Why are elderly women so ignored by society ...

I think that women themselves are the worst offenders! Many time on AIBU you get some tale about what the 'old biddy' on the bus said. I have yet to see one where the age was any relevance whatsoever.
Generally it turns out to be a woman of 63yrs who probably runs marathons, skis down black runs, rides her horse daily and could certainly beat an overweight 20something year old in a race! (I know women in their 70s who can do all these things.)
I think that it is ageism in general that is depressing. There is a thread at the moment about 'an old man' and a security light-I still don't know why his age needs to come into it.

suzikettles - I think it may well work like that.

Garlicbutter - see posts above - SAHPs are currently covered by CB which, as well as cash, brings an NI credit. There are no "gaps" now.

But the lack of clarity - at time of announcement and continuing - bespeaks, to me at least, a complete disregard for issues surrounding pensions (especially women's pensions), and is reversing the principle of independent taxation. It is however probably an effect (rather than a cause) of the marginalization of the elderly.

Nobody can put their DNA in and get some DNA out. That's why.

Ormirian: In terms of social and professional value, I agree entirely with what you said.

Are any other 50+ women posting to this thread? I'm feeling quite strange about this conversation

Organic: women are already having their pension age raised to parity.
Additionally, men can claim side benefits, like travel concessions, from the age at which a woman born the same year may claim them.

My pension age has gone up by 4 years in the past 12 months - very confusing (and requiring a rapid change of plan)! Assuming you're much younger, your pension provisions are the same for men and women.

I'm not clear on how Pension Credits are changing. Currently they tend to disadvantage women who have not worked full-time throughout their lives. Since many have been a SAHP for the majority of their marriage, they haven't been covered by full NI contributions and are significantly worse off.

Because women only have a very limited value in our society. As baby-makers and sex objects. Once you can't provide either service what use are you?

OK, I exaggerate a little but that's how I see it.

I believe Edith, from what I've read, that the plan would be to continue to pay CB to all to ensure that HRP is still retained, but then the CB would be clawed back from the higher rate tax payer via a tax code.

I suppose this would at least mean that the CB would go into the account of the person that was claiming it - the main purpose of CB in the first place was to give women some money of their own, since not all breadwinners were great at bringing home bread (preferring to spend it all in the pub).

TartyDoris: already remedied - HRP (or whatever it's called nowadays) provides NI credits to cover gaps for child-rearing (for all CB recipients until youngest child is 11, plus for recipients of other qualifying benefits).

The proposal to axe CB - with no word on replacement of HRP - is to me the epitome of the coalition not understanding the consequences of its actions. Why the hell should women (for it is usually women) have their long term pensions provision mucked around with just because they had a partner who was high earning for a while?

Many women of retirment age today would have taken many years off work to have kids in the 70s when a man's wage was enough to support a family. Now that you need a dual wage to support a family more women will work throughout their lives and get the full pension upon retirement.

That's fair then surely?

Or are you suggesting that Women should have their pension age raised so that they might have a chance of parity on retirement?

Single man or woman, £102.15 a week.
Married couple, £163.35 a week when one partner hasn't got a full set of NI contributions, if both have always worked full-time and paid in, they each get the single person pension.

I googled that for you.

How much is a state pension?

Sorry, were you trying to argue that women deserve to starve in the cold or something?? Or just stating some of the reasons why more women than men are that poor?

Yes, those are contributing factors to the fact that more than twice as many old women as old men live in desperate poverty.

Women have worked less during their lives. And retire earlier. And live longer.

The women you know aren't representative, Doris.

26% of women who retire this year will have less than £10,000 a year to live on.
12% of men who retire this year will have the same.
The minimum a person needs to live on is £14,400.
The average salary is £26,000.

The UK's elderly are the 4th poorest in the EU, below Lithuania and Romania.

Article here

I don't think it's true to say that old women are poor. Most of the older women I know have more money than the people I know around my own age. A lot of them didn't work, or hardly ever worked, as well.

I feel a lot of this is down to us really not undertanding older people very well. Many of us already know that as you approach middle age you can develop a different outlook on life - the classic thing of discovering gardening at 40. Younger people don't understand it but with many older people disengagement from society is a natural thing - eventually is is withdrawing from life. I don't want to over generalise but with my own parents - a father who was a bit of a petrol head and my mother very interested in fashion things changed. My father became less sociable and far more interested in nature, my mother more interested in her friends and less in her clothes.

I'm not sure that many other people outside the family would have fund them fun or interesting to relate to in old age, but they were happy, if somewhat invisible. Do we all really want to be in the thick of it as we age - some do , and good on Jane Fonda, BB King, Nicholas Parsons etc. may a little bit of their glitter rub off on the others. I think the ones who do best may have chaacter and looks (not mutually exclusive) Honor Blackman comes to mind.

lol - and I reckon you'll be an awesome bunch of fucking angry old ladies :o)

I'd suggest that you have touched on a problem - if you spend your youth trading on looks then you can't complain when you lose them and lose what position you had. Accordingly, most of the 50+ women that possess the gravitas to which you refer are the ones who always relied on their characters rather than their appearance.

Jenny, I'm far from unique in having become "invisible". I was expecting it happen at around 40, but it took ten years longer than that. In terms of ambient hassle, it's a blessed relief. But it's annoying when retail staff forget to see me, for example. Professionally, it's the kiss of death - men of my age and (previous) status have gravitas and experience; women just get too old.

You're right in a way: I agitate against ageism in general and, as age prejudice is still overt, there's little room for feminist issues. That doesn't mean the feminist issues don't count. In any social slice, women come out worse off than men; so too among older people. The "erotic capital", which can keep a woman afloat on a tide of patriarchy, evaporates. It's atrociously hard to discuss matters specific to ageing womanhood without people 'hearing' a conversation about Combating The Signs Of Ageing.

At 56, I'm still in the baby stages of this being 'old' lark! But I can already see where it's heading, and it makes being a young feminist look like a picnic in Paradise. It pisses me off actually. I had to fight in the 70s and 80s to be recognised as a worthwhile human despite being female; now it seems I've no choice but to do it all over again. If I ever find a group of like-minded women, we will be one fucking angry bunch of old ladies.

Why is this post not called "why are elderly people so ignored by society?"?

Society is full of post-menopausal women who are respected no more, no less than male counter-parts. What it does have is fewer powerful women - probably because women hadn't won their battle for equal opportunity when the current generation of 60+ were first getting started.

It's a nice idea that women get dumped from view when they're no longer 'fuckable' but it isn't actually true...

There's a great line in the Tina fey biography where she says how agents start calling women crazy and refuse to hire them. She says women are described as crazy when no one wants to fuck them any more but they won't shut up.

suzikettles: I think you're right though. The elderly who are poor are invisible regardless of their sex.

Women generally live longer, so there are typically more elderly females, so there may be indirect forms of discrimination in play. The introduction of HRP has (fortunately) already removed the worst anomaly (career breaks), and this Govt is talking about taking this even further with a simplified Universal Pension (don't know if they're making much headway on this though).

Mind you, poor, disabled, mentally ill old men end up like the guy I helped at the weekend - stuck half way across a petrol station forecourt, unable to go forward or back and noone wanting to help because he smelled of wee and was pretty incoherent.

It took 4 goes before I found a taxi that was willing to take him home.

But this is the feminist section so I don't want to get all menz on anyone...

Poor, old, disabled, mentally ill is going to fuck you over whatever your gender though.