Besides taking care of their grand children, cooking meals, doing housework, and taking part in community affairs, elderly women in Ghana also work in agriculture, i.e. planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, processing, and storage of the food. 

It is a fact that in most rural areas in Ghana and Africa at large, the roles of older women are not different from that of their younger counterparts. 

Elderly women often make long and tedious journeys to the market, sometimes with grandchildren on their backs and carrying heavy loads from the farm to sell. 

In spite of these, they are yet to benefit from the fruits of their labour. 

According to a World Bank study in 1992, women in Ghana constitute 47 percent of the total labour force in agriculture and account for as much as 70 percent of the total food production.

It is against this background that civil society organizations are advocating a better deal for older women through the enactment of a Policy on the aged. 

In an interview with Public Agenda, Mr. Ebenezer Adjertey-Sorsey, the Executive Director of HelpAge Ghana (HAG), a non-governmental organization working for older persons, government has to speed up the enactment of a National Ageing Policy submitted to cabinet in March 2003, to protect the interest of older people including women. 

He also called on all women organizations to continue fighting for the rights of women even when they are old. "Womanhood does not have a limit. Women's organizations should include older women in their fight for recognition", he advised. 

He said they should join the campaign to get the policy on the aged enacted. 

According to him, the Policy when passed will provide a definition of who an older person is. According to him, many organizations have their own definitions as to who an older person is hence; there is no national consensus as to what age a person could be referred to as old. 

Mr. Adjetey-Sorsey disclosed that, the policy aims at promoting the social, economic and cultural reintegration of older persons into the mainstream society, adding, "Unlike a child who the constitution defines as any person below the age of 18 years, older people do not have any definite definition". 

He described the various actions by the government such as the declaration of 1st July as Senior Citizens Day, the Annual Presidential Lunch for senior citizens and the Presidential Commission on Pension as a way of illustrating the fact that the government recognizes the need to promote proper care for older people in the country. 

However, he said the problem facing older people in Ghana go beyond honour. "Older people need special care," he said, adding, "Ghana can not boast of a geriatric doctor who will attend to them, as such, the response of government is inadequate." 

He also called for the inclusion of the informal sector into the pension schemes. 

Citing cocoa farmers as an example, he said, "We keep on saying that cocoa is the number one income earner for the country, yet cocoa farmers grow old and unable to go to the farm and retire without any pension."