Tackling ageism is the next big challenge

A new advocate for older Australians is determined to change the nation’s mindset on a neglected form of discrimination.

Patricia Sparrow says ‘countering ageist views in the community’ will be a priority in her role as chief executive of COTA Australia. Picture: COTA

Ageism should be treated as seriously as sexism and racism as it can be equally devastating for those discriminated against, the nation’s newest advocate for older Australians warns.

While no one would dare take sexism or racism lightly any more, too many people still treat the issues older people face as something of a joke, incoming Council on the Ageing chief executive Patricia Sparrow says.

“While I’m certainly not saying all the issues around sexism and racism have been dealt with, I think ageism is the next big ‘ism’ to address,” Ms Sparrow said in her first major interview since taking on her role at COTA Australia.

“Countering ageist views in the community is certainly going to be one of my highest priorities in my new role.

“Racism and sexism is finally being taken seriously by civil society, though there is certainly a way to go. Unfortunately we’ve let ageism sit. It’s still OK to make lame jokes about people being older. And older people tend to wear it, to internalise it, rather than to challenge it,” she said.

Ms Sparrow said there were myriad examples of ageist attitudes pervasive in the community, where older people aren’t valued in the same way as others.

She points to the way the very elderly were treated during Covid, “as if those in their 80s and 90s dying of Covid somehow didn’t matter as much, as if every life wasn’t equal.”

The way older women were being convinced to undergo treatments to make them look younger is also a concern. It shows a lack of appreciation and understanding that getting older is simply a part of life, Ms Sparrow said.

And then there’s work, and the very sticky problem of convincing employers of the value of workers aged in their 50s, 60s and beyond.

“At a time when the country really needs more workers, there’s no doubt that once people reach 55 they’re not looked at the same way as younger people.

“These people have great skills that simply can’t go to waste, but they are and the reason is simply discrimination. If the same thing happened to someone because of their race or gender there’d be an outcry,” she said.

Ms Sparrow has come to her new role to replace Ian Yates, who had been at COTA’s helm for two decades, and has now been appointed the federal government’s interim Inspector-General of Aged Care.

She previously served as the chief executive of Aged and Community Services Australia, representing not-for-profit providers of aged care, and has worked as a policy adviser on aged care issues within the federal government.

Beyond tackling ageism, Ms Sparrow said she was focused on a number of key issues on behalf of older Australians.

“Cost of living, retirement incomes, the quality of aged care and secure housing, especially for older women, are among the nation’s biggest challenges for the next few decades,” Ms Sparrow said.

“Too many women have tried to manage low income jobs, episodic work, renting homes throughout their lives and then have very little super to support them in older age”.