“Never underestimate the power of demography”: Over 130 citizens joined FutuRes workshop
Many barriers prevent older people from participating in society. This was the overwhelming feedback given by over 130 engaged citizens who participated on Thursday in a Citizen Workshop hosted by the FutuRes Policy Lab. To name an example, it is becoming increasingly impossible for many people to access all the services of banks if they do not have the necessary digital skills. There are more and more age limits being discussed in many aspects of life, for example access to volunteer work or political work. At the same time, there is a lack of understanding and shared experiences between the older and younger generations. For many younger and middle-aged people, being older or growing older still holds negative connotations.
Judging from recent announcements by the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, fewer resources appear to be allocated in the next EU-Agenda to policies of equality, including ageism. Meanwhile, people over 60 are becoming an increasingly large interest group.
These topics were discussed in a public online Workshop on Thursday titled “Ageism and the Next EU Agenda” as part of the World Health Organization’s #AWorld4AllAges campaign. The workshop was hosted by the FutuRes Policy Lab.
The participants were more than 130 engaged citizens, volunteers, community organizers and NGO members who joined from more than 20 European countries. They shared their policy suggestions for the coming new EU Commission.
These suggestions included housing policies to foster intergenerational living; fostering mixed-age social activities; special interventions to heighten awareness of ageist preconceptions, especially for employers and health care providers; as well as so called “Third places”, i.e. local spaces of interaction in towns and villages where churches or cafès no longer exist to serve that function.
The participants discussed empowering more older persons to participate in civil society. One keyword for this was a suggestion by a participant to counter ageism with #AgePride. “That it is ok to display frail bodies in public spaces, to acknowledge that we become frailer with age and that this is ok.”
“We should never underestimate the power of demography”, says Arnstein Aassve, a Professor of demography at Bocconi University and leading crisis resilience expert. Aassve is Head of Research at FutuRes. When fighting ageism, Professor Aassve encouraged the participants to remember their strength in terms of numbers. “The upper range of the age spectrum is becoming more and more a powerful group, both in elections and as consumers”, he said.
A detailed report on the workshop will be published in October.
The speakers were: Ilenia Gheno and Nena Georgantzi, AGE Platform Europe; Prof. Arnstein Aassve, FutuRes Project/Bocconi University
