Integration of older women in development, G.A. res. 49/162, 49 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 178, U.N. Doc. A/49/49 (1994).


The General Assembly,

Recalling
its resolution 44/76 of 8 December 1989, in which it pointed out that age segregation, in addition to sex stereotyping, makes the social and economic problems of elderly women even more acute, and that they are often viewed only as beneficiaries and not as contributors to development,

Recalling also its resolution 40/30 of 29 November 1985, in which it emphasized that the elderly must be considered an important and necessary element in the development process at all levels within a given society,

Recalling further Commission on the Status of Women resolution 36/4 of 20 March 1992, See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1992, Supplement No. 4 (E/1992/24), chap. I, sect. C. in which the Commission emphasized the need to adopt an approach for the advancement of women that takes into account all stages of life, so as to identify measures that respond to women's needs,

Calling attention to the urgent need to develop and improve the publication of statistics by sex and by age, and to identify and evaluate the different forms of activities of older women which are not normally recognized as having an economic value, in particular in the informal sectors,

Taking into consideration the proceedings of the International Symposium on Population Structure and Development, held at Tokyo from 10 to 12 September 1987, which called attention to the fact that the United Nations had estimated that there were 208 million women aged 60 and above in 1985, of which about half lived in the developed and half in the developing world, and that by the year 2025 this number had been projected to increase to 604 million elderly women for the world as a whole, of which nearly 70 per cent would be living in the developing countries, See ST/ESA/SER.R/85.

1. Takes note with appreciation of the joint publication by the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the Statistics Division of the Secretariat of The Situation of Elderly Women: Available Statistics and Indicators INSTRAW/SER.B/44. and encourages the Institute and the Division to continue their pioneering work in this field;

2. Requests the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to pay particular attention to discrimination on grounds of age when evaluating national reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Resolution 34/180, annex.

3. Invites the competent organs of the United Nations to adopt an approach that, in all their strategies and programmes for the advancement of women, takes into account all stages of life;

4. Invites the international development agencies and organizations, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the United Nations Development Programme, to take account of the potential of elderly women as a human resource for development and to include older women in their development strategies and programmes, and encourages Governments to ensure the inclusion of women, regardless of age, in development projects covered by national and multilateral financial institutions;

5. Invites the Preparatory Committee for the World Summit for Social Development to ensure that older women's concerns and contributions to development are considered under the three main agenda items of the Summit: "Elimination of poverty", "Social integration" and "Employment";

6. Urges the Commission on the Status of Women, as the preparatory body for the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, to ensure that older women's concerns and contributions to development are recognized and incorporated into the strategies, programmes and policies of the Platform for Action which deal with equality, development and peace;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fiftieth session on the implementation of the present resolution under the item entitled "Advancement of women".

94th plenary meeting
23 December 1994


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