[Old age, a world of women.]

This article condemns the common practice of lumping old people in one sexless category, and makes the point that aging is mainly a woman's issue. It argues that the crucial difference between elderly women and men is that men lose their professional life but keep the same family situation, while most women lose both their job and their family life through becoming widows. After giving specific examples of problems that are particular to old women, the author demonstrates that most of them are not inevitable but are instead the product of sex role socialization.