The second exhibition in Manchester Art Gallery signals the completion of the first phase of the project, with much public acknowledgement of our accomplishments and detailed presentation of our participatory planning process at the center.

We are continuing to organize public presentations and most recently we won City Council’s Manchester Culture Awards 2022 within the category of Promotion of Equality and Social Justice.

We are working toward the final exhibition which will feature a documentary film and a Manifesto from our research. Advisory Group members and the Manchester Art Gallery staff continue the ongoing campaign work to raise awareness.

One of the most important aspects of our current work involves the co-analysis of interviews by a participatory research team working with the researchers from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Members of the Advisory Group – Atiha Chaudry, Rohina Ghafoor, Marie Greenhalgh and Tendayi Madzunzu have volunteered for this important work. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the participatory research team will be co-analysing the anonymized interviews of 100 older women, according to emergent topics in the transcripts:

· Volunteering and unpaid work – the impact on women

· Disparity in pension and retirement planning

· Intersectional and multiple discrimination based on race, gender and other characteristics.

The Research Team will develop key recommendations for action in the form of a manifesto. The outcomes of the research will impact change in our communities in Manchester. Besides the participatory research reports and recommendations, this involves a number of events and public engagement opportunities as well as learning opportunities. We are committed to recommendations which are sustainable, real, and will change women’s lives for the better.