Are We Old Yet? Women talking about Aging.

Today on RTM, I talk with three different women all of whom are over 60 years of age and all of whom would agree that our mental health as we age has nothing to do with fashion, interior design, beauty, cooking, or the health and wellbeing of our spouses or children. So, what does it have to do with? It is about their political actions, entrepreneurship, adventures and a future that is as exciting as what they have done so far.

Ellen Woodsworth, 75, was born into activism. In 1971 she chained herself in the House of Commons for women’s right to choose and went off to cofound the Wages for Housework movement and got unpaid work in the Canadian census. Later elected the first lesbian city councillor in Canada, she and Clr Anne Roberts chaired the first Canadian Gender Equity Strategy for the City of Vancouver. She is now Co President WILPF, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Canada, speaker and intersectional consultant on cities and Matriarch Women Transforming Cities.

Maggie Andrew, 64, is a child of divorce and foster care, by the age 17 she was on her own. She worked up until her early 50s when a corporate takeover had her laid off. Its hard as an older woman to get hired, so instead she bought her favourite craft store essentially creating her own rewarding and challenging job. She has managed to weather COVID but as she nears retirement age she is hoping to sell in the next year or so. Maggie has never married and has no children of her own.

Eileen Hoeter, 64, has been many things over the course of her life and throughout it all she consistently shows a fierce passion for life itself. She has worked in the Vancouver Film Industry while simultaneously buying property. Not always easy for a woman even in 1990 – just 30 years ago. She owns several properties here but also has a BnB in Mexico and we are talking to her in the midst of a very busy day for her.

Far from being the retired rocking chair woman drinking tea in the sun, these women demonstrate the dynamic contributions women continue to make well into the senior years.

Music by Shari Ulrich