In May 2017 the English version of the eighth e-bulletin of the Observatory of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE) has been just publicized and it deals with the thematic area of women and health:
More specifically, statistical data is presented for the following indicators:
1. Life expectancy at birth (by gender)
The indicator shows the average number of years that an individual is expected to live at the time of birth based on the mortality rates at that time.
2. Years of healthy life at the time of birth and at the age of 65 (by gender)
The indicator (also called as "life expectancy without disabilities") shows the number of years that a person of a particular age is expected to live without disabilities. It is calculated on the basis of EU mortality tables and research on self-perceived health (over the last six months prior to the day of the survey).
Life expectancy in 2015 was 81.6 years for women and 76.1 years for men showing an increase over 2014 (for women in 2014 it was 81.2 years and for men it was 75.5 years).
From the data of the Household Income and Living Survey for the year 2013, the following results are shown:
- at the age of 65, women spend 6.8 years without activity restrictions
- at the age of 65, men spend eighty years without activity restrictions
- at the age of 65, life expectancy in good health, according to one's own perception, is 5.3 years for women and 6.9 years for men
- women have a higher life expectancy than men, but at the age of 65 years, women's healthy life years are reduced compared to men's healthy years of life.
Greece is one of the countries with the most aged population - 5th in the world. The aging of the population is a combination of the phenomena of low birthrate and higher life expectancy. According to data of the World Health Organization, there are around 600 million people aged 60 and over globally, and this figure is estimated to double by 2025 and reach nearly two billion by 2050.
Finally, according to the World Health Organization, the problems of elderly women are included in the ten important health issues affecting the female population of the planet: 1. Cancer, 2. Reproductive Health, 3. Maternal Health, 4. HIV / AIDS, 5. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 6. Violence Against Women, 7. Mental Health, 8. Non-Contagious Diseases, 9. Young Age Problems and 10. Elderly Women's Problems.
Elderly women often have lower incomes and poor access to health and welfare services than men of the same age, thus, in relation to the risk of dementia, being more vulnerable to the risk of poverty and abuse.
We would also like to remind you that on page 40 at the 2015 Annual Report on Equality between Women and Men in the European Union (European Commission, March 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/annual_reports/2016_annual_report_2015_web_en.pdf ) there has been a positive reference to Greece (for your convenience, the relevant text is copied in italics):
In Greece, the Secretariat-General for Gender Equality in the Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction is implementing a flagship project on ‘service organisation for the integration, monitoring and evaluation of gender equality policies in all aspects of public sector action’. The aim is to support the public administration and local authorities in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies with detailed data on equality issues.
The specialized website http://paratiritirio.isotita.gr/genqua_portal/ serves as a portal on useful data divided among the twelve priority areas of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). The access is free and open to all Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations and Institutions, as well as to all citizens and individuals (for the time being, the working language is Greek only). In that way, everyone can have accurate statistical background whenever he/she designs, implements or evaluates policies on gender equality aiming at the advancement of the status of women and girls in Greece.
This project is being developed and up to now eight e-bulletins have been circulated by the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE), i.e. the governmental organization in charge of equality between women and men in Greece. The e-bulletins take advantage of data derived from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) as a follow-up of the activation of a Protocol of Cooperation between the General Secretariat for Gender Equality and ELSTAT, and they are also supported by lively graphs, diagrams and charts made solely by the employees of our organization:
a) Women and Poverty: http://www.isotita.gr/en/var/uploads/2016/Observatory%20-%20First%20e-bulletin%20Women%20and%20Poverty.pdf
b) Women in Decision-Making: http://www.isotita.gr/var/uploads/ANNOUNCEMENTS/2016/Paratiritirio_Second%20report_eng.pdf
c) Women and Health: http://www.isotita.gr/var/uploads/ANNOUNCEMENTS/2016/Observatory%20third%20e-bulletin%20-%20Women%20and%20Health.pdf
d) Women and Economy (Female Unemployment): http://www.isotita.gr/en/var/uploads/2016/Observatory%20fourth%20e-bulletin%20-%20Women%20and%20Economy.pdf
e) Women and Armed Conflicts: http://www.isotita.gr/en/var/uploads/2016/Observatory%20-%20Fifth%20e-bulletin%20-%20Women%20and%20Armed%20Conflicts.pdf
f) Women and Health: http://www.isotita.gr/en/var/uploads/2017/Obsevatory%20-%20Sixth%20e-bulletin%20-%20Women%20and%20Health_Jan2017.pdf
g) Violence against Women (Trafficking): http://www.isotita.gr/en/var/uploads/2017/Observatory%20-%20Seventh%20e-bulletin%20-%20Violence%20against%20Women-Trafficking.pdf .
In that way, the gaps are revealed and all stakeholders are invited to common action in favour of substantive equality between women and men in all aspects of public and private life.