Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-06-Speech-1-343"
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"en.20100906.24.1-343"2
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"Madam President, in studies in the European Union and Member States, ageing is all too often seen as a negative phenomenon, as a burden in terms of pensions, services or vital expenditure connected with healthcare and medicines.
In fact, though, ageing and the rights of older people are not only a component of fundamental rights but also something that enriches society enormously. Older people are responsible for a very large part of the informal care of their partners, spouses, relatives and children. They also have a good deal of expertise and tacit knowledge about the work and social environment, not to speak of the fact that they are a hugely important consumer resource, and certainly not just a burden on society.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights and the approach to ageing based on law require us not to take a negative view of ageing or older people, but adopt a respectfully positive attitude to it and them. This becomes a particular challenge in the case of women and older women. Ageing is also very much an issue to do with women and equality, because women live well into old age, they are more often involved in informal care in the home, and they often work in the social services and healthcare sectors, which are responsible for the private and public care services for older people.
Women also often experience double or triple discrimination. It is harder for an older woman at work to make progress in her career, or it is more difficult for her to find employment after being laid off. Moreover, that applies equally to healthcare or services, if an older woman belongs to an ethnic, sexual or religious minority or a particularly vulnerable group in terms of its socioeconomic status.
Women are also at greater risk of living in poverty when they get older, and their occupational pensions are frequently smaller. Unfortunately, in most cases, the studies on ageing conducted in the European Union have not shown any form of gender sensitivity, nor have differences between women and men been mentioned very often in the context of healthcare, medical research or research into disease.
For that reason, the report calls on the Commission to draw up by the end of 2011 an action plan guaranteeing more resources for the research needed to understand ageing. Let us see what action is required to improve the quality of care of older people, especially women, and to improve levels of social security, and let us call for a directive on basic services. Let us insist on the recognition of gender and agerelated diseases and their treatment, and let us in particular demand an annual report on age discrimination and the steps that have been and are being taken in the European Union and at national level to eliminate age discrimination.
In 2012, we will be requesting new measures for investigating how discrimination in the European Union can be eliminated. I would like to thank my colleagues for their excellent levels of cooperation and I am expecting effective action on the part of the Commission in dealing with the issues of older women and ageing."@en1
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