After reading Dr. Radina’s article and watching a movie about The Red Hat Society I understood how important it is for elder women to gather and to be a part of a sisterhood. The organizations like The Red Hat Society help women to define themselves positively as they age, and be surrounded by people of the same age. This topic was really interesting and useful for me because my mother just turned 61 and leads a very isolated life. To my mind it is extremely difficult to start new friendships when you get older, because the pool of potential friend-candidates shrinks, moreover there are few places, where you can meet new people, for instance for my mom who is on the retirement the only place where she sees people is the church. It is important to understand that all elders are different and just because you are 50 years and older does not mean that you are seeking organizations like The Red Hat Society, for example my mother does not want to start new relations because of the lack of trust and being too tired to invest her time in continuous interactions, she is satisfied with being alone with her books, embroidering, taking care of her cats, and other hobbies.
The article mentioned that The Red Hat Society has chapters in 30 countries in the world, I tried to find a list of these countries and unfortunately I found only three: in Canada, Mexico, and Japan. It made me think if such organizations are more typical for developed or developing countries. I have a feeling that you need to be a middle class retiree in order to join organizations like that. As the video that I found, says “they're not volunteers, not raising money or seeking a cure to anything but boredom.” I observed my friends’ grandparents they were too busy with grandchildren and trying to survive, when you live on a small pension and do not have supermarkets but small stores where the prices range, you do not have time for fun or desire to fight boredom. The video says “Every club is different… Some like teas. Some like going to the theater.” How often do poor women go to the theaters or on a cruise?! When you do not have enough money to feed yourself and buy high quality food, you would not spend money on a purple dress and red hat, you have other financial priorities! Therefore, I think organizations like this while being very useful for women, at the same time are created in developed countries (U.S., UK, Canada) by women who have enough free time and financial resources to have all that fun that they are advertising. Another important difference between American and for example Russian, or African or Indian retirees is the fact that multigenerational homes are much more common in our countries than here, that is why there is no need to combat the loneliness in our societies because you are surrounded by your family all the time. While in the U.S. where the independence is so valued, elder women feel the need to socialize because they do not live with their children and grandchildren.
Questions for the class:
1) Do you think that lower middle class and poor women join organizations like The Red Hat Society?
2) Do you think the presence of the immediate family (for instance, when you live in the same house with your children or very close) has any influence on the woman’s decision to join The Red Hat Society?
Link to the video:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/07/eveningnews/main7224100.shtml
I think that women who belong to the lower socioeconomic class should join organizations like the Red Hat Society. The class video clearly showed how women enjoyed the organization and benefitted from participating. I don't know specifically if they do join the organizations; however, the RHS is not about spending money. It's about connecting with women and embracing your age. It doesn't matter that you're dressed up in purple and red because you're enjoying yourself. That doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Women can wear buy one purple dress and red hat and once a month enjoy a walk in the park or a dessert a bakery. It doesn't have to be fancy.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the organization could be for anyone of any socioeconomic status. I'm sure there are ways for the women who don't have as much money to be able to join as well.
ReplyDeleteI do think that the organization is not as widely known and it just seems to be a word of mouth thing. So I can see the people who join being relatives who tell another person they are related to about it.
I think you bring up great points, Polina. As for your question about if middle and lower class woman would join The Red Hat Society, I think it depends on the country, like you said. The above two posters say that they think woman in any socioeconomic status would be free to join because it's not about the money, it's about connecting with people your age. I agree with them that woman in the US who are in a lower economic class could join. But I think it could be different depending on where you are in the world. Because like you mentioned, life for a lower class woman in the US can be very different from a lower class woman in Russia. They may be struggling just to survive. Also, it is common for American kids to move out of the home, leaving their elderly parents home alone and lonely. This would make woman inclined to join the Red Hat Society. But in Japan, many generations live together so they have that constant interaction.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the Red Hat Society is a group that women of lower socioeconomic status could actually participate in. It appears as though all of the outings that RHS members partake in are costly and are activities that middle to upper class women would have the means to enjoy. Therefore, it may be possible for a woman of less means to join, but she most likely would not be able to participate in all of the events.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, in response to Polina's first question, I do not think that lower middle class and poor women join the Red Had Society as readily as middle to upper class women do. If ideas, such as the ones that Anne mentioned, were incorporated into the functions of Red Hat Societies, then I think the RHS could attract a different type of demographic. However, until this occurs, I do not think that the RHS will obtain many new members from poorer populations.
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ReplyDeleteI think that maybe some middle class women would join the Red Hat Society, moreso than the poor class women. Most women who are living in poverty probably wouldn't. They would probably feel out of place or even not educated enough to get involved with such an organization. If older women had more involvement with their families, organizations like the Red Hat Society either wouldn't exist or be as well known like it is now. I think those women would prefer maintaing the strong family ties that they already have with their own children and grandchildren, instead of established new friendships with complete strangers. This organization would be most beneficial to those women who are single, childless, and feeling lonely throughout their old life.
ReplyDeleteI think that all women, including women that are poor, should join Red Hat Society. I don't think this organization is about how much money you have, but being able to celebrate your age and embrace growing older. I think that having close family relationships does not have much influence on joining the group. I feel women join the Red Hat Society so they are around women who are at the same place in their lives and understand what they are going through as well. It helps them realize they are not alone and they are still fun and can be youthful in old age. Even women whom have husbands and children want to have their own group to embrace their age.
ReplyDeleteAs I see from the posts half of the students did not understand my questions/points - I was not talking about the Red hat Society accepting poor women (of course it does, you would not be rejected based on your socio-economic status), i was asking if poor women are likely to join these social organizations!
ReplyDeleteTaking into consideration the struggles that poor women are going through, to my mind it is a question of TIME. When you are living alone, having successful children and grandchildren, and enough money to support yourself, you have plenty of free time, which is very typical for the U.S. and European countries. When you are left with grandchildren and sometimes have to work to support the grandchildren (if both parents are in prison, for example), how likely are you to join the Red Hat Society?! I think not likely at all.
I agree with Anne, this organization is not about spending money, and you can always do something not fancy and affordable with your friends, the question is how likely that you have time to do these things? You do not have any physical and emotional strength to think about your age, you need to do so many choirs.
I do not think that many women of the lower class join organizations such as The Red Hat Society. While I do feel this could be a positive social experience for these women, I do not think it is very common. This could be due to many factors, the main reson being that these social groups often go on outings that would be costly to those of the lower class who do not have the funds to spend on social gatherings. Another could be that these women are more likely to still be working when they reach older adulthood due to the lack of finances they have. Thus because they are still working, they may have less time for leisure and social time which would prevent them from joining these types of organizations.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it makes a difference if the people are poor or rich, if they want to be members of the red hat society then they should be allowed to be members. I hope that there is not discrimination among people that have money and people that don't have money, that does not seem right to me. The video did not mention any requirements other than having to wear a certain color and be over a certain age and as far as I am concerned those seem to be easy obstacles to overcome and money should not be an issue in the selection process
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the more family someone has, the less likely they may be to reach out to others in old age for new friendships. When I was young, my mom was so caught up with my younger siblings and I and all the things we had going on that she didn't reach out to new friends much. Now that she is an empty nester and just lives with my dad however, she has reached out to other old woman for friendship such as the ladies she takes work out classes with. Therefore, I completely agree that the less family around you, the more prone you are to finding and fostering new friendships. I also agree that many women do not have the money to go on expensive cruises and that the Red Hat Society is defiantly a very extravagant club many can not take part in. I think this idea is fun if you have the ability to join, but if not there are many other ways that people can find others to reach out to and enjoy their older years with.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I do not think lower class people are likely to join the Red Hat Society but not because of any rules or regulation but because they would feel very uncomfortable in this setting. This is simply my opinion but I think it is solely based on societal norms which shape how we behave. Though there is no written law that they can't join I think it is just understood that they would not feel welcome or be very openly accepted. Even if they were accepted I feel like they would be uncomfortable because they don't necessarily fit in and they couldn't keep up with the lifestyle. I do however believe that many middle class women would join, especially those who want to be associated more with the upper class than the lower class.
ReplyDeleteAs far as families I think it could go either way. I believe that women go to organizations like this for the type of relationship they need if they do not have family but many just enjoy it and like spending time with others their age. Many also like to involve their children, as we saw the older children and granddaughter in the video in the pink hats. I think if they have children living close they may invite them so that it could be something that brings them closer and they have a designated time that they spend together doing something that they enjoy and enjoying eachother's company.
I agree with mcarthar, I do not think lower class people are likely to join the Red Hat Society only because I do not think they would be able to keep up with the lifestyle. I do not think the Red Hat Society has a monetary requirement in order to join. However, the activities that they decide to do may defer people of lower SES from joining. These types of societies are really for people with expendable time and money, not for those that are counting their pennies.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely think the presence of the immediate family has an influence on women's decision to join the RHS. I think not only family, but also friends have a huge influence on whether or not people join. If someone has a friend or family member in the RHS, they will probably be more likely to join themselves because they will want to get in on all of the fun. However, they may also see what their friend or family member does and decide that the RHS is not for them for reasons such as cost or time commitment.
I completely agree with you, Sarah, there is no monetary requirement to join this society, however, the main issue is "to keep up with the lifestyle" I can not see my mother or my aunt joining this society because they have financial problems and on the pension that they get from the government I don not think they are capable of doing any fun activities. However I do believe that this is an excellent organization that should spread its influence all over the world.
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