Prejudice and Descrimination

[Name] [Course] [Institution] [Professor] [Date] Senior Citizens have had challenges finding work or keeping the work they already have, even when they are still in a position to do the work. This is due to a discriminative policy of forced retirement when someone attains a certain age. This policy was formulated in view that as people age, their productivity lowers and thus should be replaced by more agile, youthful employees. This results in the forced retirement of people who still could work and still need their jobs. This has resulted in a state where, older women and men face the most difficulty when searching for employment as compared to younger individuals. There are many workplaces that have policies that permits the use of mandatory retirement when a person`s age is believed to limit his / her ability to work. (Gillin, Macgregor & Klassen, 2005) Society in turn has over time accepted the age-based criteria for planning policies and programs and for making decisions on people in areas like services and employment. This is due to perceived ideas, stereotypes and myths of the aging process and older people which gives rise to their discriminatory treatment. Age discrimination may not be taken as serious as other forms of discrimination yet it has the same effects economically, psychologically and socially on the aging people. Age also works in combination with other forms of discrimination to form a different and likely more lethal form of discrimination. For instance, women face the aging process with more challenges compared to their male counterparts. It is therefore evident that the age based discrimination of senior citizens in society and at the workplace results in detrimental effects economically, socially and psychologically. (Nelson, T. D. 2005). Provincial legislation has been enacted to remove the utilization of mandatory retirement fot aged people, even though some exceptions still exist. Many provinces have formulated policies to guard citizens against mandatory retirement. Programs have also been put in place to help the public understand how people are to be protected against age discrimination, for instance, the OHCR (The Ontario Human Rights Commission Paper), a paper published after...