WUNRN
STUDY BY THE UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
ON THE RIGHT TO PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH, ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH OF OLDER
PERSONS
Website of the UN Special Rapporteur
on the Right to Health:
A/HRC/18/37 |
Thematic study of the SR on the right to health on the realization of the right to health of older persons |
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Gender Excerpts from Report:
III. The Right to Health of Older
Persons
29."Older women are often more
disadvantaged because they may suffer from
a combination of both gender and age
discrimination. Ageing women make up
a significant proportion of the
world's population with the majority of older women
living in developing countries. A
number of life-course events adversely affect the
health of women in older age,
including discrimination against infant girls in the
provision of food and care, barriers
to education, low incomes and poorer access
to decent work, care-giving
responsibilities as mothers and wives, violence
(during childhood, adulthood and
elder abuse), widowhood, and cultural traditions
and attitudes toward health care.
Lower incomes, disruptions to work due to family
responsibilities, and discrimination
in access to the labour force during women's
working life mean that women often have
less retirement savings and are therefore
more financially vulnerable in older
age."