Markers of Midlife

In the cultural imagination, midlife signifies the onset of ageing and is thus framed in a discourse of decline. For women, it is often considered in terms of menopause and the end of fecundity and fertility. This book proposes that women's experience of midlife is much broader than this; instead, it is characterised by transformation in multiple life domains and health status is important. The continuity theory of ageing is useful here: identity is re/constructed during the ageing process in response to changing bodily circumstances, such as health problems. Women in rural Australia described how health status shaped their midlife experiences and mediated their identity construction. For them, midlife was about reconstructing their identity to incorporate their changed health status. Interrogating health and illness in the ageing process has important implications for midlife health promotion. indings suggest that health services, and the cultural scripts informing them, need to incorporate the diverse needs, goals and aspirations of midlife women. This analysis should be useful to a range of health professionals concerned with women's health from the middle years and beyond.