The outlook for older women in Australia is dire ...

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

... but no-one seems to care.

Jane Caro

on 23 Nov 2020

Every time I speak up publicly about the very real plight facing older women in Australia – as I did on last week’s Q&A - I get inundated with messages on social media. But virtually all of those messages are from other older women. They confide in me their terror of homelessness and the inescapability of their poverty. They tell me of the indignities and humiliations they suffer at the hands of a punitive and indifferent welfare system, and they whisper dark stories of domestic violence, neglected health and isolation. These women are my peers (I am 63). They are the girls I went to school with, my sisters, neighbours, cousins and friends. We all started out with the same hopes and optimism about our future but, for far too many women of my generation, those hopes have turned to ashes.”

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/23/the-outlook-for-older-women-in-australia-is-dire-but-no-one-seem-to-care?__twitter_impression=true

Depressing reading.

Christ. Terrifying. I'd like to see a comparative article on the same subject for the UK.

That's awful I'd be very interested in seeing the figures for the UK too, but I'll not hold my breath.

Can confirm. Nobody cares. Or rather, they care in the abstract, but don't want you to talk about your fear of homelessness specifically, because it makes them feel bad.

Because women's homelessness is often less visible (women couch surf, beg a bed from family/friends, sleep in their car) most people can simply ignore it.

Miriam morgoyles had a programme recently on Australia. She met a woman who lived in a camper van who said that the fastest growing group of homeless people are older women. It stayed with me that in a supposedly wealthy country these women are being tossed on the scrap heap.

In AU, the pressing issues include cost of housing, lack of social housing, an out of control private rental market, casualisation of the work force, ageism, cost of childcare, and lack of support for children, young people and older people, meaning women take significant time away from the super system in order to perform unpaid caring duties.

Map that onto sexism and it's a freaking nightmare, especially for single women.

I’ve lived in Australia for ten years after moving from the uk. I had only $17000 in my superannuation and have had to withdraw $10k of it so we don’t lose our family car. We have 3 young children. I’m only 41 and if anything should happen to my marriage I am screwed. I have always worked retail until 4 years ago when I was bullied out of work. I start uni in January in the hopes of finally starting a career the will mean I have some security. But with the government changing the cost of degrees if I ever earn enough to pay it back I will still be no better off.

@Rhynswynd

I’ve lived in Australia for ten years after moving from the uk. I had only $17000 in my superannuation and have had to withdraw $10k of it so we don’t lose our family car. We have 3 young children. I’m only 41 and if anything should happen to my marriage I am screwed. I have always worked retail until 4 years ago when I was bullied out of work. I start uni in January in the hopes of finally starting a career the will mean I have some security. But with the government changing the cost of degrees if I ever earn enough to pay it back I will still be no better off.

If you can get a professional job paying over the median wage, you'll be better off, despite HECS repayments. I strongly disagree with the increase in the cost of humanities subjects though.

I took my super out to tide us over Covid related job loss in the family, in order to pay the rent. I think I've got about $2000 left.

I won't ever be on the streets, because I have family and friends, but my ability to pay outrageous rents is ever in doubt. One contract non-renewal away.

Yes. Things are dire here for women.

It doesn't help that Caro and other 'public feminists' all insist that TWAW which really makes everything they say extra confusion.

Yes, though in this article she does mean women.

This is not quite on the topic of the thread but I have noticed, during decades of feminist involvement, that the plight of older women is not one of the issues most feminist groups are much concerned about, perhaps because most people in online feminism are young women.

Intersectionality, for instance, never seems to have age as one of the axes which intersect, even though growing old is a different experience for men and women in general and even though the second wave did quite a bit to improve the retirement position of those women who had done mostly unpaid work during their lives.

Financial education for girls when they are you and at points throughout women’s lives. Depressing

Yep, middle aged woman in Oz here. If my marriage broke up I'd be screwed. Virtually no superannuation due to full-time care of disabled kids.
Almost zero affordable housing here. (My single mother DD and GC have been camping in my lounge for 4 months now).
Its a national crisis but it's being swept under the rug like all women's issues.
The rates of poverty and even homelessness in older women is disgraceful and frightening.
COVID has affected women's jobs in far higher numbers than men's so that's gonna add to the problem.
I think many of us know "there but for the grace of god" etc
As PP said, this is an age issue as well as a sex based.

Why the lack of affordable housing in Australia ? I'd always assumed that the out of control rental market in the UK was fuelled by land prices, which are high because of population density. Naively assumed that as Australia has plenty of space for housing, affordable housing would be commonplace.

I think women of this generation didn't take their financial education seriously enough.
"A Man is not a Financial Plan" should be on bumber stickers, it's so important.

Why the lack of affordable housing in Australia ? I'd always assumed that the out of control rental market in the UK was fuelled by land prices, which are high because of population density. Naively assumed that as Australia has plenty of space for housing, affordable housing would be commonplace.
Money flowing out of China from the mid-90s onward into property. It flowed to Australia, New Zealand and Canada as we were seen as a safe place to invest money launder . In NZ at least a property purchase by a foreign person was seen as an "investment" by our governments and made residency here easier.
Also, low interest rates is the root of the affordability problem everywhere. Australia has less of a supply problem than NZ.

@Guineapigbridge

I think women of this generation didn't take their financial education seriously enough. "A Man is not a Financial Plan" should be on bumber stickers, it's so important.

Yes, nothing systematic here, just silly women who thought a man would save them and didn't bother to educate themselves! Colour me corrected by this extremely convincing take.

(You can buy a house in a suburb of Perth for less than a half what it costs you to buy the equivalent house in a suburb of Auckland. The difference is our environmental legislation. Most of Perth shouldn't have any housing on it because their water supply is negligible).

Well I don't think its systematic. Sensible people take care of their financial interests. Blaming other people for choices is a bit of a cop out. The "caring responsibilities" thing is a cop-out too - just because you have a vagina doesn't mean you have to be the carer. Feminism taught us that, didn't it?

@eekay talk to your solicitor and get an agreement with your children's father that he shares his superannuation with you. Don't leave your financial future to chance.

guineapigbridgeof course it's sustemic. We all know our feminist theory. We all know our theoretical rights.
We all know possession of a vagina shouldn't automatically equal being the caregiver.
But for most of us theory is as far as it goes.
In practice we have to assume responsibility. Because if we don't the kids are screwed. Fathers fuck off. Servoces are negligible. The buck stops with Mother.
Different century, same fucking reality.
So don't try to shame other women and look down your nose at their "choices". Get real.
Your financial advice is sensible and fortunately i do have a very good solicitor.

When I hear stories of people having to raid their super to live, it’s so terrible and terrifying. Super should be untouchable really because it’s so easy to let it eat up high rents now, but it’s meant to last us a long time into the future. I understand fully why people have done it, but I don’t think the government should have allowed it without a mechanism to build it back up again quickly.

As for affordable housing - Australia is interesting. The main cities have insanely high house prices and rents and although it’s possible to live cheaply away from the cities, where are the jobs? I’m hopeful that this trend towards home working will spread the wealth of the cities and bring better jobs to regional areas. However, what I suspect will happen instead is that certain regional areas (already happening in Byron) like Port Macquarie, parts of Qld will just see the cost of properties and living skyrocket as rich city folk move in and continue to work from home, yes bringing money into the area but pricing locals out.

The main cities have insanely high house prices and rents and although it’s possible to live cheaply away from the cities, where are the jobs? I’m hopeful that this trend towards home working will spread the wealth of the cities and bring better jobs to regional areas

You can live cheap rural but its not just jobs lacking
The schools are average and its hard to find a gem of a good one
Medical facilities suck, DP waits 3 months between psych appointments, when the dr comes out here
Nothing to do come weekends, no activities, less extra curricular for kids after school
Shopping is limited and expensive, postage slow, may stores refuse to modernize
Its cliquey, been here 5 years, we still considered blow ins, not locals

We moving back to suburbs as rural life wasnt all we expected
WFH or not, there heaps of other stuff to consider

Some of it is how hard it is to get employment as an older woman. And women are over-represented in part-time and casual jobs. It is close to impossible for older women to find employment. Many of my friends, who are higjly educated and very skilled, have spent years looking for work that is other than casual cleaning or hospitality.

Successive Australian governments have focused heavily on young families, ignoring the large segment of Australians who live alone. The majority of those are women, and older women.

“Of the two million Australians living alone, 39% live on or below the poverty line (defined as 60% of median income). This group is more likely to be older (over the age of 55); female; have a disability; and those renting privately are in rental stress.” www.anglicare.org.au/about-us/media-releases/anglicare-research-finds-australians-living-alone-are-doing-it-tougher/

Rates of suicide in older women are rising; 60% of calls to suicide-prevention hotlines are middle-aged women. www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-rate-of-female-suicide-is-on-the-rise-and-we-need-to-better-understand-why-20151201-glcy5m.html

The slick “too much going on” explanation from “the expert” here, gives me the rage. The prospect of living your frailest and most vulnerable years in desperate poverty is enough to cause depression of self-harm in women.

I had this discussion on Twitter, and a man corrected me, saying men had it worse and then pointed out roads (because men), therefore men are more important than women. And I think, that’s it in microcosm. Women are not taken seriously; their health and mental health are often ignored and not well understood. Women’s homelessness is less visible than men’s (because they are so much less safe when visible).

apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2016-07/apo-nid56174.pdf

@squeekums I hear you. We’ve lived over here for 13 years and I wouldn’t live anywhere else than Sydney, even though we probably could because our jobs can be done remotely. Even in Sydney I struggle a bit to find enough to do - yes there’s beach and sport and hiking and loads of lovely outdoors stuff but I do miss things like National Trust properties, museums (we have done them all here on multiple occasions), cultural events. And that’s in the largest city!
We lived in Adelaide for a couple of years and although it’s great for commuting, and a nice standard of living, I was bored out of my mind and found it incredibly hard to break into friendship groups. In Sydney I have found it much easier to make friends with both Australians and other immigrants like me, from various countries.
Anyway, slightly off topic but it’s not as easy as saying “up sticks and move to Airlie Beach because yes it might be cheaper than Sydney but it’s also bloody miles from anywhere, not much to do and barely any local industry.