‘Lost ladies’: Lifelong learning and community participation for older women

Abstract

This article will explore lifelong learning and community participation for older women. In doing so, it will draw on empirical work undertaken with the National Federation of Women's Institutes in England and Wales in the UK; and the Sydney Older Women's Network in Australia. The article will briefly outline something of the policies and practices of lifelong learning in the UK and Australia, the sites of the research. It will argue for a need to consider ‘difference’ in lifelong learning and community participation, and demonstrate how the women in this research project have found ways to bring the voices of older women to (local and national) political tables. In doing so, it will demonstrate the ways in which resistances and challenges to exclusion are made by older women through their participation in learning and in communities.