Nand the heart of Italy who ages, There is a silent force that holds the foundations of society: women over 65. There are over 60 percent of all the elderly, yet they rarely appear in political agendas, welfare programs or public debate. An invisibility that has the flavor of an injusticesince they are the load -bearing columns of informal families, communities and care networks.
Women over 65, the deep roots of marginalization
Despite being, in fact, the majority and living longer than men, women are often fragile, and not only from a physical point of view. Economic precariousness and, not infrequently, domestic violence hinder their affirmation and well -being.
They are doubly discriminated against, for the age and for the genre. A double burden that limits access to health care, excludes them from social circuits and cuts them out of any work dynamics.
The dear price of the exclusion
The price of this exclusion is very high. According to what was reported during The conference “The great age of women”organized in Rome by Athena Foundation with Giseg and the Grande Age Foundationover 65 live almost two thirds of their life in old age with important physical limitations.
Increases loneliness, isolation growsand with it too The risk of dementia and cardiovascular pathologies. A condition, aggravated by the greater life expectancy compared to men: Women live longer, but in worse condition.
Discriminate by age and gender, women over 65 often live sun and with minimal pensions. But I’m a pillar of the Italian social system (pexels)
The grandmothers of Italy: an invisible welfare
Elderly women, however, They are the hidden engine of a parallel welfare form, free, constant, irreplaceable: the one behind the doors of millions of Italian houses. 92.8% of them contribute economically to the support of the children’s family, while Three out of four grandmothers deal directly with grandchildren. A vital support for the holding of the family fabric, but almost never publicly enhanced.
Yet, according to the estimates presented by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Grande Foundation, The free care work offered by women, largely over 65, exceeds 23 billion hours a year. Figures that, if quantified in economic terms, are equivalent to about 50 billion euros. But despite this, removed from the public debate.
Solitude and fear: the dark sides of female old age
It is not only the social marginalization that marks the fate of these women. Violence, physical, psychological, economic, remains a painfully present plague. In only 2021, 35% of femicide victims were more than 65 years old. A frightening data, which Care of the veil on a submerged phenomenon: that of domestic violence towards the elderlyoften perpetrated by family or caregiver.
And then there is poverty. Low pensions, discontinue careers, lower wages for a lifetime: old age for many of them means economic precariousness. A fragility that adds up to the physical and emotional one, making them vulnerable on several fronts.
You need a change of gaze
In front of this scenario, it would be said that the time to overthrow the narrative has come. It is time to stop treating women over 65 as a weight or a residue from the past. And to begin, however, to consider them an active, present resource, capable of still giving a lot if put in the condition of doing it.
To succeed, however, you need a structural change: A medical approach more attentive to gender differences in the third agesocial policies that do not forget them, economic tools that enhance their role.
Transform marginality into visibility
Monsignor Paglia used a powerful metaphor to describe intergenerational coexistence: «We do not think that the fourth floor is abusive, because it is an integral part of the house».
A metaphor that contains a profound truth: often women over 65 are perceived as a late addition, almost out of place, as if their presence was no longer necessary. And instead they are an essential part of the social buildingtoday like yesterday.
They are the fourth floor that completes the structure and, at the same time, are the foundations on which that house has built: generations of women who raised families, treated elderly, supported children and grandchildrensilently holding the scaffolding of an entire society. Ignoring them is not only unfair, but it is a structural error, says Monsignor Paglia. In fact, no house can ever be said to be truly stable, not recognizing those who have carved out the foundations.
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