Barbara Macdonald
Barbara Anne Macdonald (nee Charles, September 11, 1913 – June 15, 2000) was a social worker, lesbian feminist and ageism activist. Macdonald believed that ageism was a "central feminist issue" and made it the core of her activism. At the time, she was a "lone voice" fighting against and talking about ageism. Macdonald felt that ageism divided women and that the stigma of aging became a trap. In addition, Macdonald felt that defining women by their familial roles was the central contributor to ageism. She felt that older women tend to be seen as caretakers and mother-figures instead of as individuals. Macdonald used her anger to fuel her activism and through her anger, she identified many aspects of age-related issues that affect older women, such as poverty, physical challenges caused by age, violence against older women, and health issues: all of which she felt were not adequately addressed by younger feminists. Macdonald's activism inspired the formation of the group Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, which works in the United States to fight ageism.
(from Wikipedia)
“Some women I talk to are so frightened of growing old. I sense their desperation. They say things like I m not going to live to be old I m not going to live to be dependent. The message young women get from youth culture is that it s wonderful to be young and terrible to grow old. If you think about it it s an impossible dilemma how can you make a good start in life if you are being told at the same time how terrible the finish is Because of ageism many women don t fully commit themselves to living life until they can no longer pass as young. They live their lives with one foot in life and one foot outside it. With age you resolve that. I know the value of each day and I m living with both feet in life. I m living much more fully... The power of the old woman is that because she s outside the system she can attack. And I am determined to attack it. One of the ways in which I am particularly conscious of this stance is when I go down the street. People expect me to move over which means to step on the grass or off the curb. I just woke up one day to the fact that I was moving over. I have no idea how many years I ve been doing that. Now I never move over. I simply keep walking. And we hit full force because the other person is so sure that I am going to move over that he isn t even paying any attention and we simply ram each other. If it s a man with a woman he shows embarrassment because he s just knocked down a five foot seventy year old woman and so he quickly apologises. But he s startled he doesn t understand why I didn t move over he doesn t even know how I got there where I came from. I am invisible to him despite the fact that I am on my own side of the street simply refusing to give him that space he assumes is his”