Older women are not invisible, they are inconvenient. When older women refuse to fade, when they insist on showing up in politics, in workplaces, and in movements, they become difficult to dismiss. That difficulty is precisely what makes them dangerous.  And effective.  And powerful.

Their refusal to step back when the job isn't yet done creates possibility: for movements that span generations, for feminist advocacy that centre experience across the lifespan, for societies that finally see ageing not as decline but as depth.  Other cultures value older people, especially older women, for the experience and wisdom they offer, unlike Australia.  In our multicultural society, we can change this.

Janine Hendry explores the impact of generational changes, and tells the story of the achievements of second wave feminists, many of whom are still BPW members today.  Their campaigns transformed lives: legalised abortion, opened access to education and work, and named sexual violence as systemic. But these campaigns often centred on youth. Older women became the backbone of campaigns but rarely the face of them.

Janine’s article is a message to older women, but also to our younger BPW members who will recognise the trailblazers in their midst and will value their inconvenient aspirations and advocacy for women of all ages.