Jane Seymour speaks out against feeling 'unseen' as she ages: 'Please respect me'

"I think when you get older they kind of look at you like, 'Oh well, she's past her prime. She's a little old woman, she's not important,'" Seymour says.

Jane Seymour is speaking out against feeling "unseen" as she ages.

The award-winning Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman actress spoke on a panel on Wednesday hosted by Queen Sugar's Tina Lifford for biopharmaceutical company Insmed’s Speak Up in BE campaign to help raise awareness about "unseenism," a.k.a. how women are devalued in society as they age, often leading to doctors dismissing real medical concerns including cases of chronic lung disorder bronchiectasis (BE).

"I spoke to a lot of friends of mine and they said, 'Yes, I am unseen, and I am unheard,'" Seymour, 73, told PEOPLE. Seymour also feels the same even though "I'm on television and and people do pay attention to me more than the average person. Here in my household, when something breaks down, and I call up and I say, 'Can you help me with this?' The 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."

Seymour added, "Like excuse me, I own this house, I pay for it, I actually made the call to you. I am the person paying you for this information. Please respect me, and let's have the conversation."

The former Bond girl wants to help raise awareness of the dangers of unseenism impacting women's health, especially when talking to doctors. "I get that 'doctor's nervous' thing, even though I'm a doctor's daughter and I played one on TV," Seymour said. "I always either have someone else with me to take notes, or I've just asked for permission to record it, because I don't always take it in at the time that I'm told it. And I don't want to be told, 'Oh, you're losing it. Maybe we should check you for dementia, or you're not listening, or you're just an older woman. That's what happens in life.'"

Seymour never wants someone to judge her for her age. "I'm 73 and I don't feel old," she said. "I realize that the rest of the world probably looks and goes, 'Oh, that's old.' What I want to do is redefine it. It's not old — that is wisdom on two legs."

The actress added that she loves "being a woman," and doesn't want to give the impression that she wants "to be a man at all. But I just would like to be respected and heard. I think when you get older they kind of look at you like, 'Oh well, she's past her prime. She's a little old woman, she's not important.'"

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.