Until recently, age discrimination attracted little social opprobrium. However, ageism has now been thrust onto the equality agenda by the spectre of an ageing population. This has led to a range of policies on 'active ageing.' Most importantly, legally binding legislation prohibiting age discrimination in employment will need to be in place by 2006. Remarkably little attention has been paid to the key issues. To what extent is age inevitably linked with declining capacity? What are the central aims of a policy on age equality, and how can these be realised in law? How should law and policy address age discrimination in health, education and employment? What lessons can be learned from the US and Europe? And should young people be dealt with in the same way as older people?

This book answers these questions in a series of chapters by experts from a wide range of disciplines. It begins by examining the nature of the ageing process and then turns to a detailed analysis of the concept of age equality. In the light of this analysis, the following three chapters critically assess employment, education, and health. A separate chapter is devoted to discrimination against children. The last two chapters consider the experience in the US, and other European countries.