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A national program raising awareness of the inequalities and promoting respect for older women has been picked up in residential aged care.
In an Australian first, BaptistCare in Warrigal was one of two providers joining a pilot with older women living in its Abbey Gardens aged care home. Nine older women participated in a workshop that explored the contributions of older women, what respect means to them and the meaningful ways respect is shown. The older women’s stories are now being shared in a Recipes for Respect resource to help promote respect for older women living in residential aged care.
The project is part of The Biscuit Tin program, an initiative of Celebrate Ageing Ltd, developed to combat the gendered ageism, inequalities and disrespect experienced by many older women. The symbolism of the biscuit tin is a reminder of the many and varied contributions of older women – including their maternal and nurturing roles, which are often devalued.
Lauren Robinson, Residential Care Services Manager of BaptistCare Abbey Gardens said
The Biscuit Tin project provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the valuable and often invisible contributions older women make to our rural community. The project also gave us an innovative opportunity to explore what respect means to the older women living in our home. Their stories provide us with valuable insights on the simple everyday actions like listening – that tell older women we respect them. These learnings will help to guide us as we continue to improve our services.
The project was a partnership with Elder Rights Australia, the state based peak advocacy service for older people, CEO Debra Nicholl said
We know respect matters to older women living in aged care and are very aware that The Standards and Guidelines for Aged Care call for older people to be treated with dignity and respect. The Older Women’s Recipes for Respect, Warragul resource celebrates the contributions of older women in a rural community, often invisible but absolutely critical. It also explores the different ways respect is experienced and valued, including maintaining connections with family and being heard and supported by aged care service providers. Being valued and respected is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is critical to our health, wellbeing and equality. Our work at Elder Rights Australia, the state based peak advocacy service for older people, clearly tells us that older women are not equal, and that the inequalities are growing.
I know we need a toolkit of a thousand resources to make the culture shifts needed to promote equality and respect for older women in Australia. The Biscuit Tin is one powerful resource in that kit, and we were proud to be part of it.
Campaign webpage: celebrateageing.com/thebiscuittin
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