Gender Equity Across the Life Course – Redefining Leadership and Aging in Adult Education

 

The intersections of gender, aging, and leadership form a critical but often overlooked frontier in adult and continuing education. At the 2024 Hall of Fame Induction Conference in Florence, the Working Group 8 (WG8) on Gender Equity, Leadership, and Aging, mentored by Mary V. Alfred (IACEHOF 2016), brought together scholars, practitioners, and advocates to illuminate the persistent challenges and explore transformative possibilities in this space.

 

With discussion leaders Francesca Torlone of the University of Florence and Janet Poley (HOF 2002), the group convened through two pre-conference webinars and culminated in robust face-to-face dialogue in Florence. The theme resonated across generations and geographies, grounded in a shared commitment to social justice and systemic change.

 

Guiding Principles: Education, Research, and Advocacy

Participants agreed that three interwoven pillars must drive progress in this area:

1. Education is used to raise awareness and build capacity across institutions and communities.
2. Research is needed to uncover systemic inequities and evaluate interventions.
3. Advocacy influences policy, shifts public attitudes, and empowers affected populations.

A shared glossary will be developed as a foundational step, clarifying definitions and interpretations across cultures, languages, and policy environments. This glossary will promote conceptual clarity and foster deeper global collaboration.

 

Three Interconnected Themes

1. Active Aging Over the Life Course

The group reframed aging not as a late-life concern but as a lifelong and life-wide experience. From this perspective, policies, practices, and cultural narratives about aging must be examined through a gender equity lens.

Key issues include:

• How women's life transitions—education, motherhood, caregiving, retirement—are shaped by societal expectations.
• The need to study health disparities affecting women and their implications for healthy aging
• Addressing barriers that limit older women’s continued participation in the workforce and civic life

Active aging must be understood as personal well-being and systemic inclusion.

2. Gender Equity in the Workplace

Structural inequities in employment continue to hinder women's professional advancement and economic empowerment. These include:

• The persistent gender pay gap that compounds financial insecurity over time.
• Lack of supportive policies for caregiving responsibilities for working adults.
• Women’s underrepresentation in leadership roles, especially in higher education and adult learning sectors.

The group emphasized that these disparities have long-term effects on women’s aging and life quality, making gender equity at work a cornerstone of equitable aging.

3. Economic and Financial Violence

Perhaps the most sobering topic was the pervasive, yet often invisible, experience of economic and financial violence that many women endure throughout their lives. This includes:

• Denied access to education and employment in youth.
• Disparities in wages, benefits, and retirement contributions during working years.
• Financial dependency or exploitation in later life.

Participants noted that women’s economic vulnerability in older age often reflects cumulative disadvantages. As a result, training models are needed to help women recognize and respond to economic abuse, fraud, and exclusion. Financial literacy, legal empowerment, and digital access were highlighted as essential tools for resilience.

 

Future Directions and Commitments

The working group affirmed its intention to continue as the Gender Equity Action Working Group. Using digital tools, they will collaborate across countries and institutions to:

• Develop and disseminate educational resources and toolkits.
• Promote inclusive research that centers women’s voices and lived experiences.
• Build cross-sector advocacy campaigns targeting education, health, and labor policy decision-makers.
• Host webinars and workshops to elevate best practices and innovative approaches.

Technology will be a key enabler, ensuring continuity and broad participation across geographic boundaries.

 

A Transformative Vision of Equity and Aging

WG8 offered a powerful reminder: aging is not a standalone phase, but a cumulative outcome of social structures, institutional policies, and individual experiences. By addressing economic injustice, workplace inequality, and educational access, adult education can contribute to a future where women age with dignity, security, and purpose.

 

Through collaborative education, research, and advocacy, the working group aims to shift paradigms toward equity in opportunity, outcomes, and the entire arc of women’s lives.

Learning Cities as Engines of Community Transformation and Lifelong Learning

 

In a world marked by increasing urbanization, social fragmentation, and the pressing need for inclusive lifelong learning, the learning city concept has emerged as a powerful framework for collective growth. At the 2024 Hall of Fame Induction Conference in Florence, the Working Group 6 (WG6) on Learning Cities, mentored by Arne Carlsen (IACEHOF 2017) and co-chaired by Annalisa Raymer and Margaret Shanahan with Balázs Németh as discussant, engaged in a rich dialogue about how learning cities can foster inclusive education, sustainability, and innovation. 

 

The group’s vision went beyond theory—it aimed to craft practical strategies for making learning cities functional, resilient, and future-ready. Participants examined how learning cities can operate as spaces of dialogue, centers of civic engagement, and drivers of social, economic, and environmental transformation.

 

Understanding the Role of Learning Cities

The working group identified several dimensions of what makes a learning city effective. These cities serve as:

• Mechanisms for Local Dialogue: Learning cities create environments where diverse stakeholders—educators, residents, policymakers, and civil society—discuss shared priorities and solutions.
• Engines of Lifelong Learning: They embrace the idea that learning occurs across the lifespan and in all aspects of life—formal, non-formal, and informal.
• Governance Innovators: Learning cities introduce participatory governance models where public administrators and local actors become co-creators of learning ecosystems.
• Agents of Change: They are uniquely positioned to align lifelong learning with broader global transitions, such as the green economy, digital transformation, and migration.

 

Creating a Toolbox for Learning Cities

A significant output of WG6 will be the development of a toolbox—a shared repository of best practices, case studies, frameworks, and resources to help cities worldwide implement and sustain learning initiatives.

This toolbox will serve as a technical resource and a platform for peer learning and cross-cultural exchange. It will include elements such as:

• Guidelines for city administrators and education leaders
• Templates for local learning strategies
• Examples of stakeholder engagement models
• Tools for participatory planning and evaluation

 

Key Themes for Further Research and Collaboration

WG6 outlined several research priorities and practical applications for advancing the learning city movement:

1. Trans-Atlantic and Cross-Regional Cooperation:
• Comparative research between Asian, European, and American cities will illuminate diverse pathways to building learning-friendly urban environments.
• Understanding regional dynamics enhances the adaptability of strategies and helps tailor interventions to cultural and political contexts.
2. Higher Education and Civic Engagement:
• Universities must be more than providers of degrees; they should become embedded institutions within learning cities, offering research support, outreach programs, and public learning opportunities.
3. Greening Adult Learning:
• Sustainability and environmental stewardship must be integrated into lifelong learning agendas. Cities can promote eco-literacy, green skills, and climate resilience education as part of civic engagement.
4. Youth Engagement:
• Young people are both beneficiaries and creators of learning cities. Programs should support youth agency, intergenerational learning, and civic activism.
5. Innovative Monitoring and Evaluation:
• Developing creative ways to track learning impact—including participatory assessments, community storytelling, and social media analysis—will strengthen accountability and learning city branding.
6. Commoning and Social Resilience:
• The group explored how cities can facilitate “commoning”—shared ownership of public spaces, resources, and knowledge—as a pathway to greater social cohesion and collective well-being.

 

No One-Size-Fits-All Recipe

A key insight from WG6 was the acknowledgment that learning cities must be deeply context-specific. There is no universal model. Instead, learning cities should be adaptive ecosystems, shaped by local values, assets, and needs.

 

Still, the group hopes that documenting diverse practices and principles can contribute to a growing collective intelligence around how learning cities function best.

 

A Call to Action

WG6’s work lays the foundation for practical, grassroots-driven change. By fostering collaboration among cities, building accessible knowledge platforms, and engaging a wide array of stakeholders—from youth to city planners—learning cities can become true hubs of equity, unity, and transformation.

 

Learning cities represent a hopeful vision of place-based education that builds stronger, smarter, and more compassionate communities in a time of uncertainty and change.