Is There Life After Fifty?

Abstract

Research has found negative stereotyping and differential treatment both of women and of the elderly in everyday interactions and in mass media representations. An underresearched cateeorv is middle-aged women. This research included a content L a analysis of 12 issues of a Canadian English-language women's magazine and a comparison of the results with selected characteristics of women 40 to 59 years of age as reported by Statistics Canada. The investigation found that younger middle-aged women (under 50 years) are included, but are underrepresented when compared to the population and to the magazine's readers. Middle-aged women are absent from the covers and the fashion and beauty sections; they are underrepresented in the advertisements, overrepresented in the fiction, portrayed positively but realistically in the editorials, and are shown as winners in a world of challenges in articles on health, family, work, and public life. In general the middle-aged women are white, middle class, heterosexual, well-educated, and employed. Messages about women's aging as portrayed in Chatelaine are interpreted especially in the light on feminist theory.