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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 But if that’s true, why are older men seen as wise, while older women are dismissed as outdated or difficult?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.
Abdominal obesity may lead to worse menopause symptoms, including forgetfulness, irritability and night sweats, a new study suggests.
The findings point to a possible link between fat stored around the waist and more severe midlife symptoms.
Researchers said waist-to-height ratio could help identify women who may benefit from more targeted support.
Dr Monica Christmas is associate medical director for The Menopause Society.
Christmas said: “Unintended weight gain during the menopause transition, especially in the midsection, is one of the most commonly reported complaints, with the most significant gains experienced in the years leading up to the final menstrual period and a couple of years after.
“This not only affects self-image but also imposes negative health risks and, as the study highlights, is associated with higher prevalence and severity of menopause symptoms.”
The study used data from more than 1,100 women who took part in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation.
Abdominal obesity is a build-up of fat around the waist. It often includes visceral fat, which is deep, active fat surrounding internal organs.
This type of fat releases inflammatory proteins and toxic fatty acids that can contribute to insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and a higher risk of some cancers.
Insulin resistance means the body does not respond properly to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar.
The Menopause Society said abdominal obesity is estimated to affect more than 60 per cent of menopausal women.
As oestrogen levels fall during menopause, women tend to store more fat around the waist rather than the hips, even if their overall weight does not change.
The researchers noted that obesity patterns and menopause symptom burden can vary by region, but research into the effect of abdominal obesity on these symptoms remains limited.
They also said earlier studies have mainly looked at single symptoms, rather than how symptoms connect with each other.
In this study, researchers used network analysis, a method that looks at how symptoms are linked, to compare symptom patterns in women with and without abdominal obesity.
They identified abdominal obesity using waist-to-height ratios, which compare waist size with height and can be used as a simple measure of health risk linked to body fat around the middle.
The researchers concluded that women with abdominal obesity had both a higher prevalence and greater severity of a range of symptoms, as well as a distinct symptom network structure.
In particular, women with abdominal obesity reported a higher prevalence and greater severity of dizziness, hot flashes and night sweats than women without abdominal obesity.
Sleep disturbances and palpitations were also reported more often in women with abdominal obesity. Palpitations are feelings of a fast, fluttering or pounding heartbeat.
The researchers said assessment of abdominal obesity using waist-to-height ratios may help stratify women who are likely to benefit from targeted, network-based interventions rather than isolated symptom management.
Christmas said: “Educating women early about healthy lifestyle interventions to prevent midlife weight gain is key to improving mental and physical well-being during a tumultuous time frame.”
Perimenopause may offer a key window to spot heart disease risk earlier, with women in the transition twice as likely to have low heart health scores, new research suggests.
The findings suggest the transition to menopause could be an important time to reassess risk and prompt lifestyle changes.
Garima Arora is senior author of the study and professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Arora said: “Mid-life women should think of the perimenopausal period as a ‘window of opportunity.’
They should be proactive and not wait until they reach menopause to start checking their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
“Women should talk with their health care team about their reproductive status and any changes they are experiencing. It may be the perfect time to get a baseline for their heart health.”
The analysis included 9,248 women aged 18 to 80 who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2007 and 2020.
Researchers used Life’s Essential 8, a heart health score developed by the American Heart Association. It measures diet, physical activity, tobacco use, sleep, blood pressure, cholesterol, body weight and blood sugar on a 100-point scale.
Median scores fell as women moved through reproductive stages, from 73.3 out of 100 in premenopausal women to 69.1 in perimenopausal women and 63.9 in postmenopausal women.
Among the individual Life’s Essential 8 measures, diet consistently had the lowest scores and continued to decline across all reproductive stages.
After accounting for age, perimenopausal women were twice as likely to have a low overall score as premenopausal women.
They were also 76 per cent more likely to have a low cholesterol score and 83 per cent more likely to have a low blood sugar score.
The researchers said fluctuations in oestrogen levels during perimenopause may contribute to lower cardiovascular health because they may affect cholesterol, insulin resistance, blood pressure and weight management.
Insulin resistance means the body does not respond properly to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar.
Sleep duration scores remained high across all reproductive stages, despite perimenopausal women reporting difficulty sleeping, suggesting sleep quality may be more affected than sleep length.
Amrita Nayak, lead author of the study and research fellow in the division of cardiovascular disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the findings highlight a point where risk may begin to rise.
She said: “Our analysis highlights that perimenopause, women’s reproductive transition period to menopause, is the critical time when the increase in cardiovascular risk seems magnified.
“When we compared women’s LE8 scores to the premenopausal baseline, the perimenopausal group was the first to show a significant jump in the odds of having low heart health.”
Arora added that nutrition could be an important area for early intervention.
“Nutrition can be a central factor for early and proactive intervention.
“Focusing on heart-healthy habits early, especially getting regular exercise and following a healthy eating plan like the DASH diet with a focus on lowering salt can help improve cardiovascular health for perimenopausal women in the years to come.”
Stacey E. Rosen, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, who was not involved in the study, said the findings underline the need to consider women-specific risk factors across life stages.
“This research highlights yet another aspect of the unique factors that increase a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease throughout the stages of her lifespan.
“Significant health changes during pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause make it particularly important to pay close attention to increases in health risk factors during those times.
“I encourage women to talk with their primary care and specialty health care teams to learn about early detection and modification of traditional and ‘female-specific’ risk factors.
“Women can take proven steps to improve their cardiovascular health at all ages.”
The researchers said the next step is to follow women over several years to track hormone levels and heart health, which may help clarify the long-term impact of perimenopause and how lifestyle changes could reduce risk.
The Femtech World Awards is proud to reveal the shortlist for Research Project of the Year as part of the third annual global celebration of innovation, impact and leadership across women’s health.
From fertility science and perimenopause research to regional ecosystem analysis, the shortlisted projects reflect the breadth and growing influence of femtech research worldwide.
The category is sponsored by OncoGenomX, with the winner to be selected by a representative from the organisation.
OncoGenomX is dedicated to offering solutions and providing comprehensive support services that empower Drug Developers, Clinical Researchers, Oncologists,NextGenSeq Diagnostics Laboratories, NextGenSeq Service Organisations, Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Companies to achieve their ambitious goals
The shortlisted entries for Research Project of the Year are:
Women’s health remains significantly underserved in South-East Asia, with persistent gaps in access, awareness, and quality of care carrying substantial social and economic costs.
This report examines the femtech landscape in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, highlighting market trends, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and the evolving support ecosystem.
It identifies key challenges facing femtech founders, including limited access to finance, low awareness and persistent stigma, marketing constraints linked to content moderation, and gaps in tailored ecosystem support.
Led by Stephanie Willson, MD, of the IVI RMA Global Research Alliance, the study explored whether embryos that show certain chromosome abnormalities during genetic testing may still have the potential to result in a healthy pregnancy and live birth.
The research analysed more than 7,600 frozen embryo transfers and found that some embryos previously considered unlikely to succeed were still capable of leading to successful pregnancies, although at lower rates than embryos without abnormalities.
The findings could help fertility clinics and patients make more informed decisions during IVF treatment, particularly in cases where there are limited embryos available.
Rather than automatically discarding these embryos, the research supports a more evidence-based and personalised approach to fertility care.
For many women, perimenopause can feel confusing and unpredictable, with limited research explaining what is happening in their bodies.
Natural Cycles set out to change that by leading one of the largest studies ever conducted on menstrual and ovulatory patterns, uncovering new insights into how ovulation behaves as women approach menopause.
Conducted in collaboration with researchers from George Washington University, Seattle Clinical Research Center, Gennev and the University of California San Diego, the study analysed nearly one million menstrual cycles from more than 197,000 women aged 18–52 across more than 140 countries.
The scale of this dataset made it possible to explore menstrual patterns and ovulation in far greater detail than has traditionally been possible in women’s health research.
The Femtech World Awards celebrates the innovators, researchers and organisations driving meaningful progress in women’s health.
What happens next
Winners across all categories will be revealed during the virtual ceremony on June 19, with winners receiving a trophy and an interview with a Femtech World journalist.
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