FCDO support for older women achieving economic empowerment and gender equity

The UK Government’s commitment to achieving gender equity and justice for women and girls must extend to older women as well. Older women in low and middle-income countries carry out significant paid and unpaid work for their families and communities, including 4.3 hours of unpaid care work a day on average. This work not only benefits the lives of other members of the household, it often has a detrimental impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of older women themselves.

 The IDC needs to scrutinise the UK’s interventions in gender equality to ensure that older women’s rights are being taken into account adequately. This is necessary not only for achieving the Government’s stated objectives in this area but also for ensuring that a life course approach to gender equality is being implemented.

 This will have far-reaching implications for older women in Africa, who often have enormous responsibilities in their families and communities with few or little rights. How the UK captures data on older women is an essential part of this inquiry.

 As the world’s governments prepare for the Beijing +30 review at the Commission on the Status of Women in 2025, this inquiry would also be very timely for informing the UK Government’s position and create the possibility of greater attention being paid to the rights of older women in these discussions.

MANEPO is a consortium of civil society organizations working on ageing issues in Malawi. We aim to ensure that older people enjoy an environment that guarantees a dignified living regardless of age