Aged Care Insite Issue 112 | Apr-May 2019 | Page 22

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.