Government officially supports this human rights approach. Older women are discriminated against in our society through sexism and ageism and combinations of the two. The stereotyped, public image of older women is of dependence, sickness, helplessness. This image is unjust as older women actually contribute more than older men to caring for others and to voluntary work in the community, thus supporting government policy and budgets. A great many older women also engage in self help, run peer organisations and network together for mutual benefit.
More medical research relates to men s lives than to women s lives.
In particular, large studies of disease in the population often include males only. Male researchers cannot speak for women. More to the point, recent studies show that women and men respond quite differently to several medications. Clearly there needs to be more research on the health and medical needs of, for and by older women. Older women s health needs are different from men s.