‘A crisis of the failure to plan’: the reality of ageing in Australia

Huge numbers of older people are ageing at the moment, and [they] are being met with a crisis of the failure to plan, the failure to foresee, the failure to provide the housing and the aged care necessary,

3 key messages about ageing in Australia:

1. Australia will soon face a crisis of inadequate systemic planning for the needs for older people.

2. Older women, who already face economic and other challenges, will particularly feel the consequences.

3. Older Women’s Network NSW is advocating, and acting, for better outcomes.

A system that allows older Australian women to face housing and economic insecurity and unaffordable healthcare has neglected them and perpetrates abuse, said Yumi Lee, CEO of Older Women’s Network NSW.

As head of a women’s organisation, Yumi has a frontline view of the challenges this cohort experiences and what she sees as a systemic failure in Australia to prepare for the rapidly growing number of older people.

The Older Women’s Network, or OWN, is a peak body that provides a governance framework to more than 20 women’s groups across NSW under a mantra of ‘promoting the rights, dignity and wellbeing of older women’. Since its inception in 1985, the network has advocated on issues affecting older women, including economic insecurity, housing, violence and ageism.

Yumi said those issues are still urgent today as Australia’s population ages and encounters inadequate state planning for housing, care and services. For Yumi, this amounts to a failure to uphold older people’s right to live with dignity.

And she believes that the women who are already experiencing financial and housing insecurity will be most affected.

‘One of the biggest forms of abuse’

Through her work with OWN, Yumi has seen the troubling realities of ageing in Australia, particularly for women. She said the system has failed to prepare to meet the needs of rising numbers of older people in ways that will support their dignity, respect and wellbeing.

‘Huge numbers of older people are ageing at the moment, and [they] are being met with a crisis of the failure to plan, the failure to foresee, the failure to provide the housing and the aged care necessary,’ Yumi told Compass.

‘With the numbers, with the lack of housing, with the lack of care, with the lack of planning, we will have more older people – older women, particularly – who will not be able to age easily with dignity.’

One of Yumi’s major concerns is the prohibitive cost of health care at a point in life when people often have more – and more complex – health issues, incurring bills not fully covered by Medicare.

‘The fact that the governments have not maintained and kept up with all the services necessary to maintain the rights of older people, to [provide] access to decent health care and a decent life, is to me one of the biggest forms of abuse.’

Housing and financial insecurity

Statistics showing falling numbers of older homeowners and rising numbers of older renters should already sound a warning to those in a position to do something about it. Yumi said that to not act on these warning signs was ‘sheer, utter negligence’ that reflected ‘the short-termism that guides so much of the investments made by the political party of the day.’

Many older women in Australia lack secure housing or a solid financial base, Yumi continued, with half a million women over the age of 65 living in poverty¹. Even the age pension – which, as she pointed out, women may live on longer than men simply because they live longer, on average – assumes you own your own home. This, increasingly, isn’t always the case, especially for older women.

‘To be older and [have] to live in your car … it is one of the most difficult, most uncomfortable, most back-breaking lives that you can ever think of, in a non-armed-conflict situation.’

The ‘older woman’ experience

Yumi pointed out that ‘older women’ are, in fact, a wide social group whose individual needs vary considerably. A woman’s age, financial situation, cultural background and residential location all shape her experiences and circumstances. The concerns of a 65-year-old woman can be very different from those of an 85-year-old, and their experiences of ageing can also vary.

‘Depending on where you are in your lifespan, the concerns change and they differ … So much of it depends on who you are and your access to resources,’ Yumi said.

‘There are women who have a lot of privilege [and] for whom ageing is something to rebel against, because they have the means to look younger for as long as possible. And you have a[nother] cohort of older women who embrace their ageing and see every wrinkle and grey hair as a badge of honour.

‘Then there are older women who can’t think about those things because they’re just trying to make it through the day. They have so many things to struggle with.’

This broad categorisation of people under an umbrella term relates to the invisibility and lack of respect that many older women experience and which, Yumi said, are ‘deeply ingrained and embedded’ in our systems. Even family and domestic violence services can fail to recognise older women as a client cohort, with their posters typically featuring younger women, she noted.

Bringing homes and employment within reach

Doing what it can to support older women in NSW, OWN operates 2 programs that address housing insecurity and access to paid work.

The Homes for Older Women program in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands supports women aged 55+ who are facing housing insecurity. The program connects the women with homeowners happy to rent out an available space – even a spare bedroom.

The other program, Employment Pathways for Older Women, is a free, one-on-one employment service that helps women aged over 50 to get back into meaningful, paid work. Operating across NSW and the ACT, the program covers resume writing, interview coaching, job search strategies and confidence building.

‘It’s highly effective, and we are very proud of it,’ said Yumi, ‘because our motivation is sincerely to help the woman get back to work, and [get] from where she’s at to where she needs to be ‒ not seeing her as a means to generate profit for a company.’

How to get involved with OWN

OWN’s volunteer-run member groups across NSW choose and organise their own activities to suit their local needs and priorities, with online activities providing access for women who don’t live near an established group. So every group will be different.

If you’re interested in finding out how OWN could help you – or you could help OWN – here’s where to start.

• Visit the OWN website

• Email info@ownnsw.org.au or call (02) 9519 8044

• Join an OWN local group – or start a new one

• Become a supporter by donating, making a bequest or volunteering

In other states and territories, visit the National Older Women’s Network: www.ownaustralia.org.au

References

1. Older Women in Australia: Housing Insecurity and Homelessness (2020)