Why are elderly women so ignored by society ...

Good point orange.

Older women are not all the same:

Poor old women = less power
Disabled old women = less power
Mentally ill old women = less power

Poor, disabled, mentally ill old women = lowest of the low.

The Queen is none of these things (that I'm aware of).

Because they are poor. As a group they are much poorer than old men. Combo of living longer and a lack of pension.

People who are poor = people without power = people without a voice.

It's my experience that older women do have a degree of power and respect in their own family (my mil is a matriarch) but not outside the home. Mil is respected for who she was iyswim and she is increasingly vulnerable and easily defeated by hospital appointments etc

The invisibility thing - well that's down to sex isn't it. Women aren't useful when they can't be used to breed or to sell things

What section of society are you thinking about?

I know many older women who are appreciated and looked up to by their families, friends, acquaintances. Who run voluntary organisations or do other work in their communities, or who are in senior positions in companies.

Do you mean the media? Certainly there are fewer images of older women around, eg older women finding themselves pushed out of presenting jobs in television. Most people don't live in the media though.

I would hope that as the baby boomer generation of women age they won't take it lying down. Joan Bakewell is an example (is she a baby boomer? Maybe not) of someone who stands up and talks about the position of women of her generation. I think as many changes in status were fought for and won by that generation, they're likely to want to follow it through.

Well, old women aren't consider fuckable and are no use for breeding so the patricarchy has decided they can be safely ignored.

400yrs ago they would have been burnt at the stake for being a witch.

Because they are vulnerable and often lack enough confidence to stand up and be counted. MIL is 82 and has changed from being a very confident woman to someone who won't stand up for herself any more. In her case it is because she now gets confused easily and has a terrible memory. So I would think in a fair number of cases the causes are physical.

I agree that it is wrong for them to be ignored.

I think the Queen is tolerated - the system intends for the reigning monarch to be male!