There are women raising children alone. Women who left a career years ago to care for a family and now face a labour market that has moved forward without them. Women over 50, carrying decades of experience, yet often treated as invisible. Women who crossed borders, rebuilt life in a new country, started again, often without networks, support, or professional recognition.
These are the women the system often does not see. Not because they are few, but because they don’t fit neatly into institutional boxes, official statistics, or mainstream expectations.
Recent data confirm the structural barriers facing older women in the workforce. While participation for older workers has improved in the European Union, in 2023, the employment rate among people aged 55–64 reached 63.9%, a substantial increase compared with previous years, older women remain underrepresented with much lower employment rates than men of the same age.
Some interesting facts:
- The rising overall employment of older individuals in the EU suggests that many older people remain willing and able to work; yet women remain underrepresented, showing that gendered barriers persist.
- In Greece, female employment — especially among older age groups — remains significantly lower than EU averages, reflecting systemic issues affecting older women’s labour inclusion.
- The structural gap isn’t just about age — it’s about lack of support, confidence, access to training, and social invisibility. That gap is exactly what CORA aims to fill.
In Greece, the situation is particularly stark: female employment lags significantly. For many older women, returning to work is difficult. The gender gap widens with age.
These numbers hide lives, behind each percentage point, there is a woman who may once have had a job, a home, responsibilities; a woman who paused her career for caregiving, relocation, or because opportunities were never offered. When she tries to return, she often faces discrimination, lack of training, outdated skills, limited confidence, and reduced support.
CORA was created for exactly this reason:
To see the women society often overlooks. To offer space, voice, validation, and opportunity. To provide education, skills, emotional empowerment, and employment pathways. To remind every woman that there is no “too late,” no “not enough”, only a beginning.
Empowerment is not a slogan. It is action, guidance, structure, accompaniment. It is connection person to person. It is the first step after a long pause.
And we will be there, for every woman who needs that step. Because we see them.