Dr. Cynthia Stuen, is the Main Representative from The International Federation On Ageing to the United Nations, the Chair of the NGO New York Committee On Ageing, and a leader in advocacy for Human Rights of older adults. Doctor Stuen gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group On Ageing as it explores the gaps in human rights for older adults worldwide. In 2024 a core group will report on the need to cover specific rights for older persons, and methods of monitoring how nations enforce those rights. This report may become part of the very first convention, which is a document like a treaty that will have influence in the lives of millions of older people. Doctor Stuen explains how you can impact age and gender equality and lend a voice to the campaign for human rights that includes all of us. Let's make the slogan, Nothing About Us Without Us, a reality.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
When I look in the mirror,I don't see wrinkles. When I look
in the mirror, I see hairon my head, not shoulder. Hello.
Hello, Hello, This is GenerationBold and this is Adrian Berg.
And what do we talk about here? What we talk about aging? And
(00:29):
we're speaking with somebody who's really goingto shine a light an important event that
took place April three through six ofthis year, and that is the Open
Ending Working Group on Aging. Itwas their thirteenth session and they meet to
discuss the protection of human rights ofolder persons. Now this was established by
the General Assembly. And what theirpurposes is looking at gaps in the rights
(00:55):
of older adults, said THEA.Stewart is very well equipped to tell us
all about it because she is atthe forefront of championing a convention and she'll
explain what that means in a minuteon the human rights of older person She's
the main representative to the United Nationson behalf of the IFA International Federation on
Aging. She's chair of NGO Committeeon Aging New York. She has co
(01:19):
chaired the IDP International Day of OlderPersons and for twenty four years she has
worked diligently to help people with siteissues and eventually became the senior vice president
of Lighthouse International. So thank youso much for being with us today,
Cynthia, thank you so much forhaving me agent. All Right, so
(01:42):
we have to do some definitional things. We're talking about a particular event,
the Open Ended Working Group on Aging. So tell us a little bit about
what that is before we get intoa second definition, and I'll speak to
you about that in a moment,what a convention is. But tell us
about the open I am going toback up to nineteen forty eight just a
(02:04):
moment, because in nineteen forty eight, seventy five years ago, the United
Nation passed the Universal Declaration on HumanRights, very important document. However,
since nineteen forty eight, there havebeen a number of omissions recognized in that
(02:29):
original document, one of them beingage. Age was never mentioned as a
determinant for discrimination in that document.Others persons with disabilities, others women,
(02:49):
others children. So since nineteen fortyeight there have been a number of additional
conventions a fancy name for a legallybinding document to address the other populations,
but so far not yet the olderpopulation. So I'm going to give you
(03:14):
a chance to be on a soapboxfor a minute. I was just researching
a piece on conventions, and Idiscovered that the United States was all for
and in fact in the forefront ofa convention for the human rights of children,
and yet we're kind of silent withregard to the human rights of older
persons. We kind of think wehave it made that. This is true
(03:36):
of many other Western countries. Idon't single us out, and others like
Russia and China are fairly much againstit as opposed to being neutral. What
do you see from your bird's eyeview as to what is this resistance with
regard to a convention to the olderrights, to the rights of older persons,
when we didn't have it with thedisabled or children. Okay, well,
(04:00):
let's explain one other thing. Thereis very much a difference between not
opposing or supporting a rights document forchildren or women and not then because not
yet ratify it. Once the UnitedNations passes, for example, a legally
(04:23):
binding document on the protection of personswith disabilities, it goes back to each
member state, of which there areone hundred and ninety three in the United
Nations, for their ratification. Oncethat country ratifies it. Then they are
subject to the monitoring of their compliancewith the document over the course of years.
(04:51):
Now what i US has not ratifieda Convention on the Rights of Persons
with disabilities. They have not ratifiedthe Convention to eliminate discrimination against women.
However, they did not stand inthe way of its passage. The reason
(05:15):
I think sometimes the United States refusesto ratify Remember that goes through the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, and there aretimes when setting up another structure within the
UN, not wanting to spend moremoney to do that, plus saying well,
(05:36):
here in the United States, wehave a lot of laws and regulations
to protect older workers. Yes,we have age discrimination laws, we have
certain laws in housing, etc.But they're not comprehensive to protect the rights
(05:56):
of truly across the board of olderNow, what is interesting to me is
that this has continued now for quitea number of years, twenty years since
the original Madrid Action Plan on aging. And the entire intent of the open
ended Working Group is to look atthe gaps, are their gaps, so
(06:18):
that any country cannot say we don'thave any gaps, and others can support
those countries that do have gaps.In filling those gaps. So right now,
right now, if you had toexplain to somebody the five, six,
seven gaps, the things that youreally think need to be addressed,
(06:39):
whether it's the public policy of agovernment or through a convention. In all
of your research, you've already mentionedolder women. What have you find that
really has to come to the fourand be rectified. I'm going to answer
that on a slightly different way,and it's because of the COVID pandemic.
(07:01):
You know, when that horrific pandemichit us, I was absolutely devastated.
But I thought, oh my goodness, when the stories kept coming out about
how discriminated against older persons were,that they were disposable, triaged in hospitals
(07:25):
withheld life saving treatment, but ratheryounger people were given it. That kind
of inherent agism where only age wasthe criteria being used. That to me
said, oh, at the nextopen ended working group, they will have
(07:48):
seen the light, because over thepast then eleven years we've been discussing all
of the various gaps that could occur, whether it be in violence and abuse
under social protection, access to justice, living with dignity, even planning for
end of life care, all ofthose normative standards that they looked at each
(08:15):
two of them, each of thoseintervening years. I thought they finally are
going to see the light. Whathappened? Total silence. Now have you
been attending all these eleven conferences andhave you seen any change in this latest
one? Yes, I have not. All of the early years. I
(08:39):
have to admit I didn't come onboard with un work until twenty twelve,
so I wasn't there for the probablythe first or second as I learned my
way, but basically everyone since andwhat I have seen is, you know,
it's it's a process, and whenyou're dealing with one hundred and ninety
(09:03):
three member states North South issues,developed and developing countries, there's always a
given take. However, what I'veseen is this past year we really made
(09:24):
an impact with how raising the voice, raising the awareness for older persons and
our rights. We were much morevocal during the meeting this past April.
Absolutely, it's I think made abig difference, and we've summoned some resources
(09:50):
through for example, the Global Alliancefor Rights of Older People to really help
to create training materials to educate professionalsand the population at the grassroots about what
this really means. Now, whatdo you expect. You're going to have
(10:13):
another conference in twenty twenty four,another Open End Working Group meeting and will
probably again be over several day period, probably again sometime in the spring at
UN headquarters. I'll describe very vividlythe fact that I was there and it
was a thrill. This was thefirst time I was there, and I
thank you for opening the door sothat I could attend, And it really
(10:37):
is quite thrilling. You do havedays of countries, representatives of countries talking
about aging, talking about what theydo. Even the ones that are against
the convention, they're very much awarethat they're having issues within their own countries
and they really discuss issues of agingin a different kind of very formal way.
(10:58):
So question next year, what doyou expect and what will take place
between April of this year and nextyear to make an even greater difference.
How will you personally be working onthis and others will be working on this?
Well, A very significant thing occurrednot this year, but the year
(11:20):
before, where at the close ofthe Open Ended Working Group, they called
for a voluntary group called a CoreGroup to come together to begin to develop
a strategy over the course of thatyear. Coming back to twenty this current
(11:41):
twenty three meeting and that core group. I was very pleased the United States
was present, as was Canada,Argentina. Actually about twenty countries ended up
signing on to a core Group statementthat was adopted by resolution at the close
(12:09):
of the twenty thirteen Open Ended WorkingGroup, I mean twenty twenty three Open
Ended Working Group. It is veryexciting. It called for the chair,
which is chaired by Ambassadors Skeph ofArgentina, requests the Chair to appoint two
facilitators no later than May first ithas occurred, one from a developed country
(12:35):
and one from a developing country,to facilitate a year long work before next
April to identify meet with civil society, meet with UN groups, meet with
the national human rights institutes, regionaland our independent expert on human rights and
(12:56):
come up with a report back forthe twenty twenty four Open Ended Working Group,
which I believe will come back havingwell documented the gaps that have been
made over the course of the lastten years, and call for an action
(13:16):
of the beginning to develop a legallybinding document to protect the human rights of
older persons. Well, this issomething that's extremely exciting. You know,
the world of change does move slowly, but when you think even about ten
years or twenty years, that's ablink of an eye in the world of
(13:37):
human rights. And so we're gettingthere now. Don't two guys go anywhere,
because I want to come back withCynthia Steward to Cynthia Steward, who
is the main representative to the UnitedNations on behalf of the International Federation on
Aging, chair of the NGO Committeeon Aging, but she's also a fellow
at the Genetology Society of America andthe New York Academy of Medicine. And
(14:01):
I'm going to come back and askher in a very interesting way. I
hope how this affects you the listener, whether you're an NGO, whether you're
an individual, whether there's an oldan aging adult like me. By the
way, when Cynthia said I'd liketo bring you back to nineteen forty eight,
I thought she was talking about mybirthday because that's when I started as
(14:24):
the year of my birthday. Andthe way I'm going to pose this to
you, Cynthia when we return,is this a slogan of the open ended
Working Group on Aging Advocates was nothingabout us without us, and so when
we come back, I want totalk a little bit about how, whether
you're an organization, a nonprofit,an NGO, or an individual, you
(14:48):
could do something about furthering this cause. Don't you go anywhere that doesn't bother
me? Not and I'm inappropriate formy age. You may think, don't
(15:13):
bother me not even because I amhappy and I'm inappropriate. We're back with
doctor Cynthia Stein. You have heardher before on several different of our podcast
for several different reasons, because sheis so much in leadership in the field
(15:39):
of aging as really has so manyparts. One of them you're going to
hear about is her current work onthe human rights of older women. But
first I'm going to ask a question, as I explained to you before the
break, Cynthia, which is this, They're a slogan. It's a very
good slogan arose out of the openend of Working Group on an Aging Advocates
(16:00):
and that was nothing about us withoutus, and that really meant that people
who are of age should be givena seat at the table when any when
any legislation, conventions, treatise,public policies are made that impact them.
But there's also another aspect to this, and that is if you are in
(16:22):
that group. If you are listeningnow at any age, and you're an
angeo, a nonprofit and individual,somebody who's just interested in their own aging,
but you care about the human rightsof older adults and older persons,
what can you do to support thiscourse, Well, the first thing anyone
(16:42):
needs to do is educate oneself aboutthis history, about what it means,
and to think of it as avery much an intergenerational endeavor. Doesn't matter
what age you are, really becauseaging begins, as you articulately said,
(17:08):
the time you're born. Yeah,but we've tended to we are focused on
the less the latter part of ourlives with older person's rights, but youth
need to understand this is their futurerights and we want all babies, born,
(17:32):
children, teenagers, all the workingyears of life people to understand why
aging with rights is so important.And I think that's a little something we've
missed out on in this process oftruly engaging the intergenerational aspect of it.
(17:53):
But that's we're that's being worked on. So I would say educate oneself.
You can do it through the GlobalAlliance for Rights of Older Persons website.
You can do it through the NGOCommittee on Aging website. We have a
wonderful background piece on this these veryissues, but there are tools to help.
(18:18):
It's very important no matter where youlive, if you're if you're in
a local community where you vote oryou express your opinions, recognize you have
a right, you have a rightto speak up and be heard. And
(18:38):
so I think in the in theforthcoming year, we all need to continue
to educate ourselves, speak out againstages MU and absolutely call it out when
it happens. And the less andthe best thing you can do is own
your own age and stop buying thosenonsense cards that say you're over the hill
(19:02):
at thirty or forty or sixty orseventy, and stop saying you look good
for your age, because the thereis you shouldn't be looking good. People
who are old don't look who welook great. I will also remind those
people who are listening that are fromthe US, who are US citizens.
We have a Senate Committee on Aging, and they are probably the loneliest guys
(19:25):
in town. Because I don't knowanyone one who writes them and says,
hey, I'm your constituent. Iwould like you to be more aware of
issues of aging. And I havebeen told by staffers that if a senator
gets six six missiles, six letters, they pay attention. That's how few
(19:45):
people actually write to them about somethingthat they think is important. So your
influence really counts. And before Ileave you, Cynthia, there's a lot
of talk about the rights of olderwomen and the plight of older women.
And in fact, the NGO andAging has a wonderful newsletter, one entire
(20:07):
edition based on issues of older women. Really some fascinating articles. I wrote
one article on what the definition evenmeans an older woman. But the fact
is that you're doing some very,very deep and important work. Tell us
about that before we leave you.Well, it's um, it probably has
(20:30):
been my I mean, having spentmy entire career in the field of aging.
I'm also a feminist at at heartand probably just grew up at the
right time and was part of,you know, the sixties movement with in
the US people like Betty free Danor Gloria Steinem who really taught us what
(20:52):
how how we had been sold abit of a bit of adizing hoopla about
how we were supposed to look asa woman and that we didn't. We
are growing up in a very patriarchalsociety and how do you change that?
(21:14):
So that's really been my lifelong missionsince very early adulthood. But I find
it that not only agism, butsexism is alive and well at the United
Nations. And we are given lipservice oftentimes to the fact that, oh,
(21:37):
yes, older persons should be atthe table, but are we often
invited? Are we seen for theproductivity we give, whether it be in
the workplace or raising family, caringfor family, caring, caregivers for older
relatives, and the cost that atbears and just the financial inability for older
(22:07):
women to recover from a life lifetimeof inequalities and inequities is pretty profound,
and so it has to start somewhere. So I like to raise a lot
of noise, not only in thejournalogical community, but also calling out sexism
when I see it. Fantastic Andyou know, one of the things that
(22:32):
I'm hoping is that the rights ofolder women will be appreciated in a convention,
specifically with regard to access to thedigital world. One of the places
here in the US view everybody looksas if they're on zoom. But the
truth is even here there are pocketswhere people have, particularly women, either
(22:55):
do not have access to a computer, or can't afford a computer, don't
have the technology or the learning.And when you deal with rural areas in
other countries, it's even worse,and this increases the eventual isolation, particularly
of older women. So all ofthis I would consider to be a gap
(23:18):
that might be discussed at the OpenEnd and Working Group on Aging, but
also a gap that we could considerin our own at home public policies.
So thank you so much for bringingall of this to light, Cynthea.
It's really been a pleasure, mypleasure. You know what I'm going to
say to you, guys, justbecause of that, get out their kids
and make it happen.
When I look in the mirror,I don't see wrinkles. When I look
in the mirror, I see hairon my head, not shoulder. Hello.
Hello, Hello, This is GenerationBold and this is Adrian Berg.
And what do we talk about here? What we talk about aging? And
(00:29):
we're speaking with somebody who's really goingto shine a light an important event that
took place April three through six ofthis year, and that is the Open
Ending Working Group on Aging. Itwas their thirteenth session and they meet to
discuss the protection of human rights ofolder persons. Now this was established by
the General Assembly. And what theirpurposes is looking at gaps in the rights
(00:55):
of older adults, said THEA.Stewart is very well equipped to tell us
all about it because she is atthe forefront of championing a convention and she'll
explain what that means in a minuteon the human rights of older person She's
the main representative to the United Nationson behalf of the IFA International Federation on
Aging. She's chair of NGO Committeeon Aging New York. She has co
(01:19):
chaired the IDP International Day of OlderPersons and for twenty four years she has
worked diligently to help people with siteissues and eventually became the senior vice president
of Lighthouse International. So thank youso much for being with us today,
Cynthia, thank you so much forhaving me agent. All Right, so
(01:42):
we have to do some definitional things. We're talking about a particular event,
the Open Ended Working Group on Aging. So tell us a little bit about
what that is before we get intoa second definition, and I'll speak to
you about that in a moment,what a convention is. But tell us
about the open I am going toback up to nineteen forty eight just a
(02:04):
moment, because in nineteen forty eight, seventy five years ago, the United
Nation passed the Universal Declaration on HumanRights, very important document. However,
since nineteen forty eight, there havebeen a number of omissions recognized in that
(02:29):
original document, one of them beingage. Age was never mentioned as a
determinant for discrimination in that document.Others persons with disabilities, others women,
(02:49):
others children. So since nineteen fortyeight there have been a number of additional
conventions a fancy name for a legallybinding document to address the other populations,
but so far not yet the olderpopulation. So I'm going to give you
(03:14):
a chance to be on a soapboxfor a minute. I was just researching
a piece on conventions, and Idiscovered that the United States was all for
and in fact in the forefront ofa convention for the human rights of children,
and yet we're kind of silent withregard to the human rights of older
persons. We kind of think wehave it made that. This is true
(03:36):
of many other Western countries. Idon't single us out, and others like
Russia and China are fairly much againstit as opposed to being neutral. What
do you see from your bird's eyeview as to what is this resistance with
regard to a convention to the olderrights, to the rights of older persons,
when we didn't have it with thedisabled or children. Okay, well,
(04:00):
let's explain one other thing. Thereis very much a difference between not
opposing or supporting a rights document forchildren or women and not then because not
yet ratify it. Once the UnitedNations passes, for example, a legally
(04:23):
binding document on the protection of personswith disabilities, it goes back to each
member state, of which there areone hundred and ninety three in the United
Nations, for their ratification. Oncethat country ratifies it. Then they are
subject to the monitoring of their compliancewith the document over the course of years.
(04:51):
Now what i US has not ratifieda Convention on the Rights of Persons
with disabilities. They have not ratifiedthe Convention to eliminate discrimination against women.
However, they did not stand inthe way of its passage. The reason
(05:15):
I think sometimes the United States refusesto ratify Remember that goes through the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, and there aretimes when setting up another structure within the
UN, not wanting to spend moremoney to do that, plus saying well,
(05:36):
here in the United States, wehave a lot of laws and regulations
to protect older workers. Yes,we have age discrimination laws, we have
certain laws in housing, etc.But they're not comprehensive to protect the rights
(05:56):
of truly across the board of olderNow, what is interesting to me is
that this has continued now for quitea number of years, twenty years since
the original Madrid Action Plan on aging. And the entire intent of the open
ended Working Group is to look atthe gaps, are their gaps, so
(06:18):
that any country cannot say we don'thave any gaps, and others can support
those countries that do have gaps.In filling those gaps. So right now,
right now, if you had toexplain to somebody the five, six,
seven gaps, the things that youreally think need to be addressed,
(06:39):
whether it's the public policy of agovernment or through a convention. In all
of your research, you've already mentionedolder women. What have you find that
really has to come to the fourand be rectified. I'm going to answer
that on a slightly different way,and it's because of the COVID pandemic.
(07:01):
You know, when that horrific pandemichit us, I was absolutely devastated.
But I thought, oh my goodness, when the stories kept coming out about
how discriminated against older persons were,that they were disposable, triaged in hospitals
(07:25):
withheld life saving treatment, but ratheryounger people were given it. That kind
of inherent agism where only age wasthe criteria being used. That to me
said, oh, at the nextopen ended working group, they will have
(07:48):
seen the light, because over thepast then eleven years we've been discussing all
of the various gaps that could occur, whether it be in violence and abuse
under social protection, access to justice, living with dignity, even planning for
end of life care, all ofthose normative standards that they looked at each
(08:15):
two of them, each of thoseintervening years. I thought they finally are
going to see the light. Whathappened? Total silence. Now have you
been attending all these eleven conferences andhave you seen any change in this latest
one? Yes, I have not. All of the early years. I
(08:39):
have to admit I didn't come onboard with un work until twenty twelve,
so I wasn't there for the probablythe first or second as I learned my
way, but basically everyone since andwhat I have seen is, you know,
it's it's a process, and whenyou're dealing with one hundred and ninety
(09:03):
three member states North South issues,developed and developing countries, there's always a
given take. However, what I'veseen is this past year we really made
(09:24):
an impact with how raising the voice, raising the awareness for older persons and
our rights. We were much morevocal during the meeting this past April.
Absolutely, it's I think made abig difference, and we've summoned some resources
(09:50):
through for example, the Global Alliancefor Rights of Older People to really help
to create training materials to educate professionalsand the population at the grassroots about what
this really means. Now, whatdo you expect. You're going to have
(10:13):
another conference in twenty twenty four,another Open End Working Group meeting and will
probably again be over several day period, probably again sometime in the spring at
UN headquarters. I'll describe very vividlythe fact that I was there and it
was a thrill. This was thefirst time I was there, and I
thank you for opening the door sothat I could attend, And it really
(10:37):
is quite thrilling. You do havedays of countries, representatives of countries talking
about aging, talking about what theydo. Even the ones that are against
the convention, they're very much awarethat they're having issues within their own countries
and they really discuss issues of agingin a different kind of very formal way.
(10:58):
So question next year, what doyou expect and what will take place
between April of this year and nextyear to make an even greater difference.
How will you personally be working onthis and others will be working on this?
Well, A very significant thing occurrednot this year, but the year
(11:20):
before, where at the close ofthe Open Ended Working Group, they called
for a voluntary group called a CoreGroup to come together to begin to develop
a strategy over the course of thatyear. Coming back to twenty this current
(11:41):
twenty three meeting and that core group. I was very pleased the United States
was present, as was Canada,Argentina. Actually about twenty countries ended up
signing on to a core Group statementthat was adopted by resolution at the close
(12:09):
of the twenty thirteen Open Ended WorkingGroup, I mean twenty twenty three Open
Ended Working Group. It is veryexciting. It called for the chair,
which is chaired by Ambassadors Skeph ofArgentina, requests the Chair to appoint two
facilitators no later than May first ithas occurred, one from a developed country
(12:35):
and one from a developing country,to facilitate a year long work before next
April to identify meet with civil society, meet with UN groups, meet with
the national human rights institutes, regionaland our independent expert on human rights and
(12:56):
come up with a report back forthe twenty twenty four Open Ended Working Group,
which I believe will come back havingwell documented the gaps that have been
made over the course of the lastten years, and call for an action
(13:16):
of the beginning to develop a legallybinding document to protect the human rights of
older persons. Well, this issomething that's extremely exciting. You know,
the world of change does move slowly, but when you think even about ten
years or twenty years, that's ablink of an eye in the world of
(13:37):
human rights. And so we're gettingthere now. Don't two guys go anywhere,
because I want to come back withCynthia Steward to Cynthia Steward, who
is the main representative to the UnitedNations on behalf of the International Federation on
Aging, chair of the NGO Committeeon Aging, but she's also a fellow
at the Genetology Society of America andthe New York Academy of Medicine. And
(14:01):
I'm going to come back and askher in a very interesting way. I
hope how this affects you the listener, whether you're an NGO, whether you're
an individual, whether there's an oldan aging adult like me. By the
way, when Cynthia said I'd liketo bring you back to nineteen forty eight,
I thought she was talking about mybirthday because that's when I started as
(14:24):
the year of my birthday. Andthe way I'm going to pose this to
you, Cynthia when we return,is this a slogan of the open ended
Working Group on Aging Advocates was nothingabout us without us, and so when
we come back, I want totalk a little bit about how, whether
you're an organization, a nonprofit,an NGO, or an individual, you
(14:48):
could do something about furthering this cause. Don't you go anywhere that doesn't bother
me? Not and I'm inappropriate formy age. You may think, don't
(15:13):
bother me not even because I amhappy and I'm inappropriate. We're back with
doctor Cynthia Stein. You have heardher before on several different of our podcast
for several different reasons, because sheis so much in leadership in the field
(15:39):
of aging as really has so manyparts. One of them you're going to
hear about is her current work onthe human rights of older women. But
first I'm going to ask a question, as I explained to you before the
break, Cynthia, which is this, They're a slogan. It's a very
good slogan arose out of the openend of Working Group on an Aging Advocates
(16:00):
and that was nothing about us withoutus, and that really meant that people
who are of age should be givena seat at the table when any when
any legislation, conventions, treatise,public policies are made that impact them.
But there's also another aspect to this, and that is if you are in
(16:22):
that group. If you are listeningnow at any age, and you're an
angeo, a nonprofit and individual,somebody who's just interested in their own aging,
but you care about the human rightsof older adults and older persons,
what can you do to support thiscourse, Well, the first thing anyone
(16:42):
needs to do is educate oneself aboutthis history, about what it means,
and to think of it as avery much an intergenerational endeavor. Doesn't matter
what age you are, really becauseaging begins, as you articulately said,
(17:08):
the time you're born. Yeah,but we've tended to we are focused on
the less the latter part of ourlives with older person's rights, but youth
need to understand this is their futurerights and we want all babies, born,
(17:32):
children, teenagers, all the workingyears of life people to understand why
aging with rights is so important.And I think that's a little something we've
missed out on in this process oftruly engaging the intergenerational aspect of it.
(17:53):
But that's we're that's being worked on. So I would say educate oneself.
You can do it through the GlobalAlliance for Rights of Older Persons website.
You can do it through the NGOCommittee on Aging website. We have a
wonderful background piece on this these veryissues, but there are tools to help.
(18:18):
It's very important no matter where youlive, if you're if you're in
a local community where you vote oryou express your opinions, recognize you have
a right, you have a rightto speak up and be heard. And
(18:38):
so I think in the in theforthcoming year, we all need to continue
to educate ourselves, speak out againstages MU and absolutely call it out when
it happens. And the less andthe best thing you can do is own
your own age and stop buying thosenonsense cards that say you're over the hill
(19:02):
at thirty or forty or sixty orseventy, and stop saying you look good
for your age, because the thereis you shouldn't be looking good. People
who are old don't look who welook great. I will also remind those
people who are listening that are fromthe US, who are US citizens.
We have a Senate Committee on Aging, and they are probably the loneliest guys
(19:25):
in town. Because I don't knowanyone one who writes them and says,
hey, I'm your constituent. Iwould like you to be more aware of
issues of aging. And I havebeen told by staffers that if a senator
gets six six missiles, six letters, they pay attention. That's how few
(19:45):
people actually write to them about somethingthat they think is important. So your
influence really counts. And before Ileave you, Cynthia, there's a lot
of talk about the rights of olderwomen and the plight of older women.
And in fact, the NGO andAging has a wonderful newsletter, one entire
(20:07):
edition based on issues of older women. Really some fascinating articles. I wrote
one article on what the definition evenmeans an older woman. But the fact
is that you're doing some very,very deep and important work. Tell us
about that before we leave you.Well, it's um, it probably has
(20:30):
been my I mean, having spentmy entire career in the field of aging.
I'm also a feminist at at heartand probably just grew up at the
right time and was part of,you know, the sixties movement with in
the US people like Betty free Danor Gloria Steinem who really taught us what
(20:52):
how how we had been sold abit of a bit of adizing hoopla about
how we were supposed to look asa woman and that we didn't. We
are growing up in a very patriarchalsociety and how do you change that?
(21:14):
So that's really been my lifelong missionsince very early adulthood. But I find
it that not only agism, butsexism is alive and well at the United
Nations. And we are given lipservice oftentimes to the fact that, oh,
(21:37):
yes, older persons should be atthe table, but are we often
invited? Are we seen for theproductivity we give, whether it be in
the workplace or raising family, caringfor family, caring, caregivers for older
relatives, and the cost that atbears and just the financial inability for older
(22:07):
women to recover from a life lifetimeof inequalities and inequities is pretty profound,
and so it has to start somewhere. So I like to raise a lot
of noise, not only in thejournalogical community, but also calling out sexism
when I see it. Fantastic Andyou know, one of the things that
(22:32):
I'm hoping is that the rights ofolder women will be appreciated in a convention,
specifically with regard to access to thedigital world. One of the places
here in the US view everybody looksas if they're on zoom. But the
truth is even here there are pocketswhere people have, particularly women, either
(22:55):
do not have access to a computer, or can't afford a computer, don't
have the technology or the learning.And when you deal with rural areas in
other countries, it's even worse,and this increases the eventual isolation, particularly
of older women. So all ofthis I would consider to be a gap
(23:18):
that might be discussed at the OpenEnd and Working Group on Aging, but
also a gap that we could considerin our own at home public policies.
So thank you so much for bringingall of this to light, Cynthea.
It's really been a pleasure, mypleasure. You know what I'm going to
say to you, guys, justbecause of that, get out their kids
and make it happen.
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