Throughout our lives we make decisions about how we want to live, but some of us have more choice than others. Despite efforts over a lifetime, some segments of society will arrive at older age with fewer social, economic and cultural assets to call upon.

This project collaboration between the University of Warwick and HelpAge International resulted in a policy discussion paper by Professor Stewart and Dr Lander that explores the way in which intersecting inequalities affect life courses and gender relations in older age. It makes the case for a gendered lifecourse perspective within the Sustainable Development Goals framework.

Gender sensitisation seeks to enable older women and men equally to be and do what they value. A successful gendered lifecourse perspective implemented in aging policy would seek to repair or mitigate the accumulated adverse effects of gender-based power relations experienced over a person’s life. While the focus of this project was on aging, the report recognised that a gender sensitive lens must be complemented by a gender-transformative approach to all stages of the life course.

Download the report

Professor Stewart's blog post: Consider inequalities across the life course to improve older women's lives

Related projects

1. 2020: Preparing for an ageing Africa: ensuring gender justice in legal and policy development through adoption of a life course perspective
2. 2019: Ageing Africa: Transforming Gender Relations Writing Workshop at Warwick University
3. 2019: Gender and ageing in African contexts: policy, legal and institutional development, Professor Stewart
4. (Current page) 2018: Transforming gender relations in an ageing world, Professor Stewart and Dr Lander
5. 2017: 2 day workshop in Nairobi (Sept 2017), co-sponsored by HelpAge International and the Kenya National Gender and Equality Commission
6. 2016-2017: Caring for older women in Kenya, Professor Stewart