Introduction

This chapter, like the preceding one on youth, focuses on equality issues related to age. It proceeds by first highlighting the significance of age discrimination in the context of it often being considered socially less important than racism, sexism or other forms of oppression. It is argued that the concept of the ‘third age’ is potentially a basis from which to challenge age oppression, as long as diversity issues are taken into account. Recent trends in discrimination and human rights policies and their benefits and limitations for older people are then reviewed, before the chapter focuses centrally on the SEQUAL research into a group of older adult learners that sought to highlight their experiences in the labour market and give voice to their views about them.

Diversity and discrimination in third age experiences

The anti-ageist term ‘third age’ seeks to combat the stereotyping of old age as a time of necessary withdrawal and disengagement from social life, followed by inevitable physical and mental decline. The third age refers to the stage in life at which people may be moving towards the close of their full-time working careers while remaining active and independent. The concept originated in France in 1972 and was introduced in Britain through the self-help leisure and educational organisation University of the Third Age (U3A) in 1981 (www.u3a-info.co.uk). The concept does not imply a specific age, as the age at which people are considered ‘old’ varies greatly, according to sector, class, gender or ethnicity. In some spheres, such as computer engineering, 35 may be considered old, while in politics or the judiciary 60 may be thought young. Thus while 45-50 is a commonly used boundary between the second and third ages, entry to it is variable (Plant, 2005).

For policy research purposes some boundary has to be set, and there is also a need to differentiate phases within ‘old age’. Rather than taking the state pension age as the boundary, the Family and Working Lives Survey on the employment and family histories of a sample of around 11,000 people decided on 50 as a threshold: this is the age at which manual workers’ risk of long-term unemployment rises (McKay and Middleton, 1998). The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) chose the same point at which to review the health experiences of older people when differences in class mortality, especially among men, become apparent (IFS, 2006).