Gray hair and pink slips: An analysis of Twitter responses to gendered ageism

Abstract

When Canadian broadcaster, Lisa LaFlamme, announced in August 2022 that CTV National News did not renew her contract, some observers suggested that the corporation's decision resulted from LaFlamme's choice to "let her hair go gray" during the pandemic. An international public outcry ensued on Twitter. Our study involved an examination of these tweets (n = 440). Analyses revealed that approximately 80 percent of tweets indicated opposition to LaFlamme's dismissal, while only 2 percent indicated support and 18 percent indicated a neutral position. Among tweets expressing opposition, the most common justification, found in 79 percent of these tweets, centered on assessments of the employer's decision as poor. The frequency of all other justifications for opposition was considerably lower, with only 26 percent of these tweets mentioning ageism, 22 percent mentioning sexism, and 20 percent mentioning a general sense of unfairness to LaFlamme. These findings suggest the salience of capitalist logics in shaping how the public frames gendered ageism in the workplace. Our analyses also suggest a view of responses to this inequality as personal bodywork choices. Together, these framings reflect a more individual- than structural-level critique of gendered ageism, knowledge of which can inform efforts to dismantle it.

Keywords: Ageism; hashtag activism; sexism.