This collection of original essays opens up a novel area of inquiry: the distinctively ethical dimension of women's experiences of aging. Fifteen distinguished contributors here explore assumptions, experiences, practices, and public policies that affect women's well-being and dignity in later life.

The book brings to the study of women's aging a reflective dimension missing from the empirical work that has predominated to date. Ethical studies of aging have so far failed to emphasize gender. And feminist ethics has neglected older women, even when emphasizing other dimensions of "difference." Finally work on aging in all fields has focused on the elderly, while this volume sees aging as an extended process of negotiating personal and social change.