Expert Perspectives: Embracing Diversity
Written by Janet Brown
This article is part of Eldernet’s Expert Perspectives series. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Eldernet’s position.
Janet Brown is the director of Head and Heart Ltd, a consultancy that has been an associate member of the Retirement Villages Association for 14 years. She has worked across the retirement village sector, with not-for-profits, corporates and independent villages, coaching managers and other staff, facilitating strategic and operational planning, and providing governance support and training. Since mid-2024 Janet has lived in a retirement village, so she now has consumer insights as well.
I recently attended the conference of an organisation which has an overwhelmingly female (and generally older) membership. It felt like stepping back in time. Plenary sessions began with a cheerful “Good morning, ladies!”. One of my workshop tutors called the group “girls”. I felt increasingly uneasy as I thought of the sole male attendee, and also the younger members (who the organisation really wants to attract) for whom this language must seem archaic. In addition, throughout the week there was no use of reo. No mihi whakatau. No karakia. No waiata. In the end I wasn’t sure I was in the Aotearoa I know and love at all. The irony was that the conference ended the day before our newest statutory holiday – Matariki – and yet I’d just had a week in a mono-cultural, gendered bubble. I might have been back in the decade of my birth, the 1950s.
I’ve been pondering why this matters so much. We all know that Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming increasingly diverse. The 2023 census showed that, while 67.8% of the population identifies as European, 17.8% is Māori, 17.3% Asian, and 8.9% Pasifika, with increasing numbers reporting a mix of ethnic backgrounds. And approximately one in 20 adults in New Zealand identifies as gender diverse, although those numbers are widely believed to be under-reported. In addition, many of us would like to believe we’ve become a more tolerant society. For example, groundbreaking social legislation has legalised same-sex marriage. So when you find yourself back in the 1950s, the dissonance is hard to take.
Perhaps this shouldn’t matter as you age. Perhaps our older New Zealanders are entitled to carry their 20th century upbringing and attitudes into the 21st century. The problem here is that, if we want everyone to thrive in their retirement, we need to reflect and respect those increasingly diverse demographics. Many younger retirees have adapted to these changes in their working years and, as I did, feel uncomfortable about non-inclusive language and a mono-cultural approach. And younger whānau and friends will certainly notice. In addition, we have legislation mandating equality of access and equal rights.
It’s an ongoing challenge for retirement villages to attract diversity. A village manager once told me that, unless village populations reflected the underlying community population, sales would drop. This principle applies to organisations as well. It’s helpful to be thinking about who we might want or expect to join our organisation or move to our village ten years Another village manager found that replacing “husband’ and “wife” with “partner” immediately made all their documentation more inclusive. Keeping language as simple and relaxed as possible helps make it feel warm and inclusive: “whānau”, “members”, “everyone”, or “friends” can easily replace “ladies and gentlemen”.
All managers know it’s the existing residents who make or break the welcome in a village for new residents. For village populations to become more diverse, existing residents may need to “rub shoulders with diversity” regularly – perhaps by highlighting our various language weeks, cultural holidays and celebrations like Chinese New Year and Diwali, offering ethnic food in the restaurant, holding mini film festivals and screenings, book displays in the village library, and bringing in diverse speakers and entertainers.
Some time ago I talked with the team at Age Concern Canterbury. They told me that their rainbow community clients’ main concern was whether they’d feel safe, and whether they’d be welcomed in a village or subtly (or not so subtly) ostracised. One client asked “How do we know it’s gay-friendly, and that we can safely move into a village?” That’s a good question. Retirement villages and membership organisations need to make their openness explicit. Advertising and recruitment material needs to reflect this as well. Imagine looking at your collateral from another perspective – a same sex couple, or a prospective Asian resident. Would these people see themselves in your promotional material? If not, why not?
While I was cocooned in my 1950s bubble, I missed two events in our village that are hopeful indicators of change and how it works. On our new Matariki holiday, a dozen hardy residents rose before dawn, wrapped up warmly, and drove out to the country. Called by the conch, they set up the village telescope and located the Matariki constellation. Karakia were said, a waiata was sung. Then it was back in the cars and off to a local restaurant for a hearty, warming breakfast and enjoyable conversation and company. A perfect Matariki celebration.
The previous day, the traditional village midwinter Christmas lunch had morphed into a Mexican-style Fiesta. Delicious street food warmed tummies, as did mulled wine, and residents wore bright colours to cheer up the winter drabness. It got rave reviews, and everyone had a lot of fun.
I’m reassured by people’s willingness to embrace these changes, in their 70s, 80s and 90s. And, like the Matariki stars point the way to the year ahead, these emerging new traditions remind us of the need to actively model change and diversity to make it less threatening. To borrow a phrase from Gandhi, we all need to be the change we want to see in the world, no matter what our age is.