THE PAPER looks to the heterogeneity of the experience of the female aging. Ageing used to bring about poverty and isolation for the Brazilian women until sometime ago. The great change that took place in the last 20 years is that the end the active life and the widowhood do not mean necessary those. For a great majority of people, it can mean a new phase in the life cycle. The universalization of the Social Security and the improvement in health conditions had brought about a new concept of the life course. The latter phase of life is not residual anymore, lived only by a small group of women. Nowadays, it can be longer then the childhood or even the adolescence. In other words, the female old women are taking over unexpected social roles, becoming an agent of social change.
