UN Women: Protect older women rights

Older woman in Sudan. (c) Kate Holt/HelpAge International. UN Women is the new UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

HelpAge is working to ensure that UN Women's work includes older women.

In December 2010, we sent a letter to Michelle Bachelet, UN Women's Executive Director, urging her to engage with civil society and commit to older women's rights.

We collected almost 200 signatures from supporters across the world.

Thank you to everyone who supported us and signed the letter!

UN women's commitment to older women

We are pleased to report that UN Women has recognised the importance of older women's rights.

Ms Bachelet said: "Empowering older women through appropriate strategies will be high on my agenda."

In her address to the Commission for Social Development (CSD) in February 2011, Ms Bachelet's commitment to older women was clear.

Click play to watch Ms Bachelet's address or read the highlights.

Highlights

In her address to the CSD Ms Bachelet highlighted:

• The pressing need to find innovative ways to break the cycle of poverty, especially among growing numbers of older women.

• The need to focus on the employment of women throughout the lifecycle: education, training and access to IT.

• The need to enable women and girls to make the transition to old age in a way that allows them to take advantage of social and political opportunities and to have a voice.

• The fact that older women are the caretakers of the sick and the dying, often without any other kind of support.

• That older women are the most politically active, the custodians of wealth, knowledge and traditions and key to intergenerational solidarity.