ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some existing and some prospective ways that unjust cultural assumptions and social practices. It addresses the social marginalization of older women and their devaluation as moral subjects. A variety of rituals that celebrate women's bodily experiences and transition points have been created, mostly by independent groups of women from a variety of established and newly emerging religious traditions. New rituals are emerging or have yet to be created that celebrate retirement, becoming a grandparent, leaving one's home, and entering a nursing home. These kinds of rituals, done in communities, may be seen as acts of resistance against cultural values that militate against the importance of women's transitions, especially the transition into older age. Jewish older women are sometimes subjected to a triple gaze: male, young, and the dominant culture's gaze. Visual images of women, in the cinema, television, or advertising, likewise fail to render women-defined representations.
