Blog
Entries by Sarah Harper
(20 entries)
Forty years of Global Action on Ageing: what has been achieved? And what next?
Forty years ago The World Assembly on Ageing was held in Vienna in 1982. A forum to launch an international action programme aimed at guaranteeing economic and social security to older person...
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Older Adults: Institutionalised Ageism or Pragmatic Policy?
This article first appeared in the December issue of the Journal of Population Ageing. The Covid pandemic has produced a plethora of editorials and commentaries by professional bodies ...
What lessons have we learnt to help mitigate a second wave of COVID-19?
As we went into lockdown in March 2020 we were very much in the dark as to the behaviour of the virus and how it would affect different parts of our population. Today, as we consider action in the ...
Corona Virus – Life could never be the same again
Life could never be the same again. For many families life will never be the same as they face the loss of dearly loved family members. For the rest of us, life could change if we start now to buil...
Departing the EU, fake news, populism and our creaking health care system
This week’s Blog is a modified version of the Editorial: Global Risks and the resilience of future health care systems published in the Journal of Population Ageing, Springer: 2020, 1. ...
60 is the new 60!
It has suddenly become trendy to be 60, with headlines across the world today proclaiming that 60 is the new 40. No – 60 is the new 60. I could write highligh...
Wives at 12, Mothers by 13 #InternationalWomensDay
by Sarah Harper In recognition of International Women’s Day 2018 we highlight the plight of millions of women across the world still trapped in oppressive demographic regimes, which frame ...
“Killing the Angel in the House”: from female suffrage to sex discrimination
It took such an effort to open the door, and now we walk through it without a backward glance – or don’t walk through it at all. That’s the tragedy, that some of us don’t us...
Sparking debate where science, policy and the public meet
Across our lives science is presenting us with new choices. Advances in reproductive medicine are confronting young people with moral choices unimagined by their parents. Our workplaces are being t...
Combining localism with globalism is the real mandate for Brexit
With the publication of the results of wave nine of the British Election Study, the survey conducted in the days immediately after the EU referendum between the 24th June and the 4th July 2016, it ...
Brexit and the Role of Migration for an Ageing UK.
The British Referendum of June 23rd 2016 is set to be a defining moment in British history. Whether to be reconsidered or not, whether to result in a stronger or diminished UK and EU, Anal...
Brexit: “A bewildering act of self-harm”
Where were you when you heard the news? As the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford noted in the early morning of 24th June 2016, this is an event which we shall all look back up...
During adolescence, the world expands for boys and contracts for girls.
This terms seminar series at the Institute addresses adolescence. ‘Navigating life in sub-Saharan Africa – adolescent socio-ecologies’ focusing on the environments in which...
Women’s Health: a new Global agenda | Oxford Martin Policy Paper
Today sees the launch of the new policy paper from the Oxford Martin School, George Institute for Global Health – Women’s Health: a new Global agenda | Oxford Martin Policy Paper ...
Is the transition state between childhood and adulthood the root of social anxiety produced by teen motherhood?
As many of you know I am a huge fan of Mary Douglas’ work. In particular her concept of transition: “danger lies in transitional states, simply because a transition is neither one state...
Why do French women live longer than English?
I have long been intrigued by the differential life expectancy between English women and our near neighbours – the French. Since 1945 there has been a consistent 2 year gap between French and...
What jobs will centenarians be doing at the end of the century?
“What jobs will centenarians be doing at the end of the century?” asked the man from the BBC…. Rohit Talwar, a futurologist, had declared at last week’s Headmasters&rsqu...
Migration is reshaping the family
2015 may well be seen as a transitional year in terms of cross-border migration. Already in 2013, 232 million people – 3.2 per cent of the world's population – lived outside their c...
Is fertility stalling in sub-Saharan Africa?
Sub-Saharan Africa is not only the last region to initiate the fertility transition, it also has experienced a weaker pace of decline in fertility compared to other regions. While the global ...
The concept of civil repair
What does the Catholic paedophilia scandal; the 2008 financial crisis and the UK phone hacking scandal have in common? A great deal, according to US Cultural Sociologist Jeffrey Alexander. All...