Men and women experience ageing differently. Both face age discrimination but for older women this can be exacerbated by a lifetime of gender-based discrimination. Older women also tend to be poorer than men, having worked in poorly paid jobs all their lives.

Many older women lack the necessary identity documents they need to access the entitlements that are theirs by right, such as formal social security allowances which would provide a regular income for them in old age.

Multi-dimensional discrimination

The discrimination older women experience is often multi-dimensional. Their old age compounds other forms of discrimination based on gender, ethnic origin, disability, levels of poverty or literacy.

Older women are often considered no longer economically or reproductively useful, and many are seen as a burden on their families and communities. They are marginalised, isolated and even abandoned.

Older women's crucial contributions

But in reality older women continue to contribute to their households and families – by working in both formal and informal employment, doing unpaid work in the home, and taking on caring roles.

As traditional intergenerational roles become increasingly blurred by demographic ageing, economic migration, the impact of HIV and AIDS and the effects of climate change, the contributions of older women are crucial.

Older women need support as they carry out these vital roles. There is an urgent need for more data collection disaggregated by age – especially over 60 years old - and sex so that government and non-government interventions can better respond to the needs of older women.

Upholding older women's rights

HelpAge and its partners have run a number of projects in the last 25 years which have upheld the rights of older women and empowered them to challenge the discrimination they experience.

These include:

•    reducing violence against older women
•    protecting their inheritance and property rights, and
•    training older people to provide paralegal support.

Engaging with human rights mechanisms

More recently we have started to engage with international human rights mechanisms, to help them provide governments with guidance on addressing the rights of older women, and to hold governments to account for any violations of those rights.

Working with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) HelpAge has submitted three NGO shadow reports to the CEDAW Committee.

The Committee is the treaty body that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

These reports on Mozambique, Bolivia and Tanzania presented evidence of discrimination against older women who are taking part in our projects, and made recommendations for government action.

In each instance the Committee asked questions about the older women’s rights in their dialogue with each country’s government, then included recommendations to the governments in their concluding observations.

When these countries next sit before the Committee, they will have to report on what they have done in response to these recommendations.

Download shadow reports

Guidelines for governments

HelpAge has also been working closely with CEDAW Committee members to investigate the need for a general recommendation on older women. This would provide guidelines to governments on how they can better address older women’s rights.

A general recommendation would also ensure that governments are more systematically questioned about older women when reporting on the implementation of the convention. A working group to draft a general recommendation was established in November 2008.

Download general recommendation background paper