We’ve all heard the comments.

‘Over the Hill’, ‘Mutton dressed as lamb’, ‘Past it’, ‘Cougar’.

Gendered ageist comments have a real impact on women’s lives. They can whittle away at women’s confidence, and undermine women’s capacity to participate in daily life. Ageism leads to poor health outcomes and a reduction in life expectancy. Ageism is a leading driver of elder abuse, and yet ageism is all around us.

Silver Threads and Golden Needles uses craft activities as the catalyst for conversations about gendered ageism, raising awareness and empowering women to push back against it.

Our program aims to shift the dial on our conversation by working with groups of women to explore gendered ageism, and craft our way to a fairer world, one stitch at a time.