411 Dunsmuir St. Vancouver, BC V6B 1X4 Phone: (604) 684-8171 Fax: (604) 681-3589

Women Elders In Action (WE*ACT) – Giving a Voice to Senior Women in BC

Women Elders in Action

 

LESSONS LEARNED:
The lives and times of women elders in BC
A recorded history project from 411 Senior Centre,
Status of Women Canada and Women Elders in Action (WE*ACT)
April 2008 – September 2009

Lessons Learned: the lives and times of elder women in BC

WE*ACT’s eighteen month story-gathering project funded by the Women’s Program of Status of Women Canada and the 411 Senior Centre Society has come to a successful completion!

The project began with the creation of a Steering Committee to oversee the training of 20 senior volunteer story recorders from Vancouver, Nelson, the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Smithers. These volunteers responded to ads or posters and, in general, were more active and younger seniors than the storytellers they eventually contacted. They were responsible for recording and transcribing the life stories of nearly 80 women elders around the province.  In turn, each storyteller received a gift-packaged copy of her transcription, either in audio or printed format, to save and share with her family and friends.

As the stories rolled in, many more senior women became involved! We engaged volunteer Consolidators to read and theme all the stories which was how we eventually came to grapple with the diversity of material with which we were presented. Later, an Editorial Collective envisioned the flow of a publication and met frequently to edit and polish. Then a Publicity Committee was struck and, finally, a skilled Committee of volunteer Readers was established to smooth the rough edges of this insightful anthology.

After considerable woman-power was applied to the task, our book was born and called, Mythogyny. (Copies are available for $15 – plus shipping and handling – by contacting 411 Seniors Centre Society at 604-684-8171).

We chose this title to reflect what we heard from many women: that the prevailing myths that governed their choices as young women did NOT hold up when tested against reality and the passage of time. However, for the most part, they rose to the occasion and have arrived at old age with a degree of contentment. The paths they frequently followed called for them to be far more heroic than they would ever have imagined. We are grateful for their candour and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to help them explore the lessons of their lives.

What follows here is a selection of excerpts from Mythogyny that debunk those common myths and describe the reality of many women elders in BC:

Nuclear Family and Early Influences

Barbara Seefeldt: My mother liked traveling. We went from one coast to the other, drove every year, every summer. We took a different route every summer so we went through different states every time. I have seen the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon at sunrise, and so many things I remember from the trips. Actually my folks were divorced when I was five. My father went to work in Albany, New York and my mom, to work in a restaurant in New Hampshire. My sister, two brothers and I were put into a home for children. They paid for us to be there. So we were treated better than the other kids. Every meal we had linen napkins in a napkin holder at our place. We had to be taught our manners, you know.

Please click here to view the full 10 page document.

                    

 

Additional ways that WE*ACT has given voice to senior women in BC: WE*ACT grew out of the 1999 BC Seniors Summit which saw hundreds of seniors congregate in Vancouver to discuss their unique needs. Women in the Income and Poverty working group wrote the Vancouver Declaration of Older Women’s Rights. We presented the Declaration at the 2000 World March of Women Tribunal, giving visibility to the concerns of older women.

Energized by this experience and joined by other elder women, we formalized our existence under the title of Women Elders in Action. The group’s focus is to raise awareness and to act on the most pressing social and economic issues facing older women.

In 2003, WE*ACT found a home as a project of the 411 Seniors Centre with funding support form Status of Women Canada. Since then, we’ve developed a network throughout the province by acting as an information hub for active individuals linking to seniors’, women’s, and social justice groups in their communities to mobilize support for tackling issues of concern to senior women.

In 2004, with input from elder women around the province, we wrote and published our position paper: Pensions in Canada: Policy Reform Because Women Matter.  Using that research and updating it continuously, we’ve written and spoken extensively producing additional materials to provide a gender-based analysis of Canada’s public pension policy and its affect on women currently in the labour force.

Our volunteers have learned to become programmers establishing a regular broadcast from 4 to 5 pm the fourth Wednesday of every month on cjsf 90.1 fm Simon Fraser University radio. Using our new-found tools, we occasionally make submissions to the program exchange of the National Community and Campus Radio Association for national broadcast.

Recently, WE* have been invited to speak to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (February 2007) as they examined women’s economic insecurity; to the Federal Finance Committee on their pre-budget Consultations (December 2007); and to the Senate Special Committee on Aging (February 2008).

To view or download recent publications on the public pension concerns of women, go to: http://www.weact.vcn.bc.ca/

 

For further information about WE*ACT, please contact Jan Westlund ( jwestlund@411seniors.bc.ca) at 604-684-8171.