[DanaC]

It is both, I think. Many of those faults would have been seen as a factor in old age for men and women. The notion of interfering and complaining about their health and so on. But, there was a particular association of those faults with old women - the so-called old wives. Being a chatter-box or gossip, and bossing people about was one of the stereotypical female faults (at all ages something to guard against, but especially when old) and much of the advice literature aimed at women emphasised the need for sweetness and grace and not talking too much or too emphatically.

It's a prayer about a fairly general set of points, much of which is universal, but written in a manner and with a focus designed to be accessible to and useful for women, and informed by a view of the faults old women may be particularly, though not exclusively, prone to - hence it being offered as a helpful prayer for nuns.

A very similar prayer could have been written for men, but it would almost certainly have had slightly different emphases, and used some different vocabulary.

There's a warmth to it, I think. Which is probably why it resonates still.