BOX 7. AGEING WOMEN AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS When working with reproductive rights, the focus tends to be on persons of reproductive age – and rightly so since many of the most egregious issues, such as preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, are most relevant for this age group. However, it is important not to overlook the fact that persons above the reproductive age have reproductive health issues that should be taken into account when taking a holistic approach to reproductive rights. The ICPD refers to the need to secure reproductive health services “suitable for different age and cultural groups and for different phases of the reproductive cycle”.5 The need to take a life cycle approach has also been confirmed in the practice of e.g. the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.6 This box aims at given some information on the issues relevant to ageing women, even though it is acknowledged that ageing men also have health concerns based on sex.7 Nevertheless, there are more women in older age than there are men and women bear a heavier burden. Due to women’s structural discrimination in general and their role in reproduction, reproductive health issues for ageing women are more acute than for ageing men. “Older women” normally refers to women aged 50 and older, whereas the term ageing women acknowledges that ageing is a process that occurs differently for different individuals and groups. Women who endure a lifetime of poverty, malnutrition and heavy labour may be chronologically young but functionally old at age 40. Women are usually more vulnerable than men are in older age. Specific issues include: lack of access to education; childbirth without the adequate health care; low income and inequitable access to decent work; domestic violence, which may begin in childhood, continue in marriage and is a common form of elder abuse; and cultural traditions and attitudes that limit access to health care in older age. Some issues are especially relevant when ageing women and reproductive rights are concerned. One of them is the fact that ageing women remain at risk for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Once infected, ageing women face a disproportionate burden of illnesses directly or indirectly caused by STIs, including AIDS resulting from HIV infection and cervical cancer as a result of the transmission of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervical cancer kills approximately 274,000 women every year; it is the most common cancer in women and the leading cause of cancer deaths in developing countries. Providing girls with a vaccine to prevent the infection from HPV raises the possibility of eliminating the 5 ICPD Program of Action, sect. 12.12. 6 See Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation, No. 27 on older women and protection of their rights and Concluding Observations, e.g. Panama and Uzbekistan, both in 2010. 7 For more information, see Women, Ageing and Health: A framework for action, WHO and UNFPA, (2007) which is also the main basis for this box. 80