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Papers by Nena Georgantzi
University of Toronto Quarterly, 2021
This article contributes to the ongoing debate around the need for a new United Nations conventio... more This article contributes to the ongoing debate around the need for a new United Nations convention on the human rights of older persons. It explores new forms of ageism that have so far been overlooked in the discussion and explores the value of a new treaty from a symbolic point of view. Analyzing the instrumentalization of older persons by ageing policies, and the devaluation of older age as part of age imperialism, we argue that a new treaty can valorize older people’s social status and address them as autonomous subjects. This can be achieved by emphasizing the individual dignity of older persons and by expressing their equal legal recognition. This exploration of the conceptual challenges posed by new forms of ageism provides arguments that may prove useful for reframing the debate around a new convention.
Ageing and Society, 2022
For older persons, age discrimination can undermine equal participation in modern service and con... more For older persons, age discrimination can undermine equal participation in modern service and consumer societies. One way to tackle age discrimination is to implement anti-discrimination policy and legislation. However, age discrimination is an ambiguous concept that can be interpreted in different ways and differences in the interpretation can impact the scope and application of related policy and legislation. Hence, to understand how policy, legislation and their central constructs operate within society, it is necessary to look beyond the letter of the law or policy text and explore the interpretations of age discrimination employed by actors in the field. We interviewed experts from Austria and Ireland, who by virtue of their professional or representative position co-structure the conditions for people to claim they have experienced age discrimination. Based on 12 expert interviews and two focus groups, each involving six representatives of the major national advocacy and inter...
Ageing, Ageism and the Law, 2018
International Perspectives on Aging, 2018
Τhe European Union (EU) provides legal guidance and policy coordination for its member states and... more Τhe European Union (EU) provides legal guidance and policy coordination for its member states and represents an additional layer in the political, economic, and social reality faced by older people. What started as a purely economic union has been transformed into an enhanced interstate collaboration on an increasing number of policy areas. The EU is now expected to act not only in several fields that impact older people's lives, including non-discrimination and human rights, gender equality, patient safety, consumer protection, and passengers' rights, but also to engage in "soft cooperation" on aspects of social security, notably in the fields of pensions and healthcare. Studying ageism at the EU level can, therefore, help to unravel whether the multilateral legal, policy, and economic processes serve to disable or foster the various barriers and discrimination in old age. This chapter does not discuss the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is presented in another Chap. 19 Doron et al., 2018 of this volume, but instead makes a critique of the scope of the EU's agenda to tackle ageism. Focusing on the end of the life spectrum and based largely on experiential knowledge of the EU arena, I do not look into ageism as a theoretical construct but instead am interested in its policy application by the Union's bodies. Under these considerations I critique the EU's narrow agenda, which fails to adequately address equality in old age. I also argue that the Union's conceptualization
International Perspectives on Aging, 2018
Ageing, Ageism and the Law, 2018
This book is about law, ageing and ageism in Europe. Generally speaking, European countries, as w... more This book is about law, ageing and ageism in Europe. Generally speaking, European countries, as well as the European public media and interest are well aware of the ageing of Europe, the demographic shift it is facing, and the future challenges which are related. Nevertheless, much less attention was given in Europe to the social construction of old age, the prejudices, biases, stigmas and discrimination the older Europeans experience in their daily lives. Moreover, the different European legal systems, for example legislators, judges and lawyers, were mostly unaware of or blind to the fact that older persons have unique legal challenges, and that these challenges are the outcome of the way society treats and constructs old age.
Elder Law Studies eJournal, 2019
This paper was prepared as a submission to the United Nations General Assembly Open-Ended Working... more This paper was prepared as a submission to the United Nations General Assembly Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, which is considering the desirability of the development of a new international treaty on the human rights of older persons. The paper explores issues relating to the participation of older persons in the labour market, in particular the barriers to their entry to and continued participation in paid work. It notes that the ‘work’ performed by older persons includes not only paid work in the formal or informal economies, but work that is unremunerated and often goes unrecognised including in national accounts (such as caring and volunteer work). The paper notes the role that ageism plays in shaping and restricting the participation of older persons in work, and describes the particular challenges and discrimination that older women face in the context of work and obtaining access to the labour market. It also addresses the issue of mandatory retirement ages and whether t...
Este trabajo se ocupa del tema de la autonomia y la salud de la poblacion adulta mayor de Europa ... more Este trabajo se ocupa del tema de la autonomia y la salud de la poblacion adulta mayor de Europa en relacion con distintas modalidades de atencion institucional, una vinculacion que se establece sobre todo debido a que en las residencias de larga estadia las personas mayores se encuentran expuestas a serias violaciones de sus derechos humanos, derivadas de una mala atencion y del descuido de su dignidad, en razon de la discriminacion por edad y de la percepcion de la vejez como un destino inevitable. Se abordan dos temas principales: las crecientes limitaciones al ejercicio de los derechos humanos debido a la escasez de recursos y la austeridad, y el marco vigente de proteccion de estos derechos para responder a los desafios que enfrentan hoy las personas mayores.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Both COVID-19 and ageism can have a negative impact on the well-being of older people. Yet, our k... more Both COVID-19 and ageism can have a negative impact on the well-being of older people. Yet, our knowledge on the links between COVID-19, ageism and well-being is still emerging. The present study aimed to contribute to this knowledge by exploring the lived experiences of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, we analyzed older persons’ subjective experiences and perceptions of ageism arising from COVID-19-related policies and discourses in two country contexts—Austria and Ireland—and the implications of these experiences for personal well-being. Based on the thematic analysis of 27 interviews with older adults, we found that participants perceived and encountered a discriminatory homogeneous representation of older people as a group. Three specific forms of this homogenization, namely stigmatization, paternalism, and scapegoating, were identified as impact on well-being. Moreover, our analysis showed how these forms of ageism challenge both the individual and social id...
Innovation in Aging
In recent years ageism has received increase international attention. In 2016 the UN dedicated th... more In recent years ageism has received increase international attention. In 2016 the UN dedicated the International Day of Older Persons to the fight against ageism and the World Heath Organization launched a campaign to combat ageism. This growing interest is also illustrated by the establishment of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, and the related work on a UN convention on the rights of older persons, which, among other things, aims to provide better protection against discrimination. The ongoing discussions about a convention is accompanied by tensions between views assuming an older persons’ specific convention may reproduce age-related group differences and could perpetuate ageism, and those who argue that it will help reducing it. This article critically reflects on these discussions and some aspects of a potential convention that could provide basis for ageism critique. We refer to central sociological and legal arguments of the debate around ageism and age-based disti...
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
University of Toronto Quarterly, 2021
This article contributes to the ongoing debate around the need for a new United Nations conventio... more This article contributes to the ongoing debate around the need for a new United Nations convention on the human rights of older persons. It explores new forms of ageism that have so far been overlooked in the discussion and explores the value of a new treaty from a symbolic point of view. Analyzing the instrumentalization of older persons by ageing policies, and the devaluation of older age as part of age imperialism, we argue that a new treaty can valorize older people’s social status and address them as autonomous subjects. This can be achieved by emphasizing the individual dignity of older persons and by expressing their equal legal recognition. This exploration of the conceptual challenges posed by new forms of ageism provides arguments that may prove useful for reframing the debate around a new convention.
Ageing and Society, 2022
For older persons, age discrimination can undermine equal participation in modern service and con... more For older persons, age discrimination can undermine equal participation in modern service and consumer societies. One way to tackle age discrimination is to implement anti-discrimination policy and legislation. However, age discrimination is an ambiguous concept that can be interpreted in different ways and differences in the interpretation can impact the scope and application of related policy and legislation. Hence, to understand how policy, legislation and their central constructs operate within society, it is necessary to look beyond the letter of the law or policy text and explore the interpretations of age discrimination employed by actors in the field. We interviewed experts from Austria and Ireland, who by virtue of their professional or representative position co-structure the conditions for people to claim they have experienced age discrimination. Based on 12 expert interviews and two focus groups, each involving six representatives of the major national advocacy and inter...
Ageing, Ageism and the Law, 2018
International Perspectives on Aging, 2018
Τhe European Union (EU) provides legal guidance and policy coordination for its member states and... more Τhe European Union (EU) provides legal guidance and policy coordination for its member states and represents an additional layer in the political, economic, and social reality faced by older people. What started as a purely economic union has been transformed into an enhanced interstate collaboration on an increasing number of policy areas. The EU is now expected to act not only in several fields that impact older people's lives, including non-discrimination and human rights, gender equality, patient safety, consumer protection, and passengers' rights, but also to engage in "soft cooperation" on aspects of social security, notably in the fields of pensions and healthcare. Studying ageism at the EU level can, therefore, help to unravel whether the multilateral legal, policy, and economic processes serve to disable or foster the various barriers and discrimination in old age. This chapter does not discuss the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is presented in another Chap. 19 Doron et al., 2018 of this volume, but instead makes a critique of the scope of the EU's agenda to tackle ageism. Focusing on the end of the life spectrum and based largely on experiential knowledge of the EU arena, I do not look into ageism as a theoretical construct but instead am interested in its policy application by the Union's bodies. Under these considerations I critique the EU's narrow agenda, which fails to adequately address equality in old age. I also argue that the Union's conceptualization
International Perspectives on Aging, 2018
Ageing, Ageism and the Law, 2018
This book is about law, ageing and ageism in Europe. Generally speaking, European countries, as w... more This book is about law, ageing and ageism in Europe. Generally speaking, European countries, as well as the European public media and interest are well aware of the ageing of Europe, the demographic shift it is facing, and the future challenges which are related. Nevertheless, much less attention was given in Europe to the social construction of old age, the prejudices, biases, stigmas and discrimination the older Europeans experience in their daily lives. Moreover, the different European legal systems, for example legislators, judges and lawyers, were mostly unaware of or blind to the fact that older persons have unique legal challenges, and that these challenges are the outcome of the way society treats and constructs old age.
Elder Law Studies eJournal, 2019
This paper was prepared as a submission to the United Nations General Assembly Open-Ended Working... more This paper was prepared as a submission to the United Nations General Assembly Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, which is considering the desirability of the development of a new international treaty on the human rights of older persons. The paper explores issues relating to the participation of older persons in the labour market, in particular the barriers to their entry to and continued participation in paid work. It notes that the ‘work’ performed by older persons includes not only paid work in the formal or informal economies, but work that is unremunerated and often goes unrecognised including in national accounts (such as caring and volunteer work). The paper notes the role that ageism plays in shaping and restricting the participation of older persons in work, and describes the particular challenges and discrimination that older women face in the context of work and obtaining access to the labour market. It also addresses the issue of mandatory retirement ages and whether t...
Este trabajo se ocupa del tema de la autonomia y la salud de la poblacion adulta mayor de Europa ... more Este trabajo se ocupa del tema de la autonomia y la salud de la poblacion adulta mayor de Europa en relacion con distintas modalidades de atencion institucional, una vinculacion que se establece sobre todo debido a que en las residencias de larga estadia las personas mayores se encuentran expuestas a serias violaciones de sus derechos humanos, derivadas de una mala atencion y del descuido de su dignidad, en razon de la discriminacion por edad y de la percepcion de la vejez como un destino inevitable. Se abordan dos temas principales: las crecientes limitaciones al ejercicio de los derechos humanos debido a la escasez de recursos y la austeridad, y el marco vigente de proteccion de estos derechos para responder a los desafios que enfrentan hoy las personas mayores.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Both COVID-19 and ageism can have a negative impact on the well-being of older people. Yet, our k... more Both COVID-19 and ageism can have a negative impact on the well-being of older people. Yet, our knowledge on the links between COVID-19, ageism and well-being is still emerging. The present study aimed to contribute to this knowledge by exploring the lived experiences of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, we analyzed older persons’ subjective experiences and perceptions of ageism arising from COVID-19-related policies and discourses in two country contexts—Austria and Ireland—and the implications of these experiences for personal well-being. Based on the thematic analysis of 27 interviews with older adults, we found that participants perceived and encountered a discriminatory homogeneous representation of older people as a group. Three specific forms of this homogenization, namely stigmatization, paternalism, and scapegoating, were identified as impact on well-being. Moreover, our analysis showed how these forms of ageism challenge both the individual and social id...
Innovation in Aging
In recent years ageism has received increase international attention. In 2016 the UN dedicated th... more In recent years ageism has received increase international attention. In 2016 the UN dedicated the International Day of Older Persons to the fight against ageism and the World Heath Organization launched a campaign to combat ageism. This growing interest is also illustrated by the establishment of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, and the related work on a UN convention on the rights of older persons, which, among other things, aims to provide better protection against discrimination. The ongoing discussions about a convention is accompanied by tensions between views assuming an older persons’ specific convention may reproduce age-related group differences and could perpetuate ageism, and those who argue that it will help reducing it. This article critically reflects on these discussions and some aspects of a potential convention that could provide basis for ageism critique. We refer to central sociological and legal arguments of the debate around ageism and age-based disti...
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry