What did gender and development ever do for o lder women?
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Transcript of What did gender and development ever do for o lder women?
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
Fraser N. & Honneth A. (2003), Redistribution or Recognition?: A Political Philosophical Exchange, (Verso, London).
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