Cross-cultural Perspectives on Middle-aged Women [and Comments and Replies]

Several exploratory cross-cultural studies have suggested that positive changes take place in the lives of women in non-Western societies as they age beyond the childbearing years. They are freed from a variety of restrictions. They are given authority over certain specified kinsmen, and they are provided with opportunities for achievement and recognition beyond the household. The fact that such changes are more dramatic in some societies than in others is examined, as well as the reasons for the positive nature of these changes. Psychoanalytic theory, sociobiology, and the works of Goody, Gutmann, and the Whitings all provide useful points of departure for explanations, yet no theory fully accounts for the findings. My own interpretation stresses the relationship of a mother to her adult offspring.