ABSTRACT
The topic of gender differences in the life course has lately become much more interesting; at least now we have two sides to the question. Despite the fact that over a decade has passed since some wag noted that any resemblance between white mainstream aging males and anyone else was purely coincidental, the research has been slow to reflect the call for expanded horizons. These short-comings are finally being addressed. In the future, when one of those interesting historical reviews of the shaping of gerontology is published by a young, upwardly mobile, new professional, it will likely be noted that the period of the mid 1980s brought a new leaf in the annals of our field. Conferences were held, the President of the American Sociological Association used the prerogatives of her office to organize a special plenary session to focus on gender differences in a life span context, and entire volumes were published to rectify the oversights. All of this in spite of the fact that the International Year of the Woman, at the beginning of the decade, neglected to include older women as a priority topic. Times they are a-changing.
