The Invisible Majority
Aging women are still the "invisible majority" of elderly in Canada, despite their in- creasing numbers. Until the 1970s, older women had gone virtually unrecognized in academic literature in gerontology, sociology and women's studies. Aging research has paid little attention to sex differences, and research on sex differences has rarely included the later years (Gatz et al, 1984). Research on aging and sex differences have ignored the reality of older women's lives, ignoring in turn how sexism and the social construction of old age has contributed to older women's low morale, diminished self-esteem and lack of confidence.

The social sciences have been dominated by a male middle-class bias, and this has served to invalidate the unique experiences and perspectives of women. Studies on aging have usually considered older men and women as a homogeneous, asexual group, as Dulude (1988) has stated,

Feminism has begun to correct this bias, but most research on women has concentrated on younger and middle-aged women, just as most active feminist lobbying has focused on issues as they affect women's early and middle adult years. No doubt, changes made now will positively affect the lives of future older women, but the process is a slow and indirect one. McDaniel (1989) has suggested that combining the sociology of aging with the sociology of women will result in more and better research on older women, while the increasing pressure from women, especially "greying" feminists, will force policy-makers to consider the needs of older women.

Ageism is Sexism
Age and sex, being the two dominant ways of organizing people in most societies, are used to define appropriate roles, behaviours and attitudes, as well as to bestow privileges, positions and sanctions upon individuals. Many of the "problems" of older age are uncannily similar to the "problems" of women, and are rooted in our ageist and sexist society. Depression and loneliness are all too characteristic of many women's experiences in their later years.

In a broader social context, growing old returns individuals to the "private" world of domesticity and isolates them from the social and economic relations of the "public" world. In this sense, ageism encountered by elderly men may simply introduce them to the fact that they are now treated "more like women": as increasingly dependent, vulnerable, and marginal. Aging is, for the most part, a "feminized state" (Roebuck, 1983), characterized by low status, economic vulnerability and social exclusion.