Social Situations and Self-Images of Older Women

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between social situations and self-images of ageing women in a developing country. In Israel, elderly women have been faced with both normal as well as extraordinary stressful life situations: immigration and cultural adaptation, wars and widowhood, retirement and lowered income, poor health and physical disability. The paper explores the hypothesis that the self-image of older women is socially constructed and is influenced by stressful social situations: immigrant status, widowhood, social isolation and socio-economic status. It is suggested that the personal resources of women (human, economic, physical and mental) shape and limit the qualities an individual may attribute to the self. The question is posed whether society’s negative stereotypes of ageing effect the self-images of older women.