Ashton Applewhite and Jane Caro AM share insights on ageism

Internationally recognised expert and author on ageism Ashton Applewhite and Walkley Award winner Jane Caro shared their perspectives on how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed ageist attitudes, ageism in employment, and what people can do to tackle this social injustice.

Speaking at a live virtual event hosted by the EveryAGE Counts advocacy campaign, Ashton Applewhite, who has presented to the United Nations and on the TED Mainstage, said:

“There’s been a lot of hand wringing, as there always is, around the pandemic making ageism worse. The pandemic isn’t making ageism worse, it is glaringly exposing the prejudice that has been around us all along.”

Jane Caro, Australian columnist, author, novelist, broadcaster, documentary maker, feminist and social commentator, said:

“… feminism in fact is the fight by half the human race to get taken seriously by the other half, and I would say that the fight against ageism is precisely the same. It is the fight, particularly by older Australians, to be taken seriously by younger people.”

The EveryAGE Counts campaign, spearheaded by The Benevolent Society, comprises high-profile organisations and individuals who are spearheading a social movement with a challenging goal: to shift social norms and positively influence the way people think about ageing and older people. The campaign asks all Australians to take action against ageism by signing the EveryAGE Counts pledge.