associations of retirees demand greater role in society

the participation of elders is scarce in all areas

– reported that the figure of the largest is stigmatised, with a profound introduction of negative stereotypes in the subconscious of the citizens.

-the presence of over 65 leaders is weak both in policy, as in media, business, education, culture or the administrations.

-No there is no presenter of news or large audience over 60 TV shows.

Madrid, June of 2012. Organizations of larger integrated into the Democratic Union of pensioners and retirees of Spain, UDP, deem it necessary that citizens consider retirement as a new period of personal enrichment, avoiding negative stereotypes about the aging process and fostering greater participation at all levels.

Urged retirees involved more in social life, in order to achieve a greater presence in the centres of decision-making, as well as to improve the image of the collective between elders themselves and to society at large.

These are some of the contributions of the report during the month of may, which has worked ’ out of the respect to the figure of the person mayor´, part of the campaign of sensiblilización twelve causes by 2012, which is carrying out the Imserso in collaboration with UDP during the celebration of the European year for active ageing.

Elders today only have a demographic profile. In 20 years of older persons will be 30% of the population, and must have greater presence in all areas ”, says the President of the Democratic Union of pensioners, UDP, Luis Martín Pindado.

Since the Organization alleges the stigma that persists in everything related to ageing. In our society no one wants to be higher. We should consider why people are moving towards a place where no one wants to be ”, declares Pindado.

According to the white paper on active ageing, 60% of the Spanish population believes that health suffers a strong deterioration from age 65, most have disabilities that make them dependent on others, who have bad memory, which are rigid and inflexibleless active, irritable …, and for more than 50% of the population are senile ”.

In this sense, from organizations alleged that the media often encourage the spread of negative stereotypes about older persons, excluding the screens and microphones to older persons.

Presenters of programmes with more audience in radio, only two are older than 65 years, Pepe Domingo Castaño (69), in game time ” chain COPE; and Luis del Olmo, (75) in players ” ABC.Radio. The rest are less than 60 years old. Caesar Lumbreras (57) Cope; Carlos Herrera (55) Onda Cero; José Ramón de la Morena (55) be, Sáez de Buruaga (55) Cope, Carlos Francino (54) be, Isabel San Sebastián, (54) ABC.Radio; Julia Otero, Juan Ramon Lucas RNE (53) (53) Onda Cero …

there is no presenter of news or large audience over 60 years of TV programs. Older are Matías Prats (60), Pedro Piqueras (57), Ana Rosa Quintana (56), Jesus Alvarez (54), Ana Blanco (51) and Maria Escario (53).

Another example of this scarce presence of elders is in politics. In the last municipal elections (May 2011), only five of the 50 candidates presented by each of the major parties in the provincial capitals, were over the age of 65 years; four of the PP were elected (in Huelva, Badajoz, Málaga and Oviedo) and one of the PSOE (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria).

A low representation of a group which already represents 23 per cent of the electorate, according to the electoral census; and the 17.2% (8.092.853 inhabitants) of the total population registered in Spain, according to data from the National Institute of statistics (INE).

The presence of older persons in general, and more particularly women’s – adds Pindado – country decision-making bodies should increase proportionally to its presence as a dominant demographic group in the coming years ”.
Proposals of organizations of older:

-communication campaigns to promote a more realistic picture of the process of aging.

-encourage the realization of courses preparing for retirement, so that citizenship prepare this vital stage as a time of renewal and possibilities of growth and fulfillment staff.

-foster among retired culture participation and social responsibility, in order to improve the image of the collective

-incorporate in the agenda of the media information on the contributions that the elderly make to society in all areas.

-promoting the use of positive images of aging in childhood and youth, through for example from literature, cinema, audiovisual media and the development of programmes intergenerational.

-inform the retired population the opportunities for personal development offered by the society, both in the training field, such as labor, cultural, or participatory social.

-facilitate the presence of women in decision-making areas so that they can participate in the design of policies specific that end up with the double discrimination faced by some: by age and gender.

-empower older persons through training in political participation and development community.

-adopt affirmative action to promote the integration of the elderly in social and political life of the country.

-create a system quotas of representation of elders in public institutions (political, parties in government local, regional, national, in trade unions …), and private (enterprises) resembling that which was applied in his day to end female discrimination and tackle this way other types of discriminationthe age.

Democratic Union of pensioners

The UDP is the first organization of largest in the country, with more than 2,500 associations in all Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Peru and Uruguay, bringing together more than one million five hundred thousand members. For 35 years, it develops activities in defence of the interests of older persons and the promotion of active ageing. Holds the Vice-Presidency of the State Council of older people, and is a member of the Council of the platform of the Third Sector, the NGOs platform ’ s of Social Action; the platform of promotion of volunteering and the European Forum on the healthy ageing, among others.