Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of original essays opens up a novel area of inquiry: the distinctively ethical dimension of women''s experiences of aging. Fifteen distinguished contributors here explore assumptions, experiences, practices, and public policies that affect women''s well-being and dignity in later life. The book brings to the study of women''s aging a reflective dimension missing from the empirical work that has predominated to date. Ethical studies of aging have so far failed to emphasize gender. And feminist ethics has neglected older women, even when emphasizing other dimensions of ''difference.'' Finally work on aging in all fields has focused on the elderly, while this volume sees aging as an extended process of negotiating personal and social change.
Trade ReviewThese essays are imaginative forays into the terrain where issues of gender and of aging intersect. Various moral problems are given illuminating and overdue attention, and in addressing them, the authors clarify deficiencies in much dominant moral theorizing. -- Virginia Held, City University of New York
Sharp critiques and fresh writing startle us into more careful thought and (I hope) more caring advocacy. . . . The gender-savvy moral philosophy of this volume joins other new work in the arts and humanities to suggest that feminist age studies is going to have a good millennium. -- Margaret Morganroth Gullette,, author of Declining to Decline: Cultural Combat and the Politics of the Midlife
Mother Time is a vivid, contentious invitation to engage in rethinking widespread assumptions about aging and gender, the better to understand ethical dimensions of women's experiences of aging. All essays are insightful, engaging, and clearly written. * Feminist Formations *
I am greatful to the contributors to Mother Time for focusing on a number of issues associated with aging. -- Mary Mahowald * Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy *
Feminists and philosophers alike have been slow to contribute to the literature of aging. Mother Time helps make up for lost time. The essays—variously trenchant, poignant, daring, and illuminating—spur us toward social justice and personal well-being in the lives of older women. -- Thomas R. Cole, McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, University of Texas School of Medicine
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction Margaret Urban Walker Part 2 Acknowledgments Part 3 Introduction Part 4 I: Looks Chapter 5 1 "There Are No Old Venuses": Older Women's Responses To Their Aging Bodies Chapter 6 2 Miroir, Memoir, Mirage: Appearance, Aging , and Women Part 7 II: Lives Chapter 8 3 Virtues and Age Chapter 9 4 Unplanned Obsolescence: Some Reflections On Aging Chapter 10 5 Stories of My Old Age Chapter 11 6 Getting Out Of Line: Alternatives To Life As A Career Chapter 12 7 Death's Gender Part 13 III: Looking At Health Care Chapter 14 8 Old Women Out Of Control: Some Thoughts On Aging, Ethics, and Psychosomatic Medicine Chapter 15 9 Menopause: Taking the Cure or Curing the Takes? Chapter 16 10 Religious Women, Medical Settings, and Moral Risk Chapter 17 11 Age, Sex, and Resource Allocation Part 18 IV: Living Arrangements Chapter 19 12 Aging Fairly: Feminist and Disability Perspectives on Intergenerational Justice Chapter 20 13 Home Care, Women, and Aging: A Case Study of Injustice Chapter 21 14 Caring for Ourselves: Peer Care in Autonomous Aging Robin Firoe Chapter 22 15 Age Segregated housing as a Moral Problem: An Exercise in Rethinking Ethics Part 23 Index Part 24 About the Contributors
