Age related Microaggressions
Contents
- What is Ageism?
- Why is Ageism a problem?
- Different types of Age discrimination
- Direct Discrimination
- Indirect discrimination
- Harassment
- Victimisation
- What does age related microaggression look like?
- How to recognise age related microaggressions
- Age related Micro Affirmative Behaviours
- Download our posters
1. What is Ageism?
Ageism also known as age discrimination is when someone treats you unfairly because of your age.
As per the World Health Organisations Ageism report, ageism refers to the way we think (stereotype), how we feel (prejudice) and how we act (discrimination) towards others based on age 1.
Ageism can affect everyone. There are stereotypes and prejudices that can guide people’s behaviour to people of different ages. In this reference, we will be considering age discrimination on both younger and older members of the profession.
Experiencing ageism can impact your confidence, job prospects, financial situation, and quality of life.
Ageism often intersects and interacts with other forms of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, including ableism, sexism and racism. Experiencing multiple intersecting forms of bias compound disadvantage and make the effects of ageism on individuals’ health and well-being even worse.
Ageism and ableism are closely intertwined in ways that can often result in mutual reinforcement.
The term “gendered ageism” has been coined to cover the intersection of age and gender, and it refers to differences in ageism faced by women compared with men. This has been evidenced with women experiencing ageism more than men 1.
2. Why is ageism a problem?
In the UK, ageism affects people of all ages, with one in three people experiencing age – based prejudice or discrimination. Evidence shows ageism is widespread in society and can be found everywhere from our workplaces and health systems to the stereotypes seen on TV, advertising and in the media.
It can change the way we view ourselves and can devalue or limit our ability to benefit from what younger and older populations can contribute, it can impact our health, wellbeing and have economic consequences.
In the RPS Inclusion and Diversity strategy, age was highlighted as one of the key barriers to working in pharmacy requiring more support and improvement, with more work needed to reach out to pharmacists at different stages of their careers. There are examples of age discrimination across the board in pharmacy which we would like to remove through highlighting what an age microaggression can look and sound like and how to be more age micro affirmative.
Having a diverse group from different years of experiences and ages brings multiple viewpoints, which leads to better decision-making and problem-solving. Research suggested that multigenerational teams are more productive and have less turnover than teams of the same age.
Older team members may have decades of experience, skills and expertise that is difficult to teach and can serve an important role as mentors. Younger members will bring different ideas and perspectives.
3. Different types of age discrimination:
Direct Discrimination
Direct discrimination refers to situations where someone is treated less favourably than someone else in a similar situation because of their age.
Younger pharmacists may have experienced discriminatory comments from their colleagues, as there is an assumption, they are under qualified for a role compared to an older pharmacist, and therefore are less knowledgeable.
Older pharmacists may experience discriminatory comments from their colleagues about being too old to learn a new skill.
Indirect discrimination
It is indirect discrimination to have a rule, a policy or practice which applies to everyone, however, puts a particular age group at a disadvantage.
An example of this may also occur when care is offered in such a way that older people are disadvantaged because they are disproportionately affected.
It could also be seen in recruitment if the job description for a pharmacy post specifies the applicant should be recently qualified or have at least 10 years of experience. Specifying particular years of experience is likely to be discriminatory towards particular age groups.
Harassment
Harassment in the workplace occurs when someone makes you feel humiliated, offended or degraded based on an individual's age. This behaviour can include bullying, nicknames and threats.
This could include pretending an older employee is deaf or teasing a colleague by saying that they are too young to know any better.
Victimisation
This is when you’re treated badly because you have made a complaint of age related discrimination. It can also occur if you’re supporting someone who has made a complaint of age-related discrimination.
Ageism can also be internalised, leading people to limit their own behaviour and opportunities, describing themselves in negative ways such as ‘past it’ or ‘over the hill’ leads to people being forced out of the workforce or being passed over for job progression.
There is also, institutional ageism which refers to the laws, rules, social norms, policies and practices of institutions that unfairly restrict opportunities and systemically disadvantage individuals because of their age.
See also, Legal view: What are the four types of age discrimination in pharmacies?
1 https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240016866