Press Release: HelpAge International

International Women’s Day: Celebrating the Older Woman

Nairobi, 4th March - As the world marks the International Women's Day on 8th March, HelpAge International pays tribute to the older woman.

The world is ageing today faster than at any other time in the history of mankind. Research has shown that women survive longer than their male counterparts who are more likely than women to suffer from deadly conditions such as lung and prostate cancers, heart disease or strokes. The world is therefore becoming a woman’s world.

However, women the world over are discriminated against by virtue of their sex. Their rights are trampled upon indiscriminately. In their old age, they face the additional challenge of dealing with negative societal attitudes towards the old. This negative attitude towards them is regrettable as women continue to play a crucial role in society despite their age.

The rights of women of whatever age go unrecognised in many communities. How much more those of older women who face double discrimination, first due to their sex and then their age?

The older woman suffers immense physical abuse under the hands of family members. Witchcraft allegations tend to be targeted more at her than the older man. She is beaten to death or maimed for life. Older women in conflict and emergency situations face a greater violation of their rights. Those in refugee camps for example, are not guaranteed to get a meal, as they are overpowered when relief food is being distributed as people scramble for scarce resources. In addition, the food is not tailored to an older person’s special dietary needs necessitated by a sensitive dental formula.

When her husband passes away, her sons and her husband’s male relatives strip her bare of all he owned. After all, traditionally women like her belong to men and cannot own property. Thus deprived, poverty is her plight.

The older woman is not safe from rape by her son, a male relative or neighbour. When this happens, she is robbed of the dignity she hoped to take with her to her grave. The rape of older women is sometimes done under the belief that it will cure those suffering from AIDS. Worse off is the older woman with disabilities, who therefore cannot fend for herself adequately. She is therefore, at the mercy of the community, but most of the time she is abandoned as she is considered a burden.

Such is the “appreciation” shown to the older woman. She who is besieged by poverty and poor health but has to come out of retirement to once again tend to her adult children who succumb to AIDS. The older woman watches her own children die and subsequently takes on the responsibility of her orphaned grandchildren amidst her crippling poverty. Unfortunately, AIDS service organisations focus on other population groups, leaving out older people, particularly older women who bear the brunt of care and support of the HIV infected, the sick and the orphans.

In some communities in Africa where older men have died due to wars or natural causes, older women have come up to act as the key negotiators in peace deals. The sight of women taking charge in the presence of the few men left is rousing and momentous. This is especially due to the fact that traditionally women were only to be seen and not heard.

Older women also engage in income-generating activities to feed their families despite the diminished capabilities that advanced age presents. It is not uncommon to see them hauling heavy baskets on their backs or heads making for the market to sell handicrafts or farm produce to feed their families. The job of taking care of the home falls squarely on their shoulders.

The older woman guards her community's traditions by passing on its values from one generation to another through story telling to her grandchildren. Once in a while we have seen her fight for the preservation of her family's honour.

HelpAge International has embarked on the Older Citizens Monitoring Project (OCM) in Kenya, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Tanzania and Jamaica. The aim of the project is the promotion of the involvement of older people in monitoring the government’s commitment to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which calls for among other things, respect of older people’s rights. Through this project, older people, including women, are being sensitised more about their rights and given a voice with which to raise issues of violations of these rights. The project has so far resulted in older people standing up to claim their rights. In Kenya, for example, an older widow in Misyani, Kangundo – Marisela Kivati - is fighting her two sons who want to disinherit her of a piece of land left to her by her husband. The local chief has agreed to act on the case.

As we celebrate International Women's Day, let us remember our older women. Let's give them a chance to live in dignity and security, free from exploitation and physical and other forms of abuse.

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* HelpAge International is a global network of not-for-profit organisations with a mission to work with and for disadvantaged older people worldwide to achieve a lasting improvement in the quality of their lives.

For more information please contact:

HelpAge International

Africa Regional Development Centre

PO Box 14888, 00800 Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (254-020) 4444289, 4446991, 4449407; Fax: 4441052; Email: [email][email protected]