WUNRN
CALL TO PROTECT OLDER WOMEN &
THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS
UN NGO STATEMENT - HUMAN RIGHTS
COUNCIL 10 - GENEVA
SUPPORT OF CEDAW COMMITTEE PROPOSED
GENERAL COMMENT
ON RIGHTS OF OLDER WOMEN
______________________________________________________________________
ILO - International Labour
Organization
23 February 2010
By Steven Oates
"THE OLDER YOU GET, THE MORE
LIKELY YOU ARE TO BE A WOMAN."
The UN Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty is looking at the enjoyment of human rights by older persons living in poverty (UN OHCHR, 2010).
The ILO's Global Jobs Pact (ILO, 2009a) has said that, to recover from the current crisis, adequate social protection should be built for all, including the elderly. And that gender concerns should be integrated in all measures and recovery packages.
So what is the link here?
The particular issue is that, while non-contributory pension schemes have proliferated and play a significant role in the expansion of social protection around the world, they are anomalous in terms of the realisation of universal human rights. More women survive at all ages, but by the time they are of a normally pensionable age, they are worldwide far less likely than men to be entitled to any retirement benefits, since they are also less likely to have accumulated relevant or adequate earnings or pension rights (ILO, 2009b).
This contrasts starkly with the predominantly female role of caregiver in the discharge of family responsibilities, which typically endures into pensionable age regardless of the health challenges characteristically faced by older women. The importance of this role increases sharply when grandmothers bear a disproportionate share of the job of child raising in families where the middle generation is missing, lost for example to AIDS.
There is contradiction also in the erosion of traditional and informal social protection for older family members on the one hand, and the sustained and even increasing demands made on grandparents by parents - themselves so hard pressed by declining incomes that they are unable to extend life-saving financial and other support to the older generation - on the other.
The Global Jobs Pact's prescription of adequate social protection for all based on a social protection floor must be correct. But how to fill the prescription? Might a rights-based approach offer some vision?
Why focus on older women?
The right to social security is well established in international law, along with the right to freedom from discrimination, the right to work and the right to just and favourable conditions of work (UN, 1948). As a response to the present crisis the Global Jobs Pact brings the fulfilment of these four rights together very conveniently. It also coincides with the 2009 Conference's adoption of a resolution and conclusions concerning gender equality. All of this lends new perspective to the question of pension rights and poverty.
- The principle of the interdependence of human rights
and the principle that they apply without discrimination on the basis of
sex lead us to look at the relevance of the unequal conditions under which
women work. As the outcome to be desired, it is respect for the right to
work through policies for full, productive and freely chosen employment
and decent work for all women and men which will enable the right to
social security in old age to be respected.
- One essential element in the employment agenda is just
and favourable conditions for both women and men, in particular the right
to equal opportunity and equal treatment in employment and occupation and
the right to equal remuneration.
- The Global Jobs Pact has accepted that vulnerable
groups most hard hit by the crisis should be helped through social
protection systems; and that recovery packages during economic crisis need
to take into account the differential impacts on men and women. The crisis
is an opportunity to shape new gender equality policies. And strategies
should adopt a life-cycle perspective.
- Evidence that the economic empowerment of women
benefits their families, and that there are significant differences in
household consumption and expenditure according as family income is controlled
by a male or a female member, points to the need to enhance not only
women's earnings but moreover women's receipt of conditional cash
transfers (ILO, 2009b, paras. 152-160; ILO, 2009a, para. 12(1)(i)).
- The case for identifying social protection for older
persons as a prime means of addressing extreme poverty reinforces
arguments for the implementation of the human rights referred to here. But
clearly it has to be balanced by the harsh realities of over-stretched
social security systems, themselves also in crisis.
- Given, then, the imperative to focus on the most urgent
needs, and in fact to make hard strategic choices as to where to target
cash transfers, the recommendation would have to be to favour affirmative
action by acting to concentrate on pension rights for older women. In some
ways, this might resemble the effective affirmative action which is
maternity protection.
After all, this is the heart of the family and society. And no section of society stands to gain more than the men and boys for whom women give a lifetime of too often unrecognised and uncompensated support.
________________________________________________________________
Human Rights and Social Protection of
Older Persons
Poverty in old age poses serious human rights challenges.
Magdalena Sepulveda, the Independent Expert on human rights and extreme
poverty, will focus her next report to the UN Human Rights Council on the need
to provide social protection to older persons.
"Older persons are amongst the most vulnerable in every
society, and many of them do not receive a pension," the expert
said.
“The right to social security is enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and yet up to today 80 percent of the world's
population does not benefit from any form of social security."
She pointed out that while informal forms of assistance for
older persons within families are eroding worldwide, there are increasing
demands on older persons, such as taking care of children and domestic chores.
The elderly population is the fastest growing segment of
society. Demographic and societal changes are such that by 2050, there could be
as many as 2 billion persons, or 22 percent of the entire population, over 60
years old.
With these changes come challenges for governments and older
persons, who often face declining health and rising need for medical services,
prolonged dependency, isolation, income insecurity and poverty. Governments
have obligations to protect their rights, in this case especially social and
economic rights such as the rights to an adequate standard of living, health
and adequate housing.
"Older persons are vulnerable in every society and
States must integrate this dimension in their policymaking," Sepulveda
said.
In February, experts from different parts of the world
working on ageing, social protection and human rights met in
Participants in the meeting
stressed that social protection is instrumental in reducing poverty, and old
age pensions are crucial in protecting older persons from poverty.
Both academics and government officials made a clear case
for the urgent need to re-think social protection systems to protect the human
rights of older persons and their families. To date, most countries only rely
on contributory pension systems, which leave out the majority, especially those
living in extreme poverty.
They also agreed that a strong gender perspective is
essential. Women already outnumber men at every stage of life and the imbalance
increases with age. Statistics show that for every 100 men age 60 or above,
there are some 123 women. By age 80 or above, there are 189 women for every 100
men.
Older women are doubly disadvantaged. They are marginalized
due to their age and gender stereotypes in male-dominated cultures. For this
reason, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is
preparing a general recommendation to guide governments in their efforts to
tackle the multiple forms of discrimination older women encounter.
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