“I worked until 2017, but when I had to stop working due to my health condition, it was very difficult for me to stay at home, without people around. The 60+ Club fixed everything - here we interact with peers, find common grounds” - says Viseli Skhiladze, retired teacher and member of 60+ Club in Rustavi Municipality.
In 2021, the first municipal service 60+ Club for Healthy and Active Living in Georgia opened in Rustavi upon the initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Today, 60+ clubs also operate in Kutaisi and Tbilisi and are very popular among elder people.
Viseli learned about the 60+ Club in Rustavi from her neighbour - Valentina Matvienko and they remain involved in club activities together to this day: they learn English, go to the theatre, attend literary events, share experiences with each other, and are ready for new and interesting challenges.
“I am 77 years old - almost as old as the city of Rustavi. I ended up in this club by chance and I’m very happy. Then I told my neighbour about it and brought her to the club too. We have good relationships with everyone, we do many things together - we feel free” - says Valentina.
The goal of this club is to make life more diverse for people over 60, help them maintain physical and mental health after retirement, and remain active members of society.
On April 14, an intergenerational dialogue with local youth about stereotypical views regarding the distribution of roles within the family was held at the 60+ Club in the city of Rustavi. Viseli and Valentina, along with other members of the club participated in the dialogue.
The young people organizing the dialogue are the ones who participated in a 5-day training of the UNFPA Georgia Country Office and the Network of Centres for Civic Engagement (NCCE) with the support of the European Union. The training series is part of UNFPA’s initiative “Youth for Social Change,” which has been implemented since 2020 in various regions of Georgia serving the purpose of empowering young people.
“We All Should Be Equal” – Young People from Rustavi Unite for Social Change
When training participants learned that there was a 60+ club in their city, they offered to meet with them and discuss the topic of equality. The elder people agreed, and thus a bridge was built between two generations of Rustavi with the support of UNFPA.
Research confirms that, in Georgia, family responsibilities continue to be predominantly viewed as the domain of women. Half of respondents believe men should have the final say in the family, while the burden of unpaid domestic work continues to fall disproportionately on women. Young people in Rustavi want to change this attitude, because they believe that only equal parenting is the key to harmonious relationships in the family.
“I have always had good relationships with young people; I have always been interested in their opinions. I love interacting with them, sharing their experiences, we learn a lot [from each other]” - says Viseli Skhiladze and adds: “I really like that they organize such meetings, the topic was quite interesting - the distribution of functions in the family is a topical issue.”
Viseli expresses a desire for equal role distribution in families, but based on her observations, this is not the case in Georgia:
“Patriarchal norms remain deeply rooted in Georgian society. Whether we like it or not, men dominate in Georgian families, although equality would be better” - she says, wishing young people to have harmonious families based on mutual understanding.
Like Viseli, Valentina also believes that roles in the family should be distributed equally, but it doesn’t always work out that way because “nearly all domestic duties are shouldered by women.”
Elene Topuria, 16 - one of the organizers of the meeting and participant of the “Youth for Social Change” initiative is also satisfied with meeting elder persons, as the seniors actively participated in the discussion about the distribution of family roles, shared their experiences with young people and listened to their opinions.
According to the latest UN survey “Men, Women and Gender Relations in Georgia”, based on 2024 data, the majority of men and a significant percentage of women in Georgia believe that men should have the final say in decision-making, and a “good wife” should not question these decisions. However, it should be noted that young people are more supportive of gender equality, both in family and public life.
As Elene observes, elder generations are more likely to believe that a woman’s place is at home, but like her peers, she herself disagrees with this.
“In my opinion, everyone should be free and individual and should live as they wish” - she says.
