Abstract
The aim of this research piece is to focus on the ‘empowering’ potential inherent in that interface between feminist gerontology and critical educational gerontology. Following a feminist criticism of critical educational gerontology as yet another patriarchal discourse where women are silenced and made passive through their invisibility, I attempt to construct a critical agenda for feminist educational gerontology. Field research was carried out at the University of the Third Age (U3A) in Valletta (Malta), due to the fact that the U3As represent one of the most successful and important educational program specifically developed for older persons. Data analyses reveal the necessity of introducing five principles for the founding a truly feminist educational experience in later life, namely: acknowledging older women as an oppressed population due to the ‘double standard of aging’; a focus on women’s lifelong cumulative disadvantages; emphasizing a ‘politics of difference’; embracing a feminist praxis in both older adult education and research activities; and finally, embodying a drive towards the empowerment of older women in a distinct but collective effort.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenbaum, W. A. (1997). Critical gerontology. In A. Jamieson, S. Harper, and C. Victor, (Eds.) Critical approaches to ageing and later life (pp. 16–26). Buckingham: Open University Press.
Allman, P. (1984). Self-help learning and its relevance for learning and development in later life. In E. Midwinter, (Ed.) Mutual aid universities. Beckenham, Kent: Croom Helm.
Arber, S. and Ginn, J. (1991). Gender and Later life: a sociological approach of constraints. Beverly, CA: Sage.
Baars, J. (1991). Challenge of critical gerontology: the problem of social constitution. Journal of ageing studies, 5 (3): 219–243.
Battersby, D. (1987). From andragogy to gerogogy. Journal of educational gerontology, 2 (1): 4–10.
Battersby, D. and Glendenning, F. (1992). Reconstructing education for older adults: An elaboration of first principles. Australian Journal of Adult and Community Education, 32 (2): 115–21.
Bernard, J. (1976). The future of marriage. Harmonsdsworth: Penguin
Birren, J. E., Kenyon, G. M., Ruth, J-E., Schroots, J. J. F. and Svensson, T. (1996). (Eds.) Aging and biography. Explorations in adult development. New York: Springer.
Bourdieu, P. (1995). State nobility. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Browne, C.V. (1998). Women feminism and aging. New York: Springer.
Calasanti, T. (2004). Feminist gerontology and men. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 59B (6): S305-S314.
Cole, T. R., Kastenbaum, R., and Ray, R. E. (Eds.) (2000) Handbook of humanities and aging. New York: Springer.
Coleman, P. (1999). Creating a life story: the task of reconciliation. Gerontologist. 39 (2) 133–9.
Coyle, J. M. (1997). (Ed.), Handbook of women and aging. Westport. Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Delphy, C. and Leonard, D. (1992). Familial exploitation, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Ellsworth, E. (1989). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. In L. Stone, (Ed.) The education feminism reader. New York, NY: Routledge.
Estes, C. L. (1979). The aging enterprise. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Estes, C. L. Biggs, S., and Phillipson, C. (2004). Social theory, social policy, and ageing: a critical introduction. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Findsin, B. (2004) Learning later. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company.
Formosa, M. (2000). Older adult education in a Maltese university of the third age: a critical perspective. Education and Ageing. 13 (3): 315–339
Formosa, M. (2002). Critical gerogogy: developing practical possibilities for critical educational gerontology. Education and Ageing. 17 (1): 73–85.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge. Brighton: Harvester Press.
Freire, P. (1972a). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Freire, P. 1972b). Cultural action for freedom. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power and liberation. New York: Bergin and Garvey.
Garner, J. D. (1999). Feminism and feminist gerontology. In J. D. Garner, (Ed.) Fundamentals of feminist gerontology. Binghampton, NY: Haworth Press.
Gibson, D. and Allen, J. (1993). Parasitism and phallocentrism in social provisions for the aged. Policy Sciences, 26, 79–98.
Glendenning, F. (1991). What is the future of educational gerontology? Ageing and Society, 11 (2): 209–16.
Glendenning, F., and Battersby, D. (1990). Why we need educational gerontology and education for older adults: A statement of first principles. In F. Glendenning, and K. Percy (Eds.), Ageing, education and society: Readings in educational gerontology. University of Keele, Staffordshire: Association for Educational Gerontology.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks. In Q. Hoare and G. Nowell Smith (Eds.) London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Heath, S. (1987). Male feminism. In A. Jardine, and P. Smith, (Eds.), Men in feminism. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (1981). Ain’t I a Women? Black Women and Feminism. Boston, MA: South End Press.
Hopkins, P. D. (1998). How feminism made a man out of me: The proper subject of feminism and the problem of men. In T. Digby, (Ed.), Men doing feminism. New York: Routledge.
Kimmel, M. S. (1995). (Ed.) The Politics of Manhood: Profeminist men respond to the mythopoetic men’s movement (and the mythopoetic leader’s answer). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Laslett, P. (1996). The intellectual dependence of the third age. In A. Schembri (Ed.) Education for the elderly: A right or an obligation. Malta: University of Malta.
Laws, G. (1995). Understanding ageism: Lessons from feminism and postmodernism’, Gerontologist, 35 (1): 112–118.
Marx, K. (1963). Theses on Feuerbach. In T. B. Bottomore (Ed.) Karl Marx: Selected writings in sociology and social philosophy. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Marx, K. (1964). The economic and philosophical writings of 1844. New York: International Publishers.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1963). The German ideology. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Mayo. P. (1999). Gramsci, Freire and adult education: possibilities for transformative action. London: Zed Books.
Midwinter, E. (1984). (Ed.) Mutual aid universities. Beckenham, Kent: Croom Helm.
Midwinter, E. (1987). The university of the third age as leisure provider. In J. Armstrong, E. Midwinter, and D. Wynne-Harley, (Eds.) Retired leisure: four ventures in post-work activity. London: Centre for policy on ageing.
Midwinter, E. (1996). Thriving people: the growth and prospects of the U3A in the UK. London: Third Age Trust.
Minkler M. and Estes, C. (Eds.) (1999). Critical gerontology: perspectives from political and moral economy. Amityville, NY: Baywood.
Minkler, M. (1996). Critical perspectives in ageing: New challenges for gerontology. Ageing and Society, 16 (4), 467–87.
Moody, H. (1992). Gerontology and critical theory. The Gerontologist. 32 (3): 294–95.
Moody, H. (1993). Overview: What is critical gerontology and why is it important?, in T. Cole, W. Achenbaum, P. Jakobi and R. Kastenbaum, (Eds.) Voices and visions of ageing: toward a critical gerontology. New York: Springer.
Palmore, E. P. (1997). Sexism and ageism. In J. M., Coyle, (Ed.) Handbook of women and aging. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Phillipson, C. (1982). Capitalism and the construction of old age. London: Macmillan.
Ray, R. E. (1999). Researching to transgress: The need for critical feminism in gerontology. In J. D. Garner (Ed.), Fundamentals of feminist gerontology. Binghampton, NY: Haworth Press.
Sherwin, S., (1988). Philosophical methodology and feminist methodology. In L. Code, (Ed.) Feminist perspectives: Philosophical essays on methods and morals. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Sontag, S., (1975). The double standard of aging. In no longer young: the older women in America. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute of Gerontology.
Swindell, R., (1995). Intellectual changes in later life: why bother? Social Alternatives, 14 (2): 15–19.
Swindell, R., 1997. U3As in Australia and New Zealand: their value to the wider community and new directions for future development. International journal of lifelong education, 16 (6): 474–90.
Vellas, P. 1997. Genesis and aims of the universities of the third age, European Network Bulletin, 1: 9–12.
Walker, A. (1981) Towards a political economy of old age, Ageing and Society. 1 (1): 73–94.
Weiler, K. (1991). Freire and a feminist pedagogy of difference. Harvard Educational Review, 61: 449–74.
Weiner, G., (1994). Feminism in Education: An Introduction. Buckingham: Open University.
Withnall A. and Percy, K. 1994. Good practice in the education and training of older adults, England: Ashgate.
Withnall, A., (2000). The debate continues: integrating educational gerontology and lifelong learning. In F. Glendenning (Ed.) Teaching and learning in later life, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Marvin Formosa is a lecturer within the European Centre of Gerontology, University of Malta whilst also holding visiting lectureship positions within the Department of Sociology of the same University and the International Institute on Ageing (United Nations—Malta). His principal fields of interest are in critical sociology of ageing, critical gerontology, educational gerontology, social class in later life, and Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Formosa, M. Feminism and critical educational gerontology: An agenda for good practice. Ageing Int. 30, 396–411 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-005-1023-x
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-005-1023-x