W.O.W is a CBF (Community Broadcast Foundation) grant funded project aimed at challenging current narratives that continue to disadvantage many older women by failing to recognise the lifelong impacts of inequality, further compounded in later years.
This project offers a media platform for women aged 55-85yrs experiencing marginalisation through ageism, and other intersecting vulnerabilities.
W.O.W. focusses on enhancing these years, sharing personal and professional stories, exploring older women’s contributions and roles in life particularly during this final chapter so that society, in particular younger generations, will learn to value elders and themselves embrace the process of ageing.
Many older women experience varying forms of invisibility. They are our mothers, sisters, aunties, grandmothers, maybe even ourselves. Many encounter disconnection from families, communication difficulties and a sense of loss at being ignored. The welfare of our ageing population is a societal responsibility that is largely overlooked.
Giving older women a voice in media can help reduce their feelings of invisibility and the effect it has on their lives. If more older women were represented positively in the media, it could help to foster a more inclusive and supportive culture for those women feeling disenfranchised, disempowered, and disillusioned.
It aims to increase positive perceptions of ageing, reshaping the conditioned understanding of ageing by redirecting blame from ageing to ageism. It supports a community of older women who may feel marginalised, isolated, or trapped in an economic paradigm that insidiously silences their priceless wisdom.
This six-episode series features the incredible life stories of these inspiring and articulate women:
Ep. 1 – Linguist, alternative economist and international localisation leader Helena Norberg Hodge.
Ep. 2 – Writer, author, poet, model and Hawaiian hula teacher Lilith Rocha.
Ep. 3 – Bay FM founding member, National broadcaster and CMTO trainer Nancy-Jo Falcone.
Ep. 4 – Ayurvedic practitioner, menopause guide, chai Queen and dancer Christina Covington.
Ep. 5 – Octogenarian, Feldenkrais practitioner and physiotherapist Sandy Leathem.
This represents traditional storytelling at its best with wisdom and knowledge shared through the age-old art of conversation.
Executive producer Rasela Torise. Music by Purple Planet Music. This project was made possible with the assistance of the Community Broadcast Foundation. CBF.org.