Journal of Women & Aging最新文献

Cognitive vulnerability and social support among aging women caregivers. 老年妇女照顾者的认知脆弱性与社会支持。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-05-05 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2660104

Minsung Sohn, Mi Sun Kim

{"title":"Cognitive vulnerability and social support among aging women caregivers.","authors":"Minsung Sohn, Mi Sun Kim","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2660104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2660104","url":null,"abstract":"This 15-year longitudinal study examined the association between family caregiving and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults in South Korea, focusing on gender differences and the moderating role of social support. Using data from 6,481 participants in the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2020), cognitive function was assessed with the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). Family caregiving experience was defined as reporting caregiving in at least two survey waves between 2006 and 2020. Repeated caregiving exposure was associated with lower cognitive performance in later life, independent of baseline characteristics. Women caregivers showed significantly lower cognitive performance (β = -1.06, p < .001), roughly equivalent to two to three years of age-related decline, while higher education and more frequent social interactions mitigated these effects. Social support, measured by the frequency of meetings with friends or neighbors, moderated the caregiving-cognition association, suggesting a protective gradient. These findings highlight the cumulative cognitive burden associated with repeated caregiving involvement and underscore the need for gender- and age-sensitive interventions. Promoting sustained social engagement may represent a viable strategy to protect caregivers' cognitive health in rapidly aging societies.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147844518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

"Three women make a drama": Neighborhood interactions among older Chinese female migrants. “三女作戏”：中国老年流动女性的邻里互动。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-04-22 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2655453

Danyang Lei, Yixin Jiang, Karim Hadjri, Kar Him Mo

{"title":"\"Three women make a drama\": Neighborhood interactions among older Chinese female migrants.","authors":"Danyang Lei, Yixin Jiang, Karim Hadjri, Kar Him Mo","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2655453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2655453","url":null,"abstract":"Neighborhood environment plays a central role in influencing older migrants' social interactions; yet, how these interactions are mediated by gendered roles, cultural norms, and spatial organization remains underexplored. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with Hong Kong-born women living in subsidized sheltered housing near Newcastle's Chinatown in June 2024, this study adopts a relational perspective to examine how socio-spatio-temporal dynamics shape everyday social engagement. Thematic analysis identifies three interconnected themes: social relationships, social life in place, and temporal change. The findings show that close-knit residential settings can both facilitate everyday interaction and intensify social tension, leading some women to avoid nearby communal spaces. Ethnic enclaves, such as Chinatown, function as important sites of belonging while also constraining wider social integration. Aging trajectories, caregiving responsibilities, and the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic further reshape social participation, with women's social engagement being particularly contingent on collective settings and social atmosphere. The study highlights the importance of staff-led routine activities, inclusive neighborhood spaces that accommodate caregiving, and targeted reinvestment in social infrastructure to support the social wellbeing of aging migrant women in the post-pandemic context.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147785379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Older women reclaiming agency in the films My Favourite Cake and Fate. 在电影《我最喜欢的蛋糕》和《命运》中，老年女性重新获得了代理权。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-04-06 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2655451

Gülçin Con Wright

{"title":"Older women reclaiming agency in the films My Favourite Cake and Fate.","authors":"Gülçin Con Wright","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2655451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2655451","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past decade, there has been a subtle but noticeable increase in the visibility of both older women actors and characters in the film industry. Even though many portrayals of older women in cinema continue to be characterized by sexist and ageist stereotypes, there has also been a rise in their more diverse and complex depictions. Drawing from critical feminist gerontology and feminist film studies, in this paper, I examine the portrayals of older women through a critical feminist thematic analysis of two recent films: My Favourite Cake [Keyke Mahboobe Man] from Iran and Fate [Mukadderat] from Turkey, both released in 2024. Each film is centred on an older widowed woman, Mahin and Sultan, who defy negative stereotypes about older women and restrictive social norms associated with widowhood by reclaiming agency to pursue their interests. Mahin decides to seek companionship after many long years of living alone, whilst Sultan pursues remarriage after her husband's death but eventually decides to work instead. However, the possibilities and challenges for reclaiming agency are shaped by variations in the intersection of gender and age with nationality, socioeconomic status, and rural-urban settings. These films showcase varied facets of exercising agency for older women and their different strategies for overcoming societal constraints. This study provides valuable insight into not only the changing depictions of older women but also how they can exercise their agency based on their capabilities over the life course, even in socio-political landscapes with conventional norms around aging and widowhood.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Agency in later life: The unrecognised operatrices of a fragmented care system. 晚年生活中的代理：支离破碎的护理系统中未被认可的运作。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-03-18 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2643311

Glenn Möllergren

{"title":"Agency in later life: The unrecognised operatrices of a fragmented care system.","authors":"Glenn Möllergren","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2643311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2643311","url":null,"abstract":"Contrasting predominant assumptions of women who live with age-related care needs as passive, unagentic, and helpless, this article explores agency exercised in everyday lives permeated by formal home care services. Using a narrative thematic analysis of interviews, diaries, and observations of three Swedish women in later life using home care services, this study examines their diverse ways of navigating and managing a care system that can be described as complex and fragmented. As users of domiciliary care, they lead, instruct, and educate staff; they prepare for and assist in carrying out service provision, coordinate service agents, and engage empathetically with staff to reduce stress levels. At times, they also protest, resist and criticise, or express contentment in spite of questionable service quality. The analysis conceptualises such manifestations of agency as a regime-dependent, situationally embedded striving to influence everyday life, encompassing not only overt, goal-directed actions but also seemingly passive or contradictory orientations such as withdrawal, acceptance, refusal, or even self-harming practices. The findings demonstrate how the participants - Betty, Ofelia, and Gunnel - each enact distinctive approaches: Betty pragmatically seeks to tailor services to her preferences, Ofelia critically challenges and attempts to influence the system, and Gunnel strives to maintain harmony through collaboration. Their extensive engagement contests assumptions that women in the so-called 'fourth age' have lost their agency. Instead, the study shows that, in becoming operatrices of the care system, they paradoxically uphold or even intensify their agency, which calls for recognising care users' influence over the services they rely on.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147475857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

"Heat within, heat without- nowhere to escape": an intersectional perspective on Israeli women's challenges during menopause. “热内，热外-无处可逃”：对以色列妇女在更年期的挑战交叉的观点。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-03-10 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2640610

Rabab Awad, Natalie Ulitsa, Liat Ayalon

{"title":"\"Heat within, heat without- nowhere to escape\": an intersectional perspective on Israeli women's challenges during menopause.","authors":"Rabab Awad, Natalie Ulitsa, Liat Ayalon","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2640610","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2640610","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores how Israeli women experience menopause in the context of climate change, with a specific focus on the intersection between internal hot flashes and external heat stress during the summer months. Using a qualitative methodology, 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted with women aged 42-60 who reported experiencing hot flashes as a symptom of menopause. The analysis reveals that coping with menopausal symptoms does not occur in isolation but is deeply embedded within environmental, material, and social contexts. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory while using an intersectional lens, the study highlights the significance of personal, interpersonal, material and social resources in managing the dual burden of internal and external heat. Based on these insights, the \"Within-Without Coping Model\" is proposed to conceptualize the layered and intersecting dimensions of coping. Although women in menopause should be recognized as a vulnerable population within climate and health policy, it is also important to acknowledge their agency and creativity in adjusting to the challenges. It is essential to develop gender- and climate-sensitive interventions that address the specific needs of women in midlife.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147436614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Food itineraries and gender inequalities in Spain: Managing meals among older people in times of crisis. 西班牙的食物路线和性别不平等：危机时期老年人的膳食管理。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-03-10 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2640525

Mabel Gracia-Arnaiz, Thalita Kalix Garcia, Montserrat Garcia-Oliva

引用次数: 0

"Not a care home but a political home": How feminist activism influences women's aging. “不是护理院，而是政治之家”：女权主义运动如何影响女性老龄化。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-03-05 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2640343

Anne E Barrett, Brianna Soulie, Hope Mimbs, Avery Solis

{"title":"\"Not a care home but a political home\": How feminist activism influences women's aging.","authors":"Anne E Barrett, Brianna Soulie, Hope Mimbs, Avery Solis","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2640343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2640343","url":null,"abstract":"A central mantra of aging centers on staying socially engaged - a prescription supported by numerous studies reporting how social engagement enhances well-being in later life. Research in this area has primarily focused on interaction with family and friends, paid work, and unpaid activities such as volunteering, while devoting less attention to involvement in organizations with explicitly political goals. Political engagement - particularly activism oriented toward social change - may not only shape communities but also transform how individuals experience and understand their own aging. This transformative potential may be especially significant for women, who are often devalued as they age beyond youth. To explore this possibility, we draw on nine semi-structured interviews with members of the Older Feminist Network (OFN), an organization established in 1982 in the United Kingdom in response to the mainstream feminist movement's limited attention to older women's issues. Consistent with prior studies of other women-centered organizations, we found evidence that involvement in OFN provided social interaction, as well as physical and cognitive activity, that can enrich well-being in later life. Our analyses, however, revealed that its impact extended beyond social connection: It fostered a sense of purpose through shared political commitments and reframed aging through feminist consciousness. By turning the focus from social to political engagement in later life, our study reveals how activism can provide women with an empowering perspective on aging.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147357035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Sequins, satin, feathers and fur - collaborative costume and the ageing burlesque body. 亮片、缎子、羽毛和毛皮——协同服装和衰老滑稽的身体。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-01-28 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2622657

Alice O'Grady

{"title":"Sequins, satin, feathers and fur - collaborative costume and the ageing burlesque body.","authors":"Alice O'Grady","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2622657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2622657","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the efficacy of costume within the context of new or neo-burlesque performance and examines what costume 'does' on stage for older performers. It brings together scholarship on burlesque performance and female ageing and introduces a third theoretical dimension, that of critical costume. The article investigates the role costume plays in burlesque performances and the extent to which it partners with the bodies of older performers both during the creative process and on stage. Adopting object-oriented storytelling as methodology, interviews with professional and semi-professional performers reveal how the aesthetic, technical and material qualities of burlesque costumes act as a vehicle for the performance of pleasure and provide a platform for flamboyant aging. By examining the materiality and performative potential of burlesque costumes, this article offers insights into the transformative power of costume in the context of creative ageing and wellbeing. Drawing on testimony from performers, burlesque costuming is conceptualised as an active collaborator which is capable of producing alternative narratives around the representation of ageing, female bodies.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146067561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

"They say that my years for dying are due, and I should just die": Gendered ageism in healthcare access in Africa. “他们说我的死期到了，我应该去死”：非洲医疗保健服务中的性别年龄歧视。

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-01-19 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2026.2615470

Senjooti Roy, Georgina Veitch, Liat Ayalon

{"title":"\"They say that my years for dying are due, and I should just die\": Gendered ageism in healthcare access in Africa.","authors":"Senjooti Roy, Georgina Veitch, Liat Ayalon","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2026.2615470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2026.2615470","url":null,"abstract":"Gendered ageism refers to discrimination and bias arising from the intersection of age and gender. It leads to the devaluation and mistreatment of older women and may disproportionately impact multiple aspects of their lives. In this study, we explore the effects of gendered ageism on older women's access to healthcare in three African countries. Eighteen women aged 54-85 years were interviewed for this study. Thematic analysis was conducted to explore older women's experiences with healthcare facilities and health staff. Three sub-themes were identified: 1) structural and systemic issues that cause delay or denial of healthcare, 2) lack of person-centered care and disrespectful attitudes of healthcare workers, and 3) perceived control over healthcare decision-making. These sub-themes explore barriers to healthcare at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of interactions with healthcare systems. Gendered ageism may compromise older women's right to health, life, dignity, autonomy, and independence. It may deny older women access to timely and quality healthcare, jeopardizing their lives and limiting their prospects for healthy ageing. Recognition of the wide prevalence of gendered ageism and its impacts are essential for the formulation of health policies aimed at protecting older women from bias and discrimination within healthcare systems.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145999385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The dilemmas of maternal practices and care strategies for middle-aged and older women under China's delayed retirement policy. 中国延迟退休政策下中老年妇女的产妇实践困境与护理策略

IF 1.5 4区社会学

Journal of Women & Aging Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-04 DOI: 10.1080/08952841.2025.2597184

Nana Zheng, Chang Li, Shuqi Ye, Dan Xue, Jinping Zhang

{"title":"The dilemmas of maternal practices and care strategies for middle-aged and older women under China's delayed retirement policy.","authors":"Nana Zheng, Chang Li, Shuqi Ye, Dan Xue, Jinping Zhang","doi":"10.1080/08952841.2025.2597184","DOIUrl":"10.1080/08952841.2025.2597184","url":null,"abstract":"As population aging intensifies and low birth rates persist, the growing burden of pension expenditures has formed an important background for China's implementation of a gradual delayed retirement policy. However, within the traditional gender division of labor in China, middle-aged and older women often bear dual maternal responsibilities-supporting adult children and caring for grandchildren. This study adopts in-depth interviews and participatory observation to engage 11 middle-aged and older women in Xianlin Sub-district, Qixia District, Nanjing. It analyzes their role conflicts under the dual pressures of work and family, and explores the influence of labor systems, gender norms, and welfare institutions. The study finds that although delayed retirement can increase their family income, maintain social networks, and improve their \"empty nest\" living situation, they still face challenges such as dual labor, time poverty under labor systems, exclusion from modern parenting discourses, and physical and mental exhaustion due to dual maternal roles, under the constraints of multiple social structures. These maternal practices reflect the struggles of middle-aged and older women within structural dilemmas arising from family gender role expectations, the lack of social policies and protections, internalized traditional cultural notions, and insufficient social support. Therefore, it is urgently needed to optimize social policies, promote the construction of harmonious family values, implement community-based childcare mutual assistance, and adjust family roles as care strategies to help middle-aged and older women reposition their roles within multiple social structures and reshape maternal spaces.","PeriodicalId":47001,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women & Aging","volume":" ","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145670284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0