We can now design a formula of women’s poverty to predict the likelihood of women ageing into poverty. The key variables of this formula are: gender pay gap, financial loss due to unpaid care, and age discrimination.

For the first time, we are now able to estimate the lifetime earnings that women lose as a result of caregiving. These can amount to almost $AUD 500,000. This is what unpaid caregiving for children and parents costs women over the course of their careers in pay and promotion, and cuts to their retirement savings, according to a first-of-its-kind report by the U.S. Department of Labor.

We can extrapolate that the figures would be roughly comparable in Australia. This loss of anywhere up to half a million dollars in earnings, helps us to understand why women are ageing into poverty and homelessness. It provides us with the missing piece in designing a formula exposing the probability of women ageing into poverty.

It is time we recognised that Jobseeker is a feminist issue. More specifically, it is an older women’s issue. Being on Jobseeker is the legacy of a lifetime of gender discrimination. Jobseeker is also where women land when gender discrimination fuses with age discrimination.

For some years now, women  aged 50+ have constituted the majority of those on Jobseeker. They are also on it for the longest periods – often 5 years or more.

They are dependent on Jobseeker not because they are ‘bludgers’ or social parasites. Quite the contrary. Most have spent their adults lives working – either paid employment or unpaid work at home. They are stuck on Jobseeker because almost half of Australian employers won’t employ older people, especially older women, according to an AHRC report.

When Michelle Lee rowed solo for 240 days and crossed 14,000 kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, she not only shattered a world record for women. She also shook the stereotype of older women.

Society assigns us diminishing capabilities as we age, and also diminishing value.

Women like Michelle inspire us to challenge these stereotypes. Clearly, few of us can row around the world and overcome 5 hurricanes, 4 cyclones and a shark leaping into the boat. But as Michelle said, the most important factor that carried her through, was her mental strength.

On International Women’s Day 2023, WomanGoingPlaces would like to acknowledge the remarkable First Nations women leaders who have been spearheading the campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum to enshrine the Indigenous Voice in the Constitution. In the process, they have been forging an alliance of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to change Australian history.

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Some of the most difficult images of the Ukraine war have been of older women, trapped helpless in their beds in bombed out homes. Women left alone without family, or left by their families because they were unable to flee to safety in other countries.

It has been described as the oldest humanitarian crisis in the world with 24% of Ukraine’s 8.9 million population over 60 years old.

Significantly, the first nationally representative report has been released about older people in the Ukraine war. It is based on a survey held as recently as December 2022. Some of its key findings are that older women are more at risk than older men. It found that older women are facing greater financial difficulties and barriers to accessing essential goods and assistance.