Society in general is pretty hard on older people and it increases with age. Think of the way older women are treated as “grandmas”. They can be shoehorned into a role they may not want to play.
> Think of the way older women are treated as "grandmas". They can be shoehorned into a role they may not want to play.
The (American) Jewish term of endearment for a female baby is bubbeleh, which translates roughly as "tiny future grandmother." On the surface it might look like shoehorning, but I think it's meant to be aspirational more than limiting. There may (or may not) be something similar at play here.
I had a specific response to the stereotypical grandma role. I heard it somewhere too long ago to justly represent. But I think it was that grandmothers can be treated like revered figures but generally not taken seriously when they voice concerns or opinions. I wish I had a clearer memory of this point of view...
For men and women it tends to be equal and opposite. Young men are at their lowest social value when young, they're disposable, expected to destroy their bodies to make a living, etc. As they get older their social value goes up. It's the opposite for women whose social value peaks at 18 and declines over the years with a significant drop in the 30s when fertility wanes.
They're the exception that "proves" the rule, really. There's a quote from someone that goes along the lines "Young women are generally the most valued people by society. The people least valued by society are young men." That's probably what the previous comment was rephrasing. I experienced this first hand, as a man, after graduating from college at the start of the great recession and not having any luck finding work for years thereafter.
Having said that, the economy has been very different for this cycle than it was when I was fresh out of college. It clearly varies inside and outside SV, and all the other usual caveats.
