Corporate Social Responsibility and Ageism in the Public- Private Field. Ibex-35 and University of Vigo

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were accepted by the public and private sectors of the UN countries, which included them into their social policies and CSR strategies. In 2020, the WHO launched the Decade of Healthy Aging, calling attention to ageism and age discrimination against the group of older adults, a group that does not exist in the SDGs, which focuses on children and/or adults. This research observes whether this inclusion of the elderly in the CSR policies of the entities analyzed is real or whether data or reports are simply incorporated without adding inclusion strategies. It compares, on the one hand, Ibex companies and, in contrast, a public university (Vigo). The content analysis of the websites shows a scarce presence of ageism in general, and discrimination of the elderly in particular, which are less relevant than topics such as the environment, women, or children. However, the University of Vigo, through the creation of the Chair of Ageism together with entities such as Atendo and AFAGA, in a unique initiative in Europe, initiates a strategy that gives it visibility and a new path within its Social Responsibility program, where this topic did not appear.