What did gender and development ever do for older

women?Dr Valerie Lipman

DSA Birmingham November 2013

“She had never dreamt that as soon as her husband died her own sons would become her enemies...It was unbearable to her proud nature to live like an orphan, eating what she was given, in a house where she had no status and counted for nothing”

Premchand ‘Widow with Sons’

Demographics: 66% of today’s older people live in LDCs - 80% by 2050;

80+ years population growing fastest; more older women*

Neo-liberalism:industrialisation, rural/urban migration, out-migration

Changing environment for older people: values and traditions changing, older people isolated

* HAI/UNFPA 2012

Ageing, development and gender

Older people

are absent in

the develop

ment models ..

.Economic growthHuman develop

mentHuman rightsAnti-

povertyParticipat

ion

Ageing, development and women

Older women exist Ageing is gendered – women experience

poorer education, domestic abuse and violence, childbirth and caring responsibilities: they reach old age poorer than men, and will often live alone

Older women contribute to society in both the private and public spheres

Ageing, development and women

The study

Textual analysis:

• World Conferences on Women: 1975, 1980,1985,1995• Commission on the Status of Women: in critical years of the ‘ageing’ calendar:

1982, 1992, 1999, 2002.

Literature review:

• Seminal gender analytical tools: Harvard, Moser, SRA, Gender Awareness Matrix, Empowerment (Longwe)

• Key shifts in the discourse: efficiency, equity, empowerment, capabilities, rights.

‘A study of 151 countries unequivocally rejected the idea of older persons as “dependent retirees”...Hence, approaching elderly women as a “development asset” reconceptualises them as active contributors and highlights their value to polity, economy and society’ (UN, 1999).

High visibility in CSW and UN General Assembly Mixed messages from the UN Summits Absence of old age awareness in the frameworks Capabilities and rights agendas reflect mainstream

Findings

Conclusions

Older women are invisibleStereotypes replicated of women in

developmentNeo-liberalism dominatesBuilding a constituency

Acknowledge the gap Adapt and develop new frameworks Monitor silence Research older women issues Gather data in new ways Support networks for older women

Where next?

Thank youQuestions/discussion

valerielipman2003@yahoo.co.uk

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Green M. (2002), 'Social Development: Issues and Approaches', in U. Kothari and M. Minogue (eds.), Development Theory and Practice, (Basingstoke: Palgrave).

Kabeer N. (1994), Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, (Verso, London).

Lloyd-Sherlock P. (2004), 'Ageing, development and social protection - generalisations, myths and stereotypes’ in P. Lloyd-Sherlock (ed.), Living Longer: Ageing, Development and Social Protection, (London: Zed Books).

March, C, Smyth, I & Mukhopadhyay (1999) A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks(Oxfam).

Moser C. (1993), Gender Planning and Development: Theory, Practice, and Training (Routledge, London).

Nussbaum M. (2000), Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).

Vera-Sanso P. & Sweetman C. (2009), Introduction, Gender and Development (Oxfam)

References