Beauty Practices and the Ageing Female Body (Report‪)‬

Wrinkles, sagging skin and a crepe-like neck, are the natural results of the ageing process for women's bodies yet these marks of time are being defined as bodily imperfections or deficiencies. The consistent employment of media images which compare youth with age encourage women to feel bad about becoming old and body maintenance has become a key component of contemporary advertisements which focus attention on older women. This article explores the reasons why images of older women are being remade and the older generation are being urged to adopt a new and glamorous image prompted by a media focus on older female celebrities as models of beauty. The shift in the cultural perception of how an older woman should look has developed from the changing social, economic and political roles of women since the Second World War and the steady rise in the participation of women in the workforce. Women's increased financial independence partially explains why many older women now have a more prominent role in society which allows them a greater financial freedom. Recognising a new target market, media attention is focusing on appealing to women with greater economic independence. This article will discuss the ways in which economic independence plays a crucial role in the complex issue of a woman's place in society.