Ageism And Sexism Essay

740 Words3 Pages

It was harder to find a cartoon for the old man than the old woman. Unfortunately, there were so many cartoons that came up for elderly women that it was hard to pick just one. For the men, there were more just depicting slightly hunched-over seniors that lacked any sort of joke or insulting punch line. This is just one example of the double standard of aging since there are significantly more sexist cartoons that are focused on making fun of elderly women than men.
The first cartoon reflects both ageism and sexism. It makes fun of and overdramatizes how women’s breasts sag when they get older, while the young cashier has fully pushed-up ones. Also, the woman overall looks to be in very poor health and is not wearing shoes, while the younger one looks dressed up and healthy. The second cartoon only reflects ageism. It is making light of the idea that the elderly tend to have negative outlooks on life as they age. While he still looks to be in good health, he looks miserable while reading the newspaper. When comparing the two cartoons, I think they somewhat represent the double standard of aging. This is defined as something that shows both ageist and sexist portrayals of women compared to those of men. Although both cartoons do represent ageist ideas, the ones in the …show more content…

First, women, on average, earn less $10,000 less than men and are more likely to have their jobs cut, resulting in lesser benefits once they reach retirement and old age. In addition, many women have to take significant time out of work due to pregnancy and caregiving compared to men and struggle to make up this difference in pay. Next, women tend to live longer than men, so their savings need to last for a longer period of time and be more spread out. Finally, it has been proven that women are much more likely to be in poverty than men and struggle to get above the poverty level, especially if they are