News
The forgotten feminists: Why older women are still being left behind and what we can do about it
By Ruth Healey, President of Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI).
As the world population ages, an uncomfortable truth is emerging: Women over 50 face a double barrier in the workplace.
Older women continue to be trapped at the crossroads of ageism and gender inequality.
Nowhere is this more evident than in leadership roles – both within the workplace, where experienced and capable older women remain underrepresented and overlooked, and beyond it, where older women contribute significantly through paid and unpaid work.
Across all areas of society, the contributions of older women are too often invisible.
A recent report from Age International warns that older women are underrepresented in data and are, therefore, being sidelined. Especially in the decisions that affect them most.
It’s 2025 — supposedly one of the best times to be alive. Yet, even at the heart of the Information Age, crucial data and representation are still missing — and older women continue to pay the price.
From national strategies and workplace policies to social care systems and even annual UK budget statements, older women are being overlooked.
Without urgent action, these gaps will only widen as populations continue to age. But where do we start?
The Problem Expanded
There is a severe lack of representation of older women in the workplace – a gap often overlooked in diversity and inclusion efforts.
While progress has been made on gender and age separately, the unique challenges and contributions of older women remain largely ignored and rarely reflected.
Despite their skills and experience, older women are often overlooked for promotions and leadership roles, held back by biased stereotypes about adaptability and retirement.
The worse part of this? Older women, like me, are used to it. Women face ageism at every age, but the older you get, the worse you feel it.
And, in the workplace, it’s often masked with phrases like “fresh ideas.”
Maybe ageing comes with certain realities. But if that’s true, why are older men seen as wise, while older women are dismissed as outdated or difficult?
Too often, women quietly accept this as the way things are. They carry on, blending into the background.
But we need role models. We need representation. At every age.
Without visible older women in leadership, sexual harassment, hostile work environments and subtle biases will persist.
Access to powerful, capable female leaders must become normal – not the exception. And not a stereotype.
What Happens When Female Leaders Remain Unseen
Research shows that women are the primary victims of age discrimination in hiring which means they are driven out of the workplace earlier than men.
Older women are often pushed into insecure, low-paid, or part-time work, whether by necessity or because full-time, career-advancing roles are increasingly out of reach.
This not only limits their economic independence but also perpetuates the gender pension gap, leaving many financially vulnerable in later life.
Before that, women generally earn less than men at every stage of their careers.
And, by the age of 65, fewer than one in three women remain in employment.
How Can We Change This?
In the workplace small actions can make an immense impact but it’s businesses that must commit to real, measurable change.
Education is key. Companies need to tackle ageism through training, mentorship, and resource groups that support older workers, especially older women.
Despite being widespread, ageism is often easily ignored. Around 92% of companies worldwide don’t include age in their diversity strategies. This must change.
Performance appraisals should focus on skills and achievements, not age. Not gender.
Gradual retirement options would also help by offering older workers greater flexibility. It would help retain valuable experience while ensuring reasonable adjustments are made to support their needs.
Recognising and challenging age bias must become standard practice. Employers also need to address ‘lookism’ – where appearance unfairly affects perceptions of ability.
Work-life balance must be cultivated for employees at every stage of life, not just early career workers.
Above all, workplace focus must shift firmly to skills and experience.
Unconscious bias, or even conscious bias, won’t be unpicked overnight but workplaces must prioritise gender impact assessments across all age groups, with particular focus on older women.
A gender impact assessment is crucial for identifying and addressing how policies, programmes, or decisions affect people differently based on gender.
It can spot hidden inequalities, promote fairness, better decision-making, empower the voices of women, girls and gender-diverse groups, prevent widening gaps, and ultimately drive economic growth and innovation.
Why Supporting Older Women Strengthens The Workplace
Creating truly inclusive, multi-generational workplaces isn’t just fair. It’s vital for business resilience, talent retention, and future success.
Older women can provide younger women in the workplace with mentorship and guidance, offering diverse perspectives and new skills, while fostering stronger teamwork and workplace equality.
Ultimately, workplaces need to be inclusive environments that promote gender and age equality.
They create the conditions to empower younger women to aspire to leadership positions without age-related barriers.
Because when every generation of women is supported to thrive, organisations – and society as a whole – stand to benefit.
A new Female Health Hub launched by the English FA will support women and girls in grassroots football in England with trusted advice on health issues affecting play.
The hub brings together expert-backed guidance, practical tools and player insights in one place, giving women and girls practical advice and reassurance on female health in football.
It has four core aims: to help women and girls better understand their bodies and how female health affects performance and participation, to educate players on key health topics and when to seek further advice or support, to provide practical strategies to help navigate common female health challenges, and to help break down taboos and normalise conversations around female health in football.
Users of the hub will also be able to hear directly from members of the England women’s national team, who share their own experiences of navigating female health matters while playing at the highest level of the game.
“Our ambition is to create a game where women and girls can thrive,” said Sue Day, the FA’s director of women’s football.
“To achieve that, it’s essential that players feel supported in environments that understand and respond to their female health needs.
“We’ve heard directly from grassroots players that they want better information and support around female health, but that they often don’t know where to find it.
“The launch of the Female Health Hub marks an important step in changing the landscape.
“We want every player to feel confident in her own skin and supported without judgment, so she can feel empowered by her body, rather than held back by it.”
The platform was launched following research conducted by the FA that highlighted the need for better education and support around female health in football.
According to the FA, 88 per cent of adult players surveyed said their menstrual cycle has an impact on their ability to train or play, but 86 per cent reported they had never received education about the menstrual cycle in relation to football performance and training.
The research also found 64 per cent of women experience issues related to sports bras or breast health while playing football, despite sports bras being considered one of the most important pieces of playing kit.
Players also expressed strong interest in learning more about injury prevention, at 87 per cent, nutrition, at 84 per cent, and mental health, at 77 per cent, in relation to female health.
The first phase of the Female Health Hub focuses on three of the most requested topics: menstrual health, breast health and injury resilience, with further content to follow, including nutrition and pelvic health guidance.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has referred to the women’s health strategy as a ‘missed opportunity’ to address maternity services.
The renewed strategy was released by the government this week, with the aim of putting women’s experiences at the centre of care and ensuring they are “better heard and served”.
However, the government stated that because of ongoing investigations into maternity services across the country, the strategy “does not seek to address safety in maternity and neonatal services”.
The RCM described this as a “missed opportunity” and urged the government to ensure that, following the inquiries, maternity is placed “at the very heart” of the strategy.
Gill Walton, RCM chief executive, said the college was “deeply disappointed” that maternity services “do not feature as a headline priority” in the renewed strategy.
She said: “This is a significant missed opportunity and one that is very difficult to understand.
“Pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period are not a footnote in women’s health – they are one of the most significant and consequential phases of a woman’s life.
“A strategy that treats maternity as an afterthought is not truly a women’s health strategy at all. It is exactly the kind of thinking that has allowed maternity services to reach the point they are at today.”
Walton acknowledged that the strategy contained commitments on ensuring women’s voices shape their care, on supporting families through pregnancy loss and on the principle that services should be held accountable when they fail to listen to women.
She added: “But a strategy that addresses one part of women’s health while leaving maternity care behind is only doing half the job.”
Walton urged the government to ensure that this is addressed when the ongoing investigations into maternity care conclude, with any recommendations placed “at the very heart of this strategy with the seriousness and urgency that women, families and midwives deserve”.
In the foreword to the renewed plans, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting referred to the ongoing independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation as action being taken by the government to improve safety in maternity services.
The strategy also refers to the new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by Streeting, which aims to help deliver “safer, more equitable care” for women, babies and families.
The foreword said that, because of ongoing initiatives, it was “important that this work continues without restriction and that the government can properly respond to the findings”.
It added: “This renewed women’s health strategy therefore does not seek to address safety in maternity and neonatal services other than that related to women’s health before and during pregnancy and the actions we are taking immediately to improve maternity and neonatal care.”
The strategy does, however, include plans to prioritise health education in schools, communities and healthcare settings to “empower women” with the “knowledge and tools they need to help control their fertility” and “prepare for the best pregnancy outcomes.
It also promises to provide women with access to “safe and high-quality contraception, abortion care, fertility services, preconception care and support after pregnancy loss in convenient settings.
Article produced in association with London Pregnancy Clinic and Jeen Health
For the majority of couples planning a pregnancy, genetic testing is not something they think about until a problem arises.
Pre-conception genetic carrier screening challenges this approach by identifying risk before pregnancy begins.
As panel sizes have grown and at-home testing options have become widely available, carrier screening is transitioning from a niche clinical referral into a mainstream component of reproductive planning.
What Carrier Screening Tests For
Being a carrier of a genetic condition means carrying one copy of a variant in a gene associated with that condition, without being affected by it.
In most cases, carriers are entirely unaware of their status.
The clinical significance of carrier status emerges when both members of a couple carry a variant in the same gene: in this scenario, each pregnancy carries a one in four chance of resulting in a child who inherits two copies of the variant and is affected by the condition.
The conditions most frequently included in expanded carrier screening panels include cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), fragile X syndrome, sickle cell disease, and a range of metabolic and enzyme deficiency disorders.
The Beacon 787 carrier test, offered by Jeen Health, screens for 787 conditions from a single sample, making it one of the most comprehensive panels currently available to UK families.
Who Is Most Likely to Benefit
Any couple planning a pregnancy can consider carrier screening. It is particularly relevant for:
- Couples with a family history of a known inherited condition
- Those from populations with higher carrier frequencies for specific conditions, including Ashkenazi Jewish, South Asian and African communities
- Couples pursuing fertility treatment, where genetic information informs treatment planning
- Those who wish to have the most complete picture of their reproductive health before conception
Importantly, being a carrier of a condition does not mean a child will be affected. It means there is a defined statistical risk that can be quantified, discussed and planned for with appropriate clinical support.
How the Test Is Performed
Carrier screening is typically carried out on a blood or saliva sample.
For at-home options such as the testing offered by Jeen Health, a cheek swab collection kit is dispatched to the patient, the sample is returned by post, and results are delivered digitally within a defined turnaround period.
In-clinic carrier testing may use a blood draw and provides the advantage of immediate access to a clinical consultation at the point of result delivery.
London Pregnancy Clinic offers genetics counselling through its partnership with Jeen Health, allowing couples to receive and contextualise carrier test results with expert support.
Genetic counselling before and after testing is recommended by Genomics England as a standard component of any genomic testing pathway.
What Happens If Both Partners Are Carriers
If both partners are identified as carriers for the same autosomal recessive condition, they are typically offered further counselling to discuss their options.
These may include proceeding naturally with an awareness of the risk, using prenatal diagnosis (CVS or amniocentesis) during pregnancy to test the fetus, or pursuing preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) in the context of IVF, which allows unaffected embryos to be selected before transfer.
The purpose of identifying carrier status before pregnancy is to give couples time to consider these options without the added pressure of an ongoing pregnancy.
Knowledge of carrier status does not remove reproductive choices; it expands the information available when making them.
The Role of Pre-Conception Services
Carrier screening sits within a broader category of pre-conception care that includes fertility assessments, general health optimisation and, where relevant, management of existing conditions before pregnancy begins.
London Pregnancy Clinic offers pre-conception services encompassing fertility investigations, genetics counselling and carrier testing as part of an integrated 0th trimester approach, allowing couples to address genetic and clinical risk factors before their pregnancy starts rather than after.
Disclaimer: This article is produced for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Clinical guidance referenced reflects published NHS, NICE and RCOG standards as at March 2026. Individual circumstances vary; readers are advised to consult a qualified healthcare professional before acting on any information in this article.
This piece was produced in association with London Pregnancy Clinic and Jeen Health, which provided background clinical information for editorial purposes.
Hyperlinks to external sources are included for reference only and do not represent an endorsement of any product, service or organisation.
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