A feminist approach to health promotion for older women

Until recently,the health promotion movement has focussed primarily on individual responsibility for health behaviours rather than on broad social determinants of health. The movement has been targeted primarily at young rather than older persons, at men rather than women. There is an emerging call for a feminist approach to health promotion for aging women, an approach which would address the current gender, class, face, and age biases in health promotion practice, research, and policy. Feminist theories suggest that sexism Limits women's health opportunities and subjects them to an array of situations including marginalization, powerlessness, and exploitation. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to use feminist analysis to critique health promotion, identifying gender, class, race, and age biases that influence older women's health, and to recommend changes in health promotion theory, research, practice, and education. Health promotion researchers, practitioners, and educators are challenged to work with older women to increase their visibility and empowerment, and to bring about a transformation of the society in which women age.