Skip to main content
15/08/2013 | Note for equality

Note for Equality N°9: Older adult women without independent income: consequences of a life exposed to inequality

Today in Latin American and the Caribbean live more than 40 million people over age 65, about 7% of the total population. In 2050 one of every five persons will be over 65 years. In the countries of the region where data is available, the percentage of women 60 years and over without incomes of their own exceeds at least twice the percentage for men of the same age group.

What are the main challenges to overcome poverty among older women?



●   Women’s economic autonomy should be guaranteed through social security system. Gender inequalities must be considered in the policies of social security and social protection in particular for women without access to contributive pensions.

●   Older women require care, which has traditionally been provided by other women, but caregiver will become less as long as they are inserted into the labor market without a replacement for care operations. This puts a strain on the social pension system, health system and social services of older persons.

●   Improve administrative registers and statistics on the situation of economic insecurity, health attention and care, and neglect and violence towards older women.

●   Disseminate and protect hereditary rights, especially property rights in widowhood.

●   Women’s rights must be guaranteed throughout the whole life cycle in order to preserve their physical, economic and decision-making autonomy in the last decades of their lives.