practical living
An untapped powerhouse of wisdom
Why conversations with
older women are vital.
Catherine Brown interviewed
by Conor Burke
T
o coincide with International
Women’s Day last month, the Lord
Mayor’s Charitable Foundation in
Melbourne released new research aimed at
gaining insights into the issues women face
as they grow older.
The research, entitled ‘Vital
Conversations with Older Women Living
in Greater Melbourne’, was carried out by
Associate Professor Susan Feldman and
Dr Harriet Radermacher.
20 agedcareinsite.com.au
Seven key themes emerged: social
connectedness; neighbourhood
development and infrastructure;
financial security and housing; family
and generational change; ageism and
abuse; volunteering and advocacy; and
information and technology.
“As a society, we are quick to dismiss
the life experiences and wisdom of older
people,” said Catherine Brown, chief
executive of the foundation. “We need
to be more proactive in consulting with
older women when making decisions for
community initiatives.”
The full research was launched on
8 March and can be found on the Lord
Mayor’s Charitable Foundation website.
Aged Care Insite spoke with Brown to
find out more about the study.
ACI: Where did the idea for the project
come from?
CB: We’ve worked over many years –
since we were established in 1923 – on
the big issues facing Melbourne. And one
way we work out what the big issues are
is to undertake a project called Greater
Melbourne Vital Signs, which looks at
the things to improve and the things to
celebrate in Melbourne (it’s based on a
Canadian model). We did that in 2017,
and the year before that we undertook a
project called Time of Our Lives, which
looked at older women, particularly their
economic opportunities.
The Vital Signs report showed there
were a few issues that affected older
women that perhaps as a community we
weren’t really understanding from their
perspective. One shocking find was the
number of older women who were couch
surfing – definitionally homeless. That
increased by 83 per cent in the five years
from 2012 to 2017.
It does stem from a number of factors
for older women: obviously the high
cost of housing but also relationship
breakdown and family violence. And
then from a financial point of view,
maybe having done a lot of unpaid work
or caring roles or working casually to
fit in around a family, or having a low
super balance, etc. There are a few really
distinctive factors.