ABSTRACT
The particular vulnerabilities of women and the vicissitudes of aging combine to isolate the older women. This situation, which urban settings often exacerbate, is concerned. A fiction persists that the majority of the old live in nonmetropolitan areas or in retirement communities. Despite diversities, older women in the city share structural and psychological hazards. In general, old people in urbanized societies are relatively powerless to decide their children's occupational and marital fates. Achieved statuses replace ascribed ones; young people do not have to wait for a parent's death or generosity in order to secure land, jobs, or spouses. In any event, these kinds of resources were held by men, not women. The old woman in the suburb or small town will have greater difficulty than her urban counterpart in securing social services that are typically located in areas with high concentrations of elderly.
