Journalists must look more closely at the diverse, aging workforce. Ageism doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Experts from the Trust for America’s Health and the Urban Institute discuss how the intersectionality of race, sex, ability and wealth also matter.
by Hope Kahn, National Press Foundation
Adults are not a monolith, Karon Phillips, a public health gerontologist and policy development manager at Trust for America’s Health said. It’s critical to be mindful of other factors; the intersectionality of ageism. Phillips and Brian Smedley, a senior Fellow in the Office of Race and Equity Research at Urban Institute, share with the Living Longer Fellows what they know.
What intersects with ageism in the workforce? Ageism, sexism, ableism and racism all intersect in the workforce, according to Karon Phillips, a policy development manager at Trust for America’s Health. People make assumptions based on gender, physical ability, race and ethnic groups. Sometimes, microaggressions occur because of assumptions and stereotypes people have about a particular race or ethnic group, Phillips said. Move away from assuming just because someone’s older and a different race or gender that they don’t know how to do something.
“Inequity kills even without COVID,” Brian Smedley, senior fellow at the Urban Institute said. “The United States is characterized by deep inequities on the basis of income, wealth, race, ethnicity, gender ability status, age.” COVID simply reflected those inequities, he said. People of color faced higher infection rates and poorer outcomes once sick. But COVID was not the only pandemic during this time. “It was a dual pandemic of racism and the viral pandemic, what some refer to as a syndemic. When you have a population health risk, such as a deadly virus, exacerbating, preexisting social and economic inequality, that is truly a syndemic. And we have not recovered.”
Nearly a third of our older adults of color experienced high rates of symptomatology, Smedley said. Roughly one in four persons reported mental health symptoms by age 75 and at 50 years of age, about 40% of the sample reported mental health problems, he said. His research used the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, as well as the National Opinion Research Center COVID impact survey, both of which have specific measures of psychological distress as well as general health status. “Folks who were struggling to meet basic needs clearly are going to report more distress.”
Don’t use the term silver tsunami, said Phillips. It is a common expression used to describe the unprecedented increase in the number of older people in the world and the workforce. But being called a tsunami, something that is destructive, isn’t a good thing, she said. The term anti-aging is also negative. “Why are we antiaging? We’re aging from the time we get here. I’m aging, you’re all aging,” she said. “We’re all the aging population.”
Pay attention to healthy aging agendas, and other story ideas. Phillips said that they are focused on helping local and state departments of health adopt a healthy aging agenda. Look at how other departments in cities and states bring policies that either help or hurt the older population – like somewhere implementing more bikes in an older, working community, rather than advocating for a bus route. There are also partnerships that exist to provide opportunities for older adults. For example, the AARP Foundation Experience Corps is a community-based volunteer program that empowers people over 50 to serve as reading tutors. “[Understand] that every generation has a role in the workplace, but also every group has brought something unique to the workplace,” Phillips said.
Speakers: Karon Phillips, Public Health Gerontologist, Trust for America’s Health
Brian Smedley, Senior Fellow, Office of Race and Equity Research, Urban Institute
Takeaways, transcript and resources: [ Ссылка ]
This program is sponsored by AARP. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
