evidence to show that she is better qualified than the person who got the job, who is aged 35, even though the job advert stated that the employer was looking for a ‘junior manager’. The application form had asked for her date of birth. Pay and benefits should be based on skills, and not age.
In the USA the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. It permits employers to favour older workers based on age even when doing so adversely affects a younger worker. An article in the
Ageism is more than simply having negative attitudes about old age. It can include the following: being refused interest-free credit‚ a new credit card or car insurance because of age; an organisation’s attitude to older people resulting in them receiving a lower quality of service; age limits on benefits such as Disability Living Allowance; a doctor deciding not to refer an old patient to a consultant; losing a job. Age discrimination can involve serious negative treatment that can affect how one lives.
A major biennial survey of over 2‚000 adults run by Age Concern since 2004 exposes the full extent of age discrimination in the UK. It reveals that more than three times more people have been the victims of ageism than any other form of discrimination. Direct discrimination occurs when an employer treats a worker less favourably than other workers on the grounds of age. Three fifths of people aged 65 and over believe older people suffer widespread age discrimination, including in the workplace.
Not surprisingly there was strong support for the Labour minister Harriet Harman’s attack on ageism in a new Equalities Bill which has not been made law, but which advocated ban on age discrimination in provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions. Such a measure could be a milestone in the battle for fairness in later life. But as Age Concern point out,
The Bill only gives ministers the power to ban age discrimination in services if they wish. We want to see an unbreakable legal commitment to introduce new rights, across the public and private sectors. Age discrimination in health and social care services can literally mean the difference between life and death. Because of their age, older people are being denied vital treatments with no legal protection. Each day older people are refused financial products like travel insurance for no better reason than the date on their birth certificate.
Research indicates that most Americans subscribe to at least a mild form of ageism. International Longevity Center-USA found that a majority of older adults reported that they’d been ignored or experienced insensitivity, impatience and condescension from others based solely on their age. The outcome can be more than just an embarrassing situation. Research shows that individuals receiving such treatment often end up with debilitating lowered self-esteem and self-confidence, as well as substandard healthcare. While nearly a third of those in the survey had experienced ageism in the last year, those over 65, and particularly those over 75, were less likely than the rest of the population to view age discrimination as serious.
The former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, aged 76, claimed that Britain is becoming an ageist society ‘worshipping at the altar of the young’, and blamed a 24-hour news culture for perpetuating stereotypes about young and old. He said:
To my mind, ‘old’ is first and foremost something mature, ripened and proven, something that has survived time’s test. But I appreciate that society as a whole, and the media especially, does not see it that way.
Rabbi Julia Neuberger believes that in the UK many older people are demeaned and made to feel worthless. It has been suggested that ageism is worse than racism or sexism because there is so little recognition that it is wrong. Discrimination on the basis of age is under-researched compared with racism or sexism; the most serious form of prejudice is considered to be racism, followed by prejudice based on disability.
Abuse of the elderly is the most serious problem of ageism. As many as half a million elderly people in the UK may be being abused, according to a House of Commons report in 2004. It found two thirds of the cases of abuse occur in people’s own homes, and take the form of sexual, physical and financial abuse, neglect and overmedication. Much abuse is not reported because many older people are unable, frightened or embarrassed to report its presence. Often care staff take no action because they lack training in identifying abuse, or are ignorant of the reporting procedures.
A UK Study of Abuse and Neglect of Older People in 2006 found that in the past year about 227,000 people aged 66 and over living in private households reported that they had experienced mistreatment involving a family member, close friend or care worker. Mistreatment by neighbours and acquaintances was reported in about one third of cases. Overall, half of mistreatment involved a partner or another family member. About 10 per cent involved a care worker, and 5 per cent a close friend. Most of those responsible for physical, psychological and sexual abuse were men, while financial abuse was spread more equally between the sexes. Three quarters of those asked said that the effect of the mistreatment was either serious or very serious, and left the person feeling upset and isolated. About one third told nobody but most told family, friends, or a social worker or health professional. Very few informed the local authority or the police.
In developing countries there is no systematic collection of statistics about abuse, but crime records, journalistic reports, social welfare records and small-scale studies contain evidence that abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of elders are much more common than these societies admit. A hospital manager in Kenya was quoted as saying: ‘Older people are a big headache and a waste of resources. The biggest favour you could do as an older people’s organisation is to get them out of my hospital.’
In healthcare, ageism presents serious problems as the National Service Framework for Mental Health applies only to people below the age of 65. This seems to be a clear case of age discrimination, particularly as dementia affects large numbers of people over 65. Those over that age receive lower-cost and inferior services to younger people, even if they have the same condition. Patients older than 65 are being denied treatments offered to younger people, either because they are too expensive or because they were not referred on by their family doctor.
There is considerable evidence of discrimination against the elderly in healthcare, with staff disbelieving older people’s accounts of their medical or clinical symptoms, or with these being disregarded as a natural condition of their age. Older hospital patients can be seen as financial risks: they are viewed less as human beings with health needs than as costly and inanimate ‘bed-blockers’. Physicians themselves and other healthcare providers may hold attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are associated with ageism against older patients. Studies have found that physicians often do not seem to show concern in treating the medical problems of older people. There is evidence that more than a third of physicians erroneously consider high blood pressure to be a normal part of ageing, and do not treat the condition in their older patients.
The average size of care home for older people in England is 34, compared to nine places in homes for younger adults. Many of the old themselves believe that doctors view them less favourably than younger patients. Fewer than 10 per cent of older people with clinical depression are referred to specialist mental health services compared with about 50 per cent of younger adults with mental and emotional problems. Elderly stroke patients treated in the NHS do not get the same level of care as younger patients, who are scanned more quickly and more often. Mental health wards for older patients are less clean, more noisy and more violent than average.
Rabbi Julia Neuberger and many others have argued for legislation against such age discrimination. Older patients are less likely to have their symptoms fully investigated. A study by the Patients Association reported that some NHS nurses had been shockingly cruel to the elderly; some had been left without food or drink while others
