McCarthy Stone calls for greater representation of older generation ahead of International Women’s Day

As #internationalwomensday approaches, we want to use this opportunity to give greater acknowledgement and spotlight to older women in our communities and the vital contributions they make to their families and society.?

The lack of representation, which was originally identified in our Vision for Later Life report in 2021, continues to be an issue today, and as a result this generation’s contribution is sadly often overlooked, leaving their voices unheard.

We have so many remarkable women from our developments.?Now in their 80s and 90s, their fight for autonomy and equality has subsequently paved the way for so many women after them.

McCarthy Stone CEO John Tonkiss ?comments: “It is up to all of us to make sure we are celebrating the achievements of older women and the impact they’ve had on communities, while continuing to recognise their valuable contributions today.”

We hope you enjoy this inspiring story from a homeowner at Ryland Place, Edgebaston.

Professor Margaret M Clark OBE – one of the most influential figures in literacy research of her generation?

With an OBE for services to Early Childhood Education, a DLitt for two of her researches on reading, 96 year-old Margaret Clark is a Member of the Reading Hall of Fame, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Honorary Life Member and former President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association.

Margaret was born in Scotland during the General Strike in 1926. At the beginning of the war, she was evacuated from London to live with her grandparents in Scotland as there was fear of an imminent invasion. During the war she attended Glasgow University and after training as a teacher taught in a primary school for three years. While teaching, she took a further degree in Education and Psychology as a part time student and was later awarded a PhD for her research into left-handedness.?

For two years as a member of staff at the National Foundation for Educational Research she undertook research into the teaching of Arithmetic in primary schools in Kent. On her marriage she moved to Newcastle, where she worked as a clinical psychologist. In 1963 she returned to Glasgow as a single parent of two young boys and from then has led two parallel lives retaining Clark as her professional name, but known to others as Mrs Margaret Nairn, which is how she is known at Ryland Place, the McCarthy Stone retirement community where she now lives.

From 1966 until 1979 she was a lecturer in the Psychology Department at Strathclyde University, where on her ninety fifth birthday prizes to be awarded annually were established in her name funded for fifteen years by one of her sons. They are awarded to two top students in education who have studied part time. Last year at the age of 96 Margaret presented the prizes herself, accompanied at the presentation by four former students from her years at Strathclyde University, who along with many of her other former students and colleagues are still in contact with her.

Margaret says:”In 1979 I was invited to become one of the five Professors of Educations in the Faculty of Education and Head of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Birmingham. I was the only woman professor in the university at that time, and one of few senior female academics, and, with an all-male staff. So, it was quite a lonely position. I am now an Emeritus Professor. I took early retirement in 1988 but since then I have continued to speak at conferences in different parts of the world and to publish articles and edit books.”

During the Covid-19 lockdown Margaret was able, from her apartment in Ryland Place, to direct research into literacy, to publish two research reports and edit two books with international contributors. Last year she gave a paper at a UKLA International Conference in Birmingham on: ‘the development of a research-literate teaching profession and evidence-based literacy policies’. Another of her recent articles on the importance of sharing books with very young children has illustrations of Margaret sharing a book with her not yet one year old great grandson, Lewis. Other illustrations in the article show Lewis sharing a book with his father and grandfather. The editor on seeing the photos decided to include them as he felt they strengthened the message, of the value of men as well as women sharing books with young children.

At 96 Margaret is still a Visiting Professor at Newman University and planning further articles all made possible from her apartment thanks to her turning one of the bedrooms into her computer room come study, and the ease with which she can now communicate remotely. Thus, she is in contact with former students and colleagues and even making new contacts in other parts of the world.

Even at 96 Margaret has two parallel lives. To residents and staff at Ryland Place she is Margaret Nairn. To most of them, and others of her friends, the contents of this article may come as a surprise!

“I found it valuable to retain two parallel lives as to be a woman professor, and a psychologist, were both conversation stoppers in social situations, as I discovered when anyone drew attention to that where I was known only as Margaret Nairn and a mother of two boys!”, says Margaret.?