New York — On Friday, January 31st, State Senator Liz Krueger and The New York Women’s Foundation held a roundtable discussion titled “Including Older Women’s Issues in the Feminist Agenda.” The roundtable will brought together thought leaders in key policy areas to develop a women’s agenda that includes issues relevant across the lifespan.
Video of the event is available by clicking here.
Today, nearly one in five New Yorkers is 60 or above, a larger proportion of the population than ever before. Older women face significantly more poverty than men do; nearly two out of three poor older adults are women. Women also face more discrimination in the workplace, higher rates of bankruptcy, due to medical bills and insufficient savings, more demands as family caregivers, struggles with affordable housing, elder abuse and inadequate pay for home care aides and other jobs in the care economy, and other issues. It is time to include the impact of these issues on women whose reproductive years are behind them and end the neglect of issues facing older women in a feminist agenda.
The roundtable panelists included:
– Dr. Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Senior Advisor to the President, Hunter College
– Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, City of New York
– Jacqueline M. Ebanks, Executive Director, New York City Commission on Gender Equity
– Linda P. Fried, Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
– Dr. Lisa Hollis-Sawyer, Associate Professor of Psychology, Northeastern Illinois University
– Jed A. Levine, President and CEO, CaringKind
– Ana Oliveira, President and CEO, The New York Women’s Foundation
– Merble Reagon, Executive Director, NYC Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement
– Bobbie Sackman, Workplace Discrimination Coordinator, New York State Alliance for Retired Americans (NYSARA) – NYC Chapter
– Dana Sussman, Deputy Commissioner for Intergovernmental Affairs and Policy, New York City Commission on Human Rights
– Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, Partnership for New York City
– Azadeh Khalili, NYC Department for the Aging