She’s a former Bond girl, two-time Golden Globe winner and Emmy winner, yet Jane Seymour says she felt “unseen” in society.
On Wednesday, the actress joined a panel hosted by actress Tina Lifford (OWN’s Sugar queen), as part of biopharmaceutical company Insmed’s Speak Up in BE campaign, which raises awareness of “invisibility,” a social phenomenon that devalues women in society as they age—and often leads doctors to dismiss their medical concerns, especially in cases of the chronic lung disorder BE (bronchiectasis ).
According to a survey conducted by Insmed, 62% of women say that they feel neglected as they age. And 58% of women said they hadn’t talked to their doctor because their health problems had previously been ignored.
“I’ve talked to a lot of my friends and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m invisible and they don’t hear me,'” Seymour, 73, tells PEOPLE, admitting that she, too, feels invisible as she ages, especially in her time—in everyday life—though himself “on television and people pay more attention to me than the average person.”
Jane Seymour.
Araya Doheny/Getty
“Here in my household, when something breaks, I call and say, ‘Can you help me with this?’ A man will actually look over my head and find the nearest man in the room to talk to about it. It’s like I’m unseen,” says the mother of six children.
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“Like, sorry, I own this house, I’m paying for it, I actually called you,” Seymour continues. “I am the person paying you for this information. Please respect me and let’s talk.”
She also spoke about how being invisible can affect a woman’s health – and says she’s found a way to deal with the anxiety that can arise when she shows up at the doctor’s office.
“I understand that ‘doctor nervousness,’ even though I’m the daughter of a doctor and I’ve played one on TV,” she says dr. Quinn, the doctor star. “I always either have someone else with me taking notes, or I’ve just asked permission to record it, because I don’t always take it at the time I’m told. And I don’t want to be told, ‘Oh, you’re getting lost. Maybe we should check you for dementia, you’re either not listening, or you’re just an old woman. That’s what happens in life.’”
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Jane Seymour on Dr. Quinn, Doctors, 1993.
CBS via Getty
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Seymour encourages women to go to the doctor with a “cheat” of questions prepared. “You have to advocate for yourself,” she says. “Ask the questions you want answered.”
“I like being a woman, I’m not saying I want to be a man at all,” he adds. “But I would just like to be respected and heard; I think when you get older, they look at you like, ‘Well, she’s past her prime’. She’s a little old lady, she’s not important.’”
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“I’m 73 and I don’t feel old,” she adds, “I realize the rest of the world probably looks and says, ‘Oh, that’s old.’ What I want to do is redefine it.”
“It’s not old,” Seymour tells PEOPLE. “It’s wisdom on two legs.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education