Soroptimist International and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People co-hosted a virtual CSW67 parallel event on Thursday 16 March, looking at how women in their older years are treated across the globe, and discussing what can be done to reduce the discrimination and violence they face. 

Past President of Soroptimist International, Sharon Fisher opened the event, noting that even within Soroptimist International there is a keen focus on helping younger women, and that the older generation can be left forgotten about. It was felt that in societies across the globe, women are almost cast aside post-menopause, and that more needs to be done to highlight the value of older women.  

First to speak was Khayanga Wasike, CEO of Willing Hearts International Society, who illustrated the struggle of older women to exist in their communities in rural villages in Kenya. She portrayed how their gender and age put them at risk of violence, poverty and lack of access to basic human rights. In rural Kenya, access to property rights is severely affected by polygamy, which rules women out of inheritance, instead passing it on to first born sons. Cultural norms further perpetuate their deprived position within their communities as they are often blamed for misfortunes within their village. Khayanga highlighted how the painting of older women in rural Kenya as ‘witches’ makes them a target for violence, demonstrating how their community views them as disposable. In order to tackle the issues faced by older women, the issue of property rights must be resolved alongside the creation of a state pension to protect rural women from poverty. 

Next to speak was Celeste Mergens, who opened with a story about a woman in northern South Africa, who due to her age and status, has no property rights and no voice, despite caring for her grandchildren and other orphan children in the area. Celeste went on to tell a heartbreaking story of women in rural Ghana and Kenya who are seen as witches when they reach a certain age, becoming scapegoats for all misfortune within their communities which, horrifically, can end in murder. She was mindful to note that the lack of care for older women is also present across the Atlantic – within the United States – and spoke of personal experience of taking an older woman with dementia to get a broken arm seen to. After challenging the doctor for how he was placing her arm in a cast, he responded saying that “it didn’t matter” how the woman’s arm healed, as she was old. Celeste spoke passionately about the importance of harnessing the wisdom held by older women, stating we should “recognise the power of all of yesterday.” 

Following Celeste was Sukmaya Magar, from Mitini Nepal and Outright International, who shared her story of struggle as an older LGBTQ woman in Nepal. Sukmaya lost her partner of 30 years, a trans man with whom she ran a small shop with. Her partner’s sudden death meant that she lost her entire livelihood and any sense of security within in her community. Nepalese law does not account for LGBTQ persons as there are no policies and laws which protect them or provide them with financial support. Sukmaya is not entitled to widows’ allowance, as she is not a heterosexual woman and therefore falls outside of the protected category. She has now been forced into poverty, unable to work due to health issues. In order to help older LGBTQ women like Sukmaya, we must address the need for UN Member States to protect all women, regardless of their sexual orientation. 

Rounding off the event was Margaret Young, chair of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People who spoke about their #AgeWithRights campaign. Margaret spoke of the timeline of gender equality, noting that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, however the protection of older women was not included until 2010. She emphasised that no notable progress had been made since then. 

Margaret provided four recommendations to advance the protection of older women: 

• Incorporate a human rights lens to advocacy, policy and programme work; 
• Reach out to human rights institutions when we see rights violations against older people; 

• Advocate with Ministers and Members of Parliament. The more people that speak out, the more they will take notice; and  
• Join local and global campaigns supporting the cause. 

The event provided an extremely harrowing look at the reality of life for so many older women across the globe, showing that gender equality is not improving when we take the intersection of age into consideration. This discussion highlighted the importance of supporting campaigns such as #AgeWithRights, so that nobody is left behind, or forgotten about.