Adults aged 60 years or more represent about 6 percent of Arab populations in northern Africa and 7 percent in western Asia (UN 2002). By 2050, these percentages should reach 20 and 16, respectively (UN 2002). Women's increasing advantage in longevity in most Arab countries also means that a growing percentage of older adults are women (UN 2002). Perceptions of Arab women as they age, their status in society, and their familial authority and power vary, however. One assertion among ethnographers…