Age of discrimination

One would think Indians are better equipped to handle the vagaries of an ageing body and mind since they’re culturally ingrained to equate old age with wisdom, and death is seen as accompanying life in a self-renewing cycle, not to be feared.

Obedience and respect prefigure in interactions with those older while the young are coddled with affection. Not surprisingly, conspicuously aware of one’s age in relation to those around, ageism in the country takes on a far more insidious, silent form, making it even more difficult to overcome.

Workplace woes
Age discrimination has been in the news recently after it was discovered that only 20% of BBC One’s presenters and actors in the UK are over 50. In fact, workplace studies have found that age discrimination is endemic to industries like media and advertising, where productivity is equated with immediate results.

Rajendrasingh Vichare, 53, a former sales executive, found the
demands of meeting daily targets too stressful after a point. “If you don’t bring in the numbers, your colleagues can get insulting. While I wasn’t directly asked to leave, I was feeling so pressurised that I decided to put in my papers,” he says.

Like most deep-rooted prejudices, ageism isn’t just experienced in relation to others, but can also be self-imposed. Nidhi Mishra, manager of Dignity Foundation’s Second Careers, a job portal that offers senior citizens a chance to find employment, says, “Most senior citizens who want to take up jobs after a period of retirement express fears about what will be expected of them or are hesitant about returning to a workplace environment alien to the one they’ve been accustomed to.”

Other times, the discrimination is more visible but disregarded for lack of choice. Two years ago, Second Careers was able to place Pauline Dmello (name changed), 63, in a company where her job profile was similar to the one before retirement. However, Pauline gets paid one-third her previous salary. When asked about her workplace, she says, “I have been able to get along well with everyone,” then adds as a careful afterthought, “I’m the non-interfering type; I mind my own business.”

While the old feel sidelined, the young find it difficult to break into professions, well aware that being dispensable makes them susceptible to exploitation. Content developer Apurva Bhatia, 22 and fresh out of college, joined a startup magazine as an intern two years ago. “I wasn’t getting paid much, but I thought it would be good work experience,” he says. Soon two members in his team quit and all the work had to be split between him and a full-time hand. “I was working as much as, or even more than, the regular employees; so I told my boss that the company should either pay me more or take me in full-time. I was told that wasn’t going to happen and that I was free to take a walk if I wanted,” he says.

Trisha (name changed), 26, feels her age comes in the way of negotiating terms of employment during job interviews. “Even if you have adequate work experience, they’re suddenly hesitant of giving you a slightly senior designation. You end up having to do all the work anyway, and they promise to change your designation in a few months. But there’s nothing written down, so there’s no guarantee that it will happen. You have to work that much harder
to show that you can take responsibility and have the  required skills,” she says.

Perception at play
Clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany feels age discrimination primarily stems from insecurity. “It happens all the time, between siblings, between different age groups at a workplace or even in families.” she says. Twenty-two-year-old Mukul Chaudhari recalls a time when he was 15 and happened to question his uncle’s choice of cell phone. The uncle retorted with a condescending remark that Mukul remembers to this day. “I could have brought him down by pointing out to him all the features his phone lacked. But you know social norms; you don’t talk back to elders,” he says.

Labelled as reckless, impolite and selfish, being young these days comes with its fair share of baggage. On a Delhi summer afternoon MBA student Kanika Chauhan, 21, went to a supermarket to buy a bottle of water and saw a long line at the billing counter. So she politely requested an old lady right in front of the line if she could jump the queue. “She could have just said no, but she gave me a very rude reply. I think older people expect us to be ill-mannered. They assume we can’t be civil,” she says.

Age of reason
Last week 13-year-old Colin Carlson — a child prodigy who started reading on his own at age 2 or 3 and is a sophomore at the University of Connecticut — was denied his request to take a class that includes summer fieldwork in South Africa. He was allegedly told that he was too young for the course, despite his professors calling him an ‘outstanding student’. Colin proceeded to file an age discrimination claim with the university and the US Department of Education. “I’m losing time in my four-year plan for college; they’re upsetting the framework of one of my majors. The faculty and students have better things to do than worry about a 13-year-old holding his own,” AP reported Carlson as saying.

Emotional maturity, like IQ, is wrongly correlated with age. Take spirituality, for instance. Spiritual interests in a young person are viewed as a casual phase, or if it persists, a malfunction.

Priyadarshini, 24 and a self-confessed meditation junkie, says, “You’re spotted with a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi, and you’ll inevitably be asked, ‘Did someone dump you?’ Or your parents will get worried that you’re going to take a vow of chastity.”

Hingorarrany says, it is conditioning that leads us to believe that people become smarter and more mature as they become older. Harshada Gaunkar (name changed), a fifteen-year-old teenager finally took a stand after watching her parents squabble for the nth time. She succinctly told them how to deal with their issues. After the initial surprise, her parents became defensive. “They told me that while what I said was right, I had no business talking about stuff that was beyond my age,” she says. Gaunkar was so emotionally affected that she stopped interfering when her parents spoke to each other.

Young is the new old
However, in a social sphere dominated by ideals of youth and vitality, where every avenue for self-expression, growth and entertainment is geared towards the young, it’s inevitable that the elderly feel unfairly isolated. In a consumer culture, youth holds the highest currency, says Dr KG Gayathridevi, Associate Faculty at Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. Today, youth can literally be bought — a cool branded t-shirt, hair dye to hide the greys and for those who can afford it, a nip and tuck to turn back the clock. Materialism is the mantra of the young, and certain older ones are only too happy to keep up.

“While movies and television talk about elders getting a second lease on life by getting married or staying together for the sake of companionship, in reality, society still frowns upon such behaviour,” says psychiatrist Dr Milind Joshi. In urban spaces however, says Gayathridevi, “upward mobility is crucial.  Earlier, people’s social circle was a class or community. Now social circles have expanded; each is known to many, and they would like to be accepted. Being modern and young is seen to be progressive.”

(with inputs from Joanna Lobo)