OLDER WOMEN'S NETWORK, EUROPE Via del Serraglio 10 - 06073 Corciano - PG, ITALY Tel./Fax: (+39) 075 506 8006 http://own-europe.org - E-Mail:info@own-europe.org

The representatives of NGOs and research institutions working on issues relating to older women wish to underline that equal opportunities for women of every age group despite improvements in existing legislation and other progress made over the past two to three decades is still not realised in many realms.

They confirm the right of women of every age group to equal opportunity in terms of participation in policies and society, and their right to a voice in the political processes of decision-making at all levels. If adequate consideration were given to the experience, creativity and contribution of women of all ages in the public and private realms in the course of their whole life cycle, the existing problems of many older women, as listed below, could be avoided or reduced:

• Disadvantages in education and professional training: In many countries, the current generation of older women did not have the same access to education and professional training as the men of their generation.

• A greater risk of earlier exclusion from the labour market: Women in the course of their working lives still run an above-average risk of becoming unemployed, and in most European countries are under greater threat of being affected by early retirement.

• A higher risk of poverty: Whereas older men and older couples are meanwhile less likely to have low incomes, poverty is still to be found in most European countries among older single women in particular. The reasons for this are, among others, that the women earned less during their working lives, had to interrupt more often, and had less access to qualified and well-paid positions. As a result, these older women suffer more often from lower living and housing conditions.

• A greater burden of work: That as a rule women – in addition possibly to paid work – also do unpaid work in the family is especially true of older women. Grandmothers in particular still help substantially in caring for and raising children. Furthermore, older women in their 50s, 60s or 70s play an important role in looking after family members and supporting friends and acquaintances. The risk here is that they are physically, emotionally and financially exploited or put themselves under too much pressure.

• A higher risk of becoming socially isolated: Due to their higher life expectancy, older women are more likely than men to be isolated in the last years of their lives.

• A greater risk of chronic health impairments and inadequate treatment: In many European countries older women are exposed to a greater risk of chronic health impairments and affected by multi-morbidity. In certain groups of older women it has been ascertained that illness in general is often not treated as well, or under certain circumstances as appropriately, as it is in the case of older men; this is especially true among socially disadvantaged women.

• Restrictions to mobility: On the one hand, due to their higher life expectancy older women are more likely to be subject to restrictions on their mobility caused by health problems or physical impairments. On the other hand, fewer older women than older men have the use of their own car and are therefore dependent on public transport.

• Less participation in decision-making processes and interest representation: In most European countries older women have less experience of participating in decision-making processes and representing their own interests. This is also true in organisations for older people in which the older men have taken over the decision-making functions, and in exclusively women's organisations which concentrate mainly on issues relevant to younger women.

Against this background, the representatives of NGOs and research institutions refer to the measures and steps agreed in the United Nations' global action platform (Beijing, 1995) and the final document of the UN special assembly "Beijing plus 5" (New York, 2000), as well as to the resolution "Older Women and Social Exclusion – Focal Themes / Empowerment / Action" (Egmond aan Zee, October 1999).

In view of more recent research findings on the situation of older women, the representatives of NGOs and research institutions appeal to the addressees of this resolution to implement the existing global decisions and draw up a time schedule for monitoring that implementation. Furthermore, equal opportunities for men and women, based on the respective situations in the individual countries, are to be improved through the development of relevant programmes of actions at national and international level, and in particular through the current programme of the European Union:

• To promote research work on all relevant aspects of the situation of older women with the aim of focusing in both quantitative and qualitative research on the special situation of women, especially older women, and confronting the myth of "older and ageing women"; this also involves compiling official statistics differentiated according to age and gender, so as to make information available on the heterogeneity of the living conditions of older women and clearly identify unpaid work done mainly by women in the family and in society as a contribution to the gross domestic product;

• To consider older women as an independent target group in government reports and other government publications, in order to be able to outline policy and legal measures towards improving their situation – and that of older migrant women, members of ethnic minorities and other highly disadvantaged groups of older women – and initiate appropriate steps at all levels towards realising the European Union's anti-discrimination programme for older citizens;

• To increase the number and effectiveness of measures already being taken by associations by way of financial and other forms of support; this applies in particular in the case of those measures aimed at supporting the participation of older women in life-long learning projects and enabling them to take an active part in the establishment and development of networks and self-help organisations aimed at developing and strengthening the capacity of older women to represent their own interests, in the sense of empowerment;

• To increase public awareness of the concerns of older women.

• To ensure that the mainstreaming approach explicitly includes the perspective of older women and involves older women in national, regional and local social policy initiatives.

• To establish structures that promote dialogue at all levels between government departments responsible for both equal opportunity and senior citizens, and thereby take the existential concerns of older women into consideration.

©, OWN - Older Women's Network, Europe