Gender Discrimination and Ageist Perceptions

Research

The project began in 2003 with a three year research study which explored the experiences and perceptions of a national sample of over 1000 men and women over the age of 50. It considered, amongst other issues, their experiences of discrimination or negative treatment within both work and education and how these experiences may have impacted on their current situation. As part of this major study we also explored the attitudes and assumptions of around 200 employers and recruiters of the over fifties in the private, public and voluntary sectors as well as higher education establishments.

The research culminated in a report, published in July 2006, and the staging of a national conference in July 2006 entitled ‘Too Old To...? The experiences and perceptions of the 50+ - an exploration of gender differences and organisational beliefs’.

Full copies of the report and the executive summary (in PDF format), as well as copies of the presentations that were given at the conference, are available for download from the links on the left side of this page.

Establishment of the Agender Newsletter

A valuable part of the project has been the establishment of a newsletter, produced three times a year, which is aimed at getting the message out to as many people and organisations as possible. The newsletter is widely read and its circulation continues to grow. We have used the newsletter to highlight our research findings and to communicate items of news which we feel are of interest to industry and the community on the subject of Age and Gender. Electronic copies of the newsletter are available from the links on the left hand side of the page.

GDAP-TI

In 2006 further funding was provided by Liverpool John Moores University and the European Social Fund, under the Objective Three funding stream, to build on and extend the earlier research project. The Gender Discrimination and Ageist Perceptions -Training Initiative (GDAP-TI), is designed to increase the numbers of women into work/training or education.

This project, funded until December 2007, developed a Training Pack and resource DVD and has delivered workshops throughout the UK. The workshops helped the women to overcome some of the barriers, both internal and external, that were identified during the research phase of the project., also highlighted how women may be able to identify and challenge discriminatory behaviours.

The training pack entitled Informing, Empowering and Enabling Women, contains user friendly sessions as well as a comprehensive resource DVD. The pack is currently being marketed nationally by a team of professionals from LJMU. If you feel your organisation or community group would benefit from this training (1day or 1/2day training) then please contact the team. (A minimum of 10 participants will be required).

Further details of GDAP-TI are available here via the link on the left hand side of the page.

Accessing Documents