Let's Save Our Pity: 45-plus Women Sound Cheerier Than The Rest Of Us

Given the way pop culture treats older women, you might suppose they’re waiting glumly to be deposited on icebergs and shoved off to the great beyond. While men can become “distinguished” as they age (even if most don’t), the stock judgment on women is that they merely become decrepit. It’s a surprise, then, to learn from an AARP Foundation poll that women age 45-plus are mainly happy and expect to stay that way.

Most strikingly, 65 percent of 45-and-older women “consider themselves happier now than they have ever been.”