9th October 2025 |
Policy Conference “Unseen no more”
Unseen No More: Policies and Partnerships to Protect Older Women from Violence
Date and Time: 3 February 2026, 09:30 – 16:30 CET
Location: Mundo Madou, Av. des Arts 7/8, 1210 Bruxelles
Violence against older women has long remained invisible – but not anymore.
Through the EU-funded project MARVOW 2.0, experts, services, and policy makers from across Europe have worked together to build a coordinated multi-agency response to gender-based violence against older women. The project developed risk assessment tools, trained frontline professionals, and strengthened cooperation between agencies to better protect older women and ensure their voices are heard.
The conference “Unseen no more!” will bring together policy makers, civil society and front line professionals to discuss how policies and partnerships can protect older women from violence.
“Gender-based violence does not stop with a certain age.
Yet, gender-based violence against older women remains largely invisible and overlooked in policymaking.
Older women face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that accumulates over the lifetime – ageism, sexism, ableism, loneliness, poorer health, and financial insecurity – all of which create specific situations of vulnerability to abuse and neglect. In 2021, 24% of women aged 65-74 reported experiencing gender-based violence. Despite this, prevention, protection, and support services rarely take older women’s needs into account.
AGE Platform Europe calls for an ambitious Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 that will:
- Mainstream ageing and apply an intersectional lens to address the needs of older women
- Improve coordination between gender-based violence services, older people’s services, and frontline health, social, and justice stakeholders
- Collect age and gender disaggregated data across all age groups, without upper limits.
Let’s not forget older women. Let’s call on the European Commission to create a Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 that combats gender-based violence against ALL women.”