Rural Older Women and the Right to Health

Amelia Largey, current GEO student wrote this blog on a panel about Rural Older Women and the Right to Health.

Wednesday February 29

Afton Buetler, new president of WOW, moderated a panel today on Rural Older Women and the Right to Health. The panel was organized in conjunction with the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA). Susan Sommers spoke as a representative of INPEA and gave a brief history of the organization as well as giving information about elder abuse. Susan spoke of elder abuse often resulting from systematic neglect both by society as a whole and by government agencies. She urged everyone to become involved in Elder Abuse Awareness Day June 15th to protect elderly individuals from any form of abuse. Astrid Stuckelberger then spoke on some of the complexities surrounding aging and the problems we face now. As the quality of life increases and advances in health care  are made, life expectancies have increased worldwide. As a result the elderly population has increased, with a majority of older women being women as they tend to live longer. Issues faced by older women include land rights, inheritance, chronic disease, access to age appropriate health care, decreased mobility, and intergenerational relationships. Jessica Frank then spoke as a representative of International AARP about policies surrounding aging. She suggested that we take a human rights perspective on aging and the many issues surrounding getting older. It is projected that by the year 2050 there will be more older people in the world than children. The trend of an increasing aged population must be addressed and prepared for by advocating for careful consideration of policy regarding the rights of the elderly. Lois Herman of the UN Women Report Network then discussed the denial of aging. We live in a youth fixated culture, but we must not let aging go unaddressed and uncelebrated. Aging is an inevitable part of life and the right to dignity and basic human rights for older persons must be protected.

Women and Media

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

4:30 p.m.

United Nations Church Center, 10^th Floor

Women, Media, Revolution: Amplifying Voices of Women Living on and Reporting from the Frontlines

Sponsored by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice

Panelists:

Prue Clarke: New Narratives: Women Reporting Africa, A project training women journalists in Africa

Jina Moore: Freelance multimedia journalist.  Correspondent for Christian Science Monitor

Jennifer Pozner: Women in Media and News

Jackee Batanda: Ugandan Journalist

Kristen Fitzpatirck: Women Make Movies

Media can be a powerful source to bring critical issues alive.  Today, women discussed the roles that media can play and has played in advancing the status of women.  A topic that struck me was the demand and supply of news media.  One of the members of the audience asked the question, “Why don’t US news sources cover international news?”  Reflecting on the question, images of the checkout lines at grocery stores flashed in my mind.  What do we see?  Hollywood hook-ups and break-ups, beauty tips, health and diet, and DRAMA.  Rarely do we see any mention of anything going on in any other country.  Unless, of course, JLo is taking an exotic vacation on a secluded island or you wanted to follow the royal wedding.  Jina Moore simply responded, “We are not interested in international news.  We are interested in our own shallow selves!!”  She then referenced how US Time magazine’s front cover differs from international front covers.  While the rest of the world is concerned with European politics, we are concerned with puppies and kittens.  It seems to me that in the US there seems to be more of a demand for mind numbing, escape-from-reality news than there is thought provoking, understanding-the-world news.  The journalist encouraged us to write to news sources and ask for the type of news we want.  Then, maybe, just maybe someone in the media might believe that we want to hear about something else.      

Women and Economics

The following video clip is very interesting and timely since the CSW started today.  Click to see a video called Women's Economic Opportunities

The Commission on the Status of Women

Representatives of The Worldwide Organization for Women are looking forward to the 56^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  The CSW begins February 27 and goes through March 9.  Board members and supporters of WOW will be attending meetings and hosting panel sessions throughout the two weeks.  The themes for this year are as follows:

Priority theme:

The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges

Review theme:

Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women (agreed conclusions from the fifty-second session)

Emerging issue:

Engaging young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality

To learn more about the Commission on the Status of Women click here. 

Check back regularly for updates and stories from the CSW.  

Temporary Site

Due to some technical difficulties with The Worldwide Organization for Women’s website - wowinfo.org, we have temporarily moved to this blog site.  This will be the main source of information for WOW’s involvement in the Commission on the Status of Women.   Once the website is up and running again, this blog will be transferred to WOW’s website.    

 Afton, you asked for a picture of our friend and past president, Susan Dayton.  This was taken in 2010 at CSW.

http://youtu.be/Gc4HGQHgeFE