The empowerment of women and girls requires a life-course approach. The rights of women and girls do not stop at age 49 (after which there is insufficient data on women). Lower educational levels of older women seriously limit their access to information and services, particularly for healthcare, or ability to take part in social economic or political activities, or to better support the education of younger generations. Their autonomy and independence are curtailed because of the need to totally rely on family members. In some societies, the loss of a husband results in social exclusion and loss of property .
Inclusion of older women in the work of Soroptimists is necessary to ensure that efforts made to empower women and girls through education are not wasted when they reach older age, and find themselves discriminated against once again, with little if any access to justice, perhaps subject to violence, abuse and neglect, lacking in adequate and appropriate health services, and deprived of autonomy and independence. The “feminization” of ageing has important implications for policy.
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