Few will have failed to miss the headlines over past weeks as Arlene Phillips, a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, became the latest victim of ‘on-screen’ ageism, leaving the show only to be replaced with a younger female judge.
The move came as no surprise to many, particularly older women who have experienced negative ageist attitudes time and again. Arlene is just one woman in a long line of female presenters and personalities in their 40s and 50s who have been dropped from their positions and replaced with younger hosts, including Moira Stuart, 59, from the Sunday-morning news bulletin, Countryfile’s Michaela Strachan, Charlotte Smith, Miriam O’Reilly and Juliet Morris.
Clearly there appears to be a problem with older women being represented on television. There are many explanations or excuses that can be made for this, but we must face the facts. We are living in an ageing society, with more people in the UK over 60 than under-18. Among the 20.7 million people aged over 50, a significant majority of them are women – so why aren’t we seeing older women on our screens, as we do older men? If television wants to stay relevant to all its viewers, ignoring a whole raft of the population looks like a dangerous strategy.
While other women including Kate Adie and Selina Scott have spoken out about the ageist attitudes in television, many others have remained silent on the issue. Yet the high level of debate and anger over Arlene Phillips’ departure suggests that public opinion is gaining strength on this issue. People are asking questions about why it is acceptable to have older men on television, yet older women are shunned. Why can Bruce Forsythe appear with Tess Daly, Trevor Phillips with Julie Etchingham, yet you rarely see an older woman presenting with a younger man?
TV executives continue to deny that the decisions they are making are ageist, but if they are frightened to admit they are still operating behind ageist blinkers, our recent ICM poll of 2047 people shows otherwise. The majority of people agreed that older women are discriminated against in television, with 80% saying television favours younger women over older women. A further 71% said they would be happy to see older women like Arlene Phillips on television. Viewers also thought there should be more older women reading the news, with just nine per cent disagreeing, contrasting with the trend on television for younger female news presenters.
The research adds further weight to comments from the BBC Newsnight presenter Michael Crick, who, writing in the in-house publication Ariel, said there is an absence of older women on television and that it was more difficult for older women to continue careers in television than for men. He also expressed concern that the BBC needed to do more to ‘respect and cherish’ its older viewers.
It is deeply worrying that people are seeing age discrimination right before their eyes, particularly against women. The belief that television favours younger over older women sends out an incredibly negative message, suggesting that as women grow older they are no longer valued or trusted. Television is incredibly powerful and if ageism is to be stamped out, it must represent positive images of older women.
Reassuringly, it seems public opinion has moved on and as a society, we are beginning to accept that it is OK to get older. Broadcasters and employers across all industries must take this lesson to heart. Rather than pushing older people, particularly women, to the sidelines, they should embrace the rich pool of experience and talent they have to offer.