Older women make valuable contributions as leaders, CEOs, volunteers, academics, carers, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, neighbours, colleagues and friends. Despite their contributions and achievements, older women are devalued and experience significant inequalities. Research shows older women are:

• the lowest income earning family group¹
• the largest group of unpaid carers - 70% of carers are women,²  and carer’s research shows carers experience significant financial burden and poor health and wellbeing³  
• the fastest growing group of homeless – an increase of 31% between 2011-2016⁴ 
• more likely to live in poverty - 34% of single older women live in poverty⁵ 
• more likely to experience workplace discrimination⁶ 
• more likely to experience Elder Abuse than men⁷ and
• more likely to be among the 50 people sexual assaulted in residential aged care each week.⁸

In 2021, 18.5 percent of Whitehorse residents were aged 65 plus; this compares with 15 percent for Metropolitan Melbourne. Of these 65 year plus residents, 56.8 percent are female and 43.2 percent are male.

Ten percent of Whitehorse residents are aged 75 years and over. This compares with seven percent for Greater Melbourne and eight percent for Victoria. Of these older Whitehorse residents, 58.8 percent are female and 41.2 are male.

There is a need to raise awareness of contributions and achievements of older women – to build respect and combat the inequalities they experience. 

To address this need, Whitehorse City Council partnered with Celebrate Ageing Ltd, The Older Women’s Network NSW and Elder Rights Advocacy Victoria on a project called The Biscuit Tin. 

The Biscuit Tin⁹ is part of the annual Older Women Count¹⁰ program, launched for International Women’s Day each year to build respect for older women.  

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¹ https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2437426/HILDA-SR-med-res.pdf
² https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/safety-and-security-older-women
³ https://www.carersaustralia.com.au/carers-need-more-mental-health-and-wellbeing-supports-this-national-carers-week-and-beyond/
⁴ https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/older-womens-risk-homelessness-background-paper-2019
⁵ https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2437426/HILDA-SR-med-res.pdf
⁶ https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/safety-and-security-older-women
⁷ https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/2021_national_elder_abuse_prevalence_study_final_report.pdf
⁸ https://www.opalinstitute.org/prevalence.html
⁹ https://www.celebrateageing.com/biscuittin.html
¹⁰ https://www.celebrateageing.com/olderwomencount.html
 

Aims

The aims of Whitehorse City Council’s Biscuit Tin campaign were to: 

• raise awareness of the inequalities experienced by older women 
• help ensure older women count in every family, community, institution, policy, celebration and strategy - every day of the year
• promote equality and respect for older women in the City of Whitehorse.

Activities

The key activity for the campaign involved a workshop for older women. Twelve older women participated and were interviewed individually prior to the workshop to document a story to accompany their photograph. They were asked to describe:

• their biscuit tin and biscuits
• their contributions and achievements
• how respect is shown to them by family and community.

A Citizen Researcher seminar was facilitated for staff at Whitehorse City Council. Staff were invited to gather representations of older women in popular culture e.g. newspapers, adverts and birthday cards. Ten staff participated in the workshop which explored the inequalities experienced by older women and an overview of common representations. The seminar concluded with a call to identify future opportunities to value older women and ensure their inclusion in Council strategies.

Learn more about Celebrate Ageing’s The Biscuit Tin project

Robyn Smith, Sarah Codling and Dilnaz Billimoria presented #TheBiscuitTin project at the Embolden Festival 2024. View The [un] Silencing of Older Women presentation on You Tube.