The Invisible Driving Force of the Silver Economy: Women

The Invisible Economy of Care

Globally, women provide 76% of unpaid care work. The economic value of this labor is equivalent to 9% of global GDP — approximately $11 trillion. While 708 million women are outside the workforce entirely due to care responsibilities, only 40 million men face the same situation.

Within the Sandwich Generation — the working generation aged 35–55, raising children while supporting aging parents — women again shoulder the majority of this responsibility. Grandmothers are caring for grandchildren, meeting the daily needs of aging spouses, and managing their own health challenges simultaneously. The cumulative result of these career interruptions becomes a kind of care penalty: women earn 26% less in retirement income than men, and women are the group that most frequently faces the risk of poverty in old age.

Source: ILO Care Work and Care Jobs (2018), ILO — Women and the Economy: 30 Years After Beijing (2025), TIAA Institute (2025)

Women's Role in the Aging Process Is Even More Central

Women are the invisible infrastructure of aging. While carrying the quiet backbone of the silver economy — caring for aging spouses, grandchildren, and communities — their own healthy aging process never quite gets its turn. International platforms emphasize this reality from different angles: the GCOA WISE Council focuses on women's leadership, the UN Women Global Alliance for Care on making care work visible, and the ILC Gender and Ageing Committee on the inequalities that arise at the intersection of age and gender. The shared conclusion is singular: the silver economy's growth potential cannot be fully realized without making women's invisible labor visible.

Source: GCOA WISE Council — Paving the Path for Women in the Silver Economy (2025); UN Women Global Alliance for Care; ILC Global Alliance — Gender and Ageing

Why This Is an Economic Matter

When a fall, accident, or dependency situation arises in an age-unfriendly home, it is overwhelmingly women who rush to help, leave jobs, or reduce hours. Every age-friendly improvement — safer homes, accessible services, care coordination — also protects women's sustainable participation in the workforce. Women are not passive consumers in the silver economy — they are its primary decision-makers. Women make two-thirds of all financial decisions — yet less than 3% of venture capital funding in the silver economy reaches female entrepreneurs. This imbalance is not just inequity; it is an inefficiency that limits the silver economy's growth potential.

Source: GCOA WISE Council — Paving the Path for Women in the Silver Economy (2025)

Why Silver Network Gives Women Separate and Priority Attention

Silver Network gives women separate and priority attention across all its projects — because every step that improves the quality of life for aging individuals directly affects the lives of the women who care for them. For this reason, from safe aging at home to corporate assessment, from the Lived Experience Advisory Council to caregiver support programs, Silver Network tracks the impact on women as a distinct perspective across every initiative.