The Older Women's Network A Voice for Midlife and Older Women   Learning and Working Together

Education & Research

Education Program

The Older Women’s Network has, over 20 years, held public meetings, panel discussions and forums on issues of concern to midlife and older women placing the issues on the national and provincial agendas. There have been meetings with politicians, media stories and interviews and representations and deputations made to commissions and government committees.

A very early campaign which is still relevant was to lobby the Province of Ontario to extend the Spouse’s Allowance to include divorced and never married women between 60 and 65. This income support is  now only available to married or widowed women.

OWN presented a brief to the Ontario Law Reform Commission asking that legal aid certificates be issued to people in need of legal counsel in civil cases such as family law matters. The brief urged broader support for legal aid clinics which can serve a large clientele and perform a key education function. "Poverty law" assistance should be available as a right.

Mandatory retirement is an area of interest to older women. OWN supports flexible retirement because mandatory loss of employment for reasons of age is discriminatory toward women. Women enter the workforce later in their lives, have interrupted work history because of family responsibilities, earn less all their working lives and are far less likely than men to have pension benefits other than CPP. A few more years of savings in midlife can make a big difference to a woman’s retirement years.

Since the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing the Older Women’s Network Post-Beijing Working Group has hosted public events to publicize the promises made by Canada in the Beijing Platform for Action. [LINK to Post-Beijing Working Group page]

Research Projects

From 1998 to 2001 the Older Women’s Network designed and supervised a linked series of research projects under the professional guidance of Dr. Marion Lynn, research consultant.

The projects fulfill several OWN mandates. They connect OWN to like-minded organizations and have opened doors at government ministries with an interest in issues of health and well-being. Publicity garnered by research increases membership in OWN and provides critical support for non-funded activities of the organization.

Shelter Needs of Abused Older Women 1998

A 3 month study funded by the Seniors Secretariat through the Ontario Women’s Directorate, part of a provincial Violence Against Women Prevention Initiative.

This project was undertaken because of OWN’s concern regarding the lack of public awareness, professional sensitivity and gaps in services in the area of abuse of older women. The objectives of the study were:

• to determine the priority needs and service gaps for abused older women
• to review the existing shelter services and their current capacity for abused older women
• to identify the types of changes that are required in existing shelters and to recommend feasible ways of implementing such changes and the point of responsibility for making them
• to recommend some relevant options to meet the identified needs of older women, including alternatives to shelter accommodation

The national incidence rate of elder abuse is such that there are approximately 31,000 women over the age of 65 currently experiencing abuse in Ontario. Financial abuse accounts for 62.5% of the abuse, while chronic verbal aggression accounts for 35%, physical abuse comes in at 12.5% and neglect 10%.

For the recommendations from this study click here.

Action Research: Community Needs Assessment of Older Women 1998

Funded by the Status of Women Canada, Ontario regional office, and with the participation of the City of Toronto and the Counties of Peterborough, Victoria and Northumberland.

4 categories for research were identified: 

1. Economic Security
2. Health and Caregiving
3. Housing and Community
4. Transportation and Mobility

1.Economic (In)Security of Mid-Life Women - Phase I - Putting the issues on the national agenda

PHASE I [click here]

Economic Security of Older Women – Phase II – Building a community response

PHASE II [click here]

Access and Equity Project: Mid-Life Women :2002

Access to Training and Employment in Toronto. Funded by an Access and Equity Grant from the City of Toronto

The report is available.

Impacts of the Aging Process on Mid-Life Women. 2004

Funded by Health Canada, Population and Public Health Branch for Ontario and Nunavut A project to determine emerging health issues of vulnerable and mid-life women in Toronto, Peterborough and Sudbury

The report is available.

3. The Housing Needs of Midlife and Older Women

For The Housing Factor Project report [click here]. 

An Older Women's Network member's housing experience [ click here ]. 

Please e-mail any request for reports to info@olderwomensnetwork.org @ $10.00 per report.

The Older Women’s Network will continue the very valuable work of research, education and community development in matters of concern to mid-life and older women locally, provincially and nationally. The research projects have helped raise the image of older women’s issues in Canada and throughout the world.