W
hy should feminists care about ageing as a political and social issue? Well, for heaps of reasons.
hy should feminists care about ageing as a political and social issue? Well, for heaps of reasons.
One is that women are silenced and made to feel invisible as they get older and this is something CLF is fighting by having a panel of older women to come and tell it like it is, by sharing their wealth of knowledge, experience and humour and blowing up some stereotypes in the doing.
Two, there are multimillion dollar industries dedicated to making women feel absolutely terrible about getting older but the reality that HUMAN BEINGS AGE is a pretty unavoidable fact of life. This is something feminists should be fighting (not ageing, but the demonisation of women for ageing) as we do on a lot of fronts. I absolutely reject the popular narrative that younger is better, and that a human being/woman could ever be “past her use by date”, “damaged goods”, “on the shelf” or my special bugbear “a crazy old [cat] lady”. Eff that noise.
Three (and this list is far from exhaustive), an ageing population means a lot of things for women - more work caring for the elderly (with less funding), more likelihood of living longer and sometimes alone, and more chance of living in poverty after a working life of lower pay and unequal superannuation.
Sounds super depressing, right? But I promise it won’t be. The good news is that for tons of women, getting older means getting more awesome and caring a lot less what the rest of the world, and the patriarchy, thinks. To this end, I’ve assembled a panel of completely kick-arse babes who are all over 50 and still kicking against the pricks with no small amount of style:
Dur-e Dara OAM - restauranteur, philanthropist, musician, feminist
Chrissie Feagins - advertising giant, public health advocate, social entrepreneur, feminist
Marisa Monagle - youth community health nurse, PhD candidate, animal rights activist and rescuer, feminist
Every time I talk with any of these women I fairly laugh until I cry, and I always get to the heart of something important, so I cannot imagine the combined power of putting them all on the CLF stage together. You better come and watch.
Tuesday 7 October 7-9pm (doors at 6.30)
$15 prebooked online or $20 at the door, if still available
The Duke of Wellington Hotel, Level One
Corner Flinders & Russell Sts, Melbourne
Kitchen open all night for meals before & after show
Five minutes walk from train, tram & parking across the road at Fed Square. Babies welcome.
This venue is fully wheelchair accessible.
Warmest
Karen x