Aging & Social Change: Eleventh Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The paper looks at challenges of older women to provide a useful resource describing the contribution of older women in the country’s development endeavours. As policymakers set out their next steps for gender equality in international development and in the COVID19 recovery, older women continue to be sidelined from the agenda. Older women in low and middle-income countries, as women and as human beings, should be treated equally with others in society. They are doing significant work – using their time and energy to support others – for very little gain. Many older women lack access to economic rights and financial security, which can leave them with little choice but to fulfill precarious, unrecognised informal work on top of their already significant unpaid care and community roles. Often, they have little or no voice to change their situation. The exclusion of older women, and the lack of recognition of their rights and diverse experiences, in policies, programmes, and data – including international agreements such as the Generation Equality Campaign – will have serious consequences for their wellbeing, and for the families and communities that they work to support, through ongoing exposure to poor working conditions, lack of opportunities, and the risk of poverty. The paper takes qualitative research that was conducted with older women in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia. It demonstrates that older women are carrying out a huge range of unpaid and paid work that is necessary for their households and communities.