Recent theoretical formulations by Gutmann and Sinnott about the nature of men's and women's roles in later life are critiqued on conceptual and empirical grounds. This paper proposes a multidimensional conceptualization of gender role that stresses dynamic linkages between psychological and social psychological levels of analysis. Requisites of a model of androgynous gender role and its key methodological implications are identified. Subsequent discussion develops a sociological perspective on gender roles in old age by considering the joint effects of ageism and sexism, the pattern of role losses and continuities for each sex during the period of later life, and the impact of demographic change. (Author)