By Karen Stabiner, New York Times
Most elderly women today never worked outside the home, while most of their daughters did or still do. Members of these two generations approach the question of how to spend their days with very different skill sets.
An elderly woman may have successfully navigated life as a mother, wife and guardian of home and hearth. But liberation from those daily responsibilities later in life can be disorienting, said Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University.
To many women who have lived what she calls “a circumscribed life,” newness doesn’t always appeal, not after decades of a familiar and satisfying routine. Men who spent their lives in the workplace are familiar with new social situations and are less likely to feel unease, she said. A woman whose life has had a narrow, if intense, focus is likely to have more trouble branching out.
“It gets harder to make friends — most people find it harder when they’re older,” said Dr. Tannen. Many older women, she suggests, are simply more comfortable in a world they can control.
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