Aging and Gender: Overview

[Page 41]Just as gender affects and influences early human development, gender continues to be a critical aspect of development well into the later stages of life. As there is a rapidly growing number of Americans over the age of 65 years, expanding one’s understanding of how gender influences the process and experience of aging for those in their later years becomes increasingly relevant to research. The terms gender and sex are distinct from each other in that gender is socially constructed and sex is biologically based. Although both of these constructs are important in relation to aging, as the effects of gender and sex are so often intertwined, competently differentiating between the influence of these social and biological factors on aging is beyond the scope ...