MYTHS OF ELDER WOMEN AND WORLD’S STEREOTYPES Making Injustice Visible & Woman – master of her own fate

Government should start thinking about Gender-responsive Works Programs. In order not to turn gender responses into lawmakers-illusionists’ one big bluff and a cascade of tricks, it is necessary for the country to have a gender-aware economists to support the forming, implementation and monitoring of gender responsive economic policies. Lack of work in formal sector is the ﬁ rst motivator for women to go in informal sector and ﬁ nd job with poor wage and without the necessary conditions for health security. As we see the role of women in society by aging is minimized to caregivers.Society sees the little girls, adolescent girls and women as reproductive line - contributors of life and not as individuals who are mothers, workers, educators, mentors, managers, politicians and active participants of society. What is aging? How elder women can ﬁ nd new opportunities and how than can use new opportunities in creative ways if society is stereotyping them as burden to family, as caregivers and as not valuable asset to country? What are these aspects on which should be built new system for elder women to raise their potential con-tribution? Idealistic people create a real society based on the concept of love and peace.

KEYWORDS: Women's Economic Empowerment, Informal Work Sector, The Fate of Elder Women "Positive philosophy begins not with thinking about something, but with free action. Its origin is the act of will -I will, I want, I act…Yes, it is based on experience as on an occasion. But this is a completely different experience than the usual sensual experience thus nourished by empirical philosophy and the empirical sciences. It is an existential experience, as a result of the supreme divine and at the same time of my free will and action…Philosophy, unlike other sciences, seeks and determines its own subject. The latter is not given to him in a ready form…Philosophical thinking must determine it for itself." 1 From this philosophical paradigm, we can see the superiority of the act of will… the main thing is the will and action… the genuine desire of the state to achieve the full integration of women in society and the realization of their potential. We know the supreme value as 1 Book: Schelling's Philosophy of Revelation"; Author -Irakli Batiashvili (p. 11) 2019. a primary value -equality, but the state must be able to establish, determine and embody this value. The brief content of the UN Women policy sets out easily the key messages to create dignifi ed living conditions for women: "KEY MESSAGES 1. Women contribute substantially to economic and social development, but are discriminated against in the world of work; 2. Invest in gender equality and women's economic empowerment, more jobs and decent work for women because it is the right thing to do and it promotes sustainable growth and development; 3. Implement development strategies, policies and programs that generate more jobs and ensure decent work for women, particularly in the informal sector; 4. Promote women's leadership in public and corporate economic decision-making and in employer's and worker's organizations; 5. Promote a culture of equality and shared responsibility between men and women in paid and unpaid care work". 2 Countries which regulate women's health and education tasks better, must focus on women's economic and political tasks. In my opinion these two is strongly related to each other. Education's benefi t for women is to become a good workforce and workforce's benefi t is having good wage and this wage should be equal wage as men have. This all needs to be integrated in the political long-term program of a country.
After pandemic or crisis situation women need to be fully engaged in fi nding responses to new challenges, planning recovery strategies. It means that women and men should have equal voices and opportunities at all levels of economic decision-making.
"Empowering women economically and making them central to solutions is a moral imperative. But it also makes good economic sense. A growing body of research shows that enhancing women's economic participation improves national economies, increases household productivity and living standards, enhances the wellbeing of children with positive long-term impacts". 3 Government should start thinking about Gender-responsive Works Programs. In order not to turn gender responses into lawmakers-illusionists' one big bluff and a cascade of tricks, it is necessary for the country to have gender-aware economists to support the forming, implementation and monitoring of gender responsive economic policies.
First step is to negotiate with businesses to collaborate and be involved in gender-responsive work programs. The aim of the government should be to raise women's ratio in the workforce by setting equal wages for men and women, allowing childcare facilities to be provided on worksites and requiring provision of work close to homes. Women should also be involved in monitoring and managing their health improvement scheme. When childcare would be no boundary the level of participation of women in a labor market will rise higher.
Government should give power to the labor inspection offi ce to monitor decent work conditions of self-employed women in informal works. For example: household working, childcare, aged people care and other informal activities. This fi eld is very sensitive and when women's economic and social situation depends on work, they sometimes close eyes on working conditions or they do not ask question to themselves: Is it a decent working condition in 21st Century?
Reality is that women dominate the unprotected informal sector.
"Many women do get paid for domestic workcleaning homes, babysitting, and doing other tasks for wealthier families. But even this work (in what is known as the "informal sector") falls outside of offi cial statistics because it is often "under the table". The vast majority of these paid domestics are women lacking benefi ts or security in their jobs. This kind of work can provide women with some income, but such unregulated jobs are usually low paying and can trap women in situations that provide neither benefi ts nor means of advancement". 4 Georgia faces this sensitive and diffi cult situation. Informal Works are not regulated at all. In reality there is more harm for women in this fi eld than benefi ts. The lack of work in formal sector is the fi rst motivator for women to go in informal sector and fi nd job with poor wages and without the necessary conditions for health security.
"The lack of offi cial recognition of the informal sector has two main effects: on a local level, it exempts such jobs from health and labor standards, which laboring in a globalized world may result in unsafe conditions. And on a global level, like the invisibility of domestic work, it contributes to the continued marginalization of women in the global economy, through international policies that disad-vantage or overlook such work and therefore the women who perform it". 5 When the world is emphasizing on human beings' dignity, we should realize that this value is like a living creature and depends on living conditions of a human being.
"The right to work is often a crucial enabling factor for dignity, personal development and social and economic inclusion". -Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 18.
As Georgia faces large number of informal jobs, the fi rst step is that we need to make statistics to know exact number of informal workers, in parallel this process should monitor working conditions of these workers. Afterwards, the government should think about the legal framework which will regulate informal sector working conditions. This act should be mandatory for country's population and should have normative power. In my view, this document should be a guide to the working conditions in informal sector (working hours, decent working conditions, decent working wages, working strength for ageing people, workers rest and leisure time and other general aspects).
But if we want to eliminate discrimination in informal or formal works, we should fi nd its roots. In article 24 Universal declaration of human rights women have the right to rest and leisure and they should have conditions to enjoy these rights. Obviously, women couldn't enjoy this right equally with men if they will have a disproportionate share of (unpaid) work at home. If we look closer stereotypical assumptions and perceptions about, family and caring responsibilities, exactly these stereotypes are the root of the discrimination and limitations of women involvement in the labor market. The limitation types as we see globally is different: • barriers to entering employment and work; • lower wages of formal work and higher levels of informal and insecure work; • fewer opportunities for advancement. 6 International labor standards also address equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women workers with family responsibilities. -ILO Convention No. 156 and corresponding ILO Recommendation No. 165.
As is mentioned in Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women States must take all appropriate measures to ensure that women can enjoy the same access to the 5 Book: "Outrage to Courage"; Author -Anne Firth Murray (chapter: laboring in a globalized world pg. 196). 6 ILO and UNDP, Work and Family.
same quality of education and training and the same opportunities in that sphere as men. Unpaid care work can be arduous, stressful, emotionally diffi cult and even dangerous for example: household work and childcare. If left women unsupported with heavy unpaid care responsibilities the mental and physical health of women may deteriorate and degrade dangerously.
States must work towards tackling and softly transforming traditional gender norms and stereotypes. The goal of this tackling should be: an equal distribution of unpaid care work at home and sharing responsibilities by men and women equally.
"Increasing women's participation in the formal or informal labor system was not seen as detrimental to women's unpaid work, since such unpaid work was never recognized or measured". 7 The fact is that working in the informal or formal sector has a direct proportional effect on the deteriorating working conditions of women's unpaid work (housework) and the creation of a stressful environment if unpaid work is not fairly shared between men and women.
We see how many problems young women face ... and we fearfully think about what happens with ageing?
What is aging? A new stage of development, a new challenge for women, a new phase of life. How can elder women fi nd new opportunities and how than can they use new opportunities in creative ways if society is stereotyping them as a burden to family, as caregivers and as not valuable asset for a country?
1. 1. Society and a country itself should change this concept, distorted perception, prejudices and realize that elder women are productive members of society and they must be treated with dignity and give them resources to fully exercise their rights.
"Examination of myths and stereotypes that surround older woman shows how gender bias and discrimination intensify in old age everywhere, though the cultural forms may differ. Perhaps the most widespread stereotype is that of women as natural caregivers, a notion that continues to sustain the belief in many countries especially, in resource -poor countries, that the "traditional family" will take care of its elderly. As several papers in this volume point out, the view of women as "natural" family caregivers is one that is continually constructed and constantly reinforced by social expectations and strictures. One study, in Italy, examines the ways in which these 7 Book: "Outrage to Courage"; Author -Anne Firth Murray (chapter: laboring in a globalized world pg. 197).
expectations permeate even casual conversations: women typically apologize if they are not caring for an additional family member, while men, far from being expected to care for family members, are regarded as peculiar when they do". 8 As we see the role of women in society by aging is minimized to caregivers. Why? Maybe the reason is in the roots. Society sees the little girls, adolescent girls and women as reproductive line -contributors of life and not as individuals who are mothers, workers, educators, mentors, managers, politicians and active participants of society. Stigmas sometimes give much harsh and devastating results than we can imagine. When society gives one main role to women like reproductive potential, after some period they are seen useless, not because society is so terrible and inhuman, but because this prejudice is formed on the basis of the collective unconscious. After this type of formation society gives women an extra role (as extra benefi t): caregivers. When we want to start return elders their real and own place in society, we should fi rst change perceptions and attitudes of our collective unconscious.
"Even in wealthy countries, older women's productive contributions are seldom formally recognized. Many perceptions of older women as unproductive stem from the belief that women's productive role is limited to their reproductive capacity. Women's value is believed to lie in their ability to bear children, and particularly sons. Once women pass the age of reproductive potential, they are seen as useless. It is assumed that they will no longer contribute to society and will instead become burdens, dependent upon support from their children and possibly their national government". 9 2. 2. Economic situation of a country and fi nances should be aimed at the well-being of the elderly and their integration into society. The main issue in this topic is the stage of the country's economic development: does the country have a poor economy or a stable well-built economy? Afterwards it is crucial for a country to implement fi nancial methods and system which raises the role of women in gaining money and making them as an active workforce.
As is mentioned in INSTRAW publication "Ageing in Gendered World: Women's Issues and Identities": "Ageing, as a stage of development, is a challenge for women. In this period of life, women should be enabled to cope in a creative way with new opportunities. The social consequences arising from the stereotyping of elderly women should be recognized and eliminated. Subsequent meetings on ageing began to emphasize the integration of older persons into the life of society, regarding them not as a burden on productive members of society but as creative and productive members in their own right. Women, who because they live longer, represent the majority of older people in almost every country, are a particularly neglected resource in their elder years". What are these aspects on which the new system for elder women should be built to raise their potential contribution?
INSTRAW is addressing concepts that have led to the injustice and afterwards is searching for potential contributions that every woman can make to its society. Also it is worthy to discuss the role of modern technology in the improvement of women's economic condition. In my opinion fee-free programs for learning computers and new technologies can organize government in rural communities for women. Country, government together with private business sector have power to increase recognition of importance of women and to give women the feel that they are masters of their own fate. One way to give women control over their fate is giving them a chance for economic activities. This includes the microfi nancing loans for women. The reasons for special loan type can be: cottage industries, farming, cooking, agricultural work. Government should appreciate works which will not harm elder women, transform their role in society, decrease discrimination and fi nally eliminate it. At fi rst sight reader may think: can this small investment be substantial for changing status of women? My answer is Yes… Yes…everything starts from Will.
The severe reality is that social exclusion, poverty, discriminatory attitudes, prejudices and perceptions regarding the role of women are generally more acute for older women than they are for older men. It's obvious, this women's disadvantaged status takes roots from childhood and adulthood and day by day intensifi ed in older age.
At fi rst glance longer life expectancy is no doubt a sign of progress, which is the result of increasing wealth and access to medical care all over the world according to relevant percentage. When you look this picture from one point it is tempting to think that the problem of women in poverty is gradually and moderately ebbing, but unfortunately this is a false impression. When you come closer and closer to this mosaic you see a lot of problems regarding elder women and growing number of them without growth of economy and without changing the world's perception. Stereotypes bring devastating effect on elder women and for world as well.
Georgia has one good challenge that elder women are employed in education system, as Scientifi cs as Teachers, as Lecturers. But these are small percentages.
We need to translate laws, normative acts, state's goals in community. We also must focus on this issue. We need to make changes without disempowerment of men and real equality with women and men. Men will be as gentlemen in society with new vision and respectful values. These are new challenges not only for Georgia, but for the whole world. I think these issues need to be deepened, expanded and will be present alternatives to goal setting / implementation around this core. So I decided to expand the vision in my dissertation.