Figures gathered by the Labour Party’s Commission on Older Women have substantiated something that we all know already: Women over 50 are a rare sight on our TV screens. We all know this already because we can see with our own eyes that these women are all but invisible every time we switch on the news.
Apparently there is some received wisdom that men gain gravitas as they age. They become “silver foxes” or “authoritative”. Women on the other hand simply become invisible. Grey haired women are not silver foxes. Apparently they’re an embarrassment to be excised from our screens lest they offend viewers and remind us that women are not simply decorative objects whose worth is measured in terms of youth and attractiveness.