General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

8 December 1989

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                          A/RES/44/76
                                                          78th plenary meeting
                                                          8 December 1989
                           Elderly women
 
     The General Assembly,
 
     Taking note of Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/38 of
24 May 1989, in which the Council requested the Commission on the Status of
Women to devote particular attention to the current and future situation of
elderly women in the world,
 
     Recalling its resolution 40/30 of 29 November 1985, in which it was
emphasized that the elderly must be considered an important and necessary
element in the development process at all levels within a given society,
 
     Aware 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,
 
     Also aware that statistics are an essential ingredient of planning and
policy evaluation and that few statistics are available on the situation of
elderly women,
 
     1.   Recommends that the United Nations and the specialized agencies take
the lead in recognizing the important contributions made by older women and
their potential to participate in and shape the future of their societies;
 
     2.   Reaffirms Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/38, in which
the Council requested the Secretary-General to organize a seminar, within
available budgetary resources, to study questions arising from an in-depth
analysis of the situation of women as they age, and to transmit the results of
the study to the Commission on the Status of Women, under the priority theme
of development, at its session in 1992, at which the tenth anniversary of the
adoption of the International Plan of Action on Agingwill also be observed;
 
     3.   Invites the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women and the Statistical Office of the Secretariat, in
co-operation with the regional commissions, to pay specific attention to older
women in their efforts to improve methodology for data-gathering on women;
 
     4.   Notes with appreciation the valuable contributions that
non-governmental organizations have made in calling attention to the specific
needs of elderly women and encourages them to continue to co-operate with the
international community on behalf of these women;
 
     5.   Appeals to the United Nations system to pay due attention in
relevant activities to the importance of the role of elderly women, in all its
interrelated aspects, as participants in political, economic, social and
cultural development;
 
     6.   Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at
its forty-fifth session on the implementation of the present resolution.