Younger Older Women (YOW)
Talkin' 'Bout Our Generation
Capturing the issues and interests of over 50's women
- Date: Friday, 5.30pm, 2 December 2005
- Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney
- Bookings essential: Registration form (pdf 213 kb)
- Promotion: Brochure (pdf 397 kb)
- Spread the word: Poster (pdf 81 kb)
Program
Issues to be explored with guest speakers and workshops:
- Work and Family - Alison Peters, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Unions NSW
- Ageing, Caring and Accommodation - Christine Regan, Senior Policy Officer, NSW Council of Social Services
- Finance, Superannuation and Retirement - Dr. Diana Olsberg, Director, UNSW Research Centre Ageing and Retirement
- Health and Wellbeing - Cara MacDougall, Wellness Consultant, Older Women's Network
Enquiries
To receive Forum Programs, OWN Brochures, to request further details or to register for attendance, please ring the OWN office on (02) 9251 9333 or (02) 9247 7046 or email ownnsw@zip.com.au and leave your name, contact details and your request for information.
This Program is funded by the City of Sydney.
Why Younger Older Women?
We Flower-children of The Sixties find ourselves in an odd place these days. We were the girls who had it all. We cast off our conical bras, and launched ourselves with open minds into the universe. From communities to communes, we were out there and up there, our voices ringing in the ears of the Establishment. We claimed the right to choose regarding just about everything that moved, and we believed it would always be so. The world had changed forever, and We had changed it.
As we moved confidently into the Family Years, we shifted state from Family Planning (our choice) to the Family Planner. We scheduled our lives into neat little packages of Work/Shop/Cook/Clean/Nurture/Nurse - feeling quite smug about our colour-coding and time management. Then there was a new shift of focus and we realized that 'having it all' actually meant 'giving it all'. Suddenly it seemed, that old confidence was dented by a slew of concurrent calamities: the career ending; the family fledging; the mythical 'sensitive new age man' giving up and walking away; the family dog dying.
So now we need to shift that focus back to ourselves; find the place again that resonates, to share the different lives we've lived, create new experiences. Which is why OWN welcomes Younger Older Women. Coming from the same era does not mean that we all walked the same path. We are all women and while OWN recognizes our commonality we also celebrate and draw inspiration and strength from our diversity.
Mary Cate Hall
On Our OWN Terms
The best way to predict the future is to take an active role in creating it
For the first time in history, older people are in the majority. We are consequently presented with a tremendous opportunity to effect social change.
The Older Women's Network's (OWN) goals are to promote the rights, dignity and wellbeing of older women. Since our founding in 1985, we at OWN have embraced the opportunity to define our future in our OWN terms. OWN believes in a society rich in social capital, where mutual respect and trust are paramount, where diversity and debate are valued and where people are citizens within a society.
Through consultation, advocacy and policy advice OWN volunteers develop, plan and manage a wide range of projects and activities in 20 regional groups across NSW. This work enables us to participate actively in decision making at all levels of government, and to gain greater independence and more control over the management of our lives. In addition, OWN has created unique models of Wellness, promoting a peer-support concept for healthy ageing.
Women now in their 50's are facing a range of issues that involve careful negotiation and planning. Our lives must be coordinated around work, family, ageing and caring, finances, retirement and Super, health and wellbeing, and we must find and foster networks to meet diverse and evolving needs.
Being a multifaceted network, OWN is committed to supporting the next generation - Younger Older Women - to grow aware of the significance and potential of their existing community networks.
Maintaining social relevance as we age involves maintaining the critical links with a society that both recognizes our contributions and offers us support when we need it.
The recent publication of a 10 year study by Flinders University in Adelaide, revealed that it is our friendship networks that are crucial to sustaining our personal satisfaction, happiness and longevity as we age.
OWN can present a starting point for older women to discover their common ground. It can help reduce isolation, form friendships, networks and maintain health and wellbeing. Women have always been concerned with strengthening the social fabric by preserving family networks. Swapping experiences and stories with other women helps us uncover, share and problem solve the real issues. OWN gives women the opportunity to take an active role in creating the future, to have a voice in an organisation with the power to bring about real change - to be seen not as some dreaded 'problem', but as part of the solution. This is surely a significant step towards creating a healthier, more caring society for us all.
Valuing ourselves, maintaining our own happiness and wellbeing enables us to participate more effectively in the community, and to continue to live full and meaningful lives.
YOW leaflets
- On Our OWN Terms (pdf 41 kb)
- Being older is not the problem (doc 23 kb)
- Links to documents of interest for Younger Older Women (doc 86 kb)
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