The Canadian population is aging, bringing with it an increasing number of social and economic challenges. With the aging of the workforce, the reconceptualization of older workers and retirement, the increasing share of women in the labour force, the elimination of mandatory retirement, the fluctuating economy, and the changes to the pension system, barriers to employment for older workers, such as ageism, need to be of central concern.

Ageism at Work examines the subjective experiences of older workers in Canada and explores how they negotiate ageism and manage their interactions in the employment setting. Further, this book looks at the intersection between age and gender and the pervasiveness of gendered ageism in the labour market. Finally, this book examines employers’ attitudes towards older workers quantitatively, while also exploring their first-hand accounts about them through qualitative inquiry. Understanding how ageism plays out in the labour market, how it intersects with sexism, and its consequences on a personal level are critical to moving the discussion on discrimination and human rights forward in Canada.

Ellie Berger is an associate professor of sociology at Nipissing University, North Bay. Her research focuses on age, gender, and work. She has published in the Gerontologist, Canadian Journal on Aging, Journal of Aging Studies, and Age Matters: Re-Aligning Feminist Thinking. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Ageism at Work: Negotiating Age, Gender, and Identity in the Discriminating Workplace.

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