Consistent Economic Burden is a Contributor to affect Older Women’s Health

Women are amazing, particularly those who are mothers because they take responsibility for everything for their families. Although their housework is not paid, they generally work more than their husbands; they even care for their older parents who have dementia in a personal home. In my practice setting, I observed many family members that visit their loved ones are mostly women who are also the young-old adults. Where are the men? In general, these young-old women frequently contribute their care to the family before the older parents are placed in the personal care home even though they also have their own problems. Such a traditional gendered role and economic burden in gendered workplaces have negative mental and physical health effects to the women’s later life.

In terms of women’s traditional gendered roles, it is meaningful to see the reason that women take more responsibilities for families through a life course framework. Women’s lives cannot be clearly described without considering women’s income inequality, which is a huge factor that affects women’s lives, and where the gendered inequality stems from. Gazso (2010) articulates that mother’s management of their market, such as paid workplace and family experiences, were manipulated by structural constraints in our society, which are imposed by political and economic contexts based on gender, race, sexuality and class. In particular, it is understandable for me why many feminist gerontologists, who focus on studying aging and gender, have paid attention against income inequality for a long time in our society. These feminist gerontologists investigate privilege and oppression by taking look at the life situation of women.

Interestingly, according to Gazso (2010), wage inequality is one of the reasons women are expected to care for their families because women’s unstable jobs help them often quit immediately and take on greater family responsibilities when they face problems in family. This means that men are more likely to be employed on a full time basis with good benefits. In other words, such income inequality in gendered workplaces may account for why women live poorly in their later life.

According to Novak and Campbell (2010), older women traditionally live below the poverty line compared to older men. While “men tend to have more diverse sources of income, including pension income, in retirement in our society” (p. 200), women generally have part-time jobs without pension income, which makes women’s lives insecure in their later life. This perspective supports my assumption that women who suffer from income inequality in their younger life may have negative effects in their later life in terms of both their mental and physical health.

For example, observing older women who are struggling with their insufficient finances in my practice setting, I feel that their emotional well-being status may be influenced by their income which was not enough. Some older women I observed wanted to spend more money for managing their beauty or purchasing necessities, but they could not buy what they wanted. I, therefore, wonder how women’s economic burden in terms of income inequality in younger life affects their later health.

According to Lynch et al. (1994), “men who had experienced economic hardships both as children and adults were twice as likely to die as those whose economic fortunes improved in adulthood. Moreover, the effects on health exerted by persistent economic hardships are over and above those of other [health] conditions that might also be harmful to health” (as cited in Kahn & Pearlin, 2006. p. 27).

Unfortunately, I fail to find studies that clarify how economic burden on gender differences affect older women’s later health. However, based on this perspective, and the idea that explains how many older women live below the poverty line, it is not difficult to assume that older women may face more financial difficulties compared to older men. According to Kahn and Pearlin (2006), economic burden over the life course are more persistently harmful to later health. However, economic burden alone does not affect health. Instead, the health is consistently affected by the ability of economic burden that establishes disturbance in other areas of life.

In addition, these economic stressors may become greater for Black, Aboriginal, and lesbian older women because, as might be expected they experience fewer opportunities for good jobs in their younger lives in light of racism and discrimination in workplaces. It is not difficult to imagine how these women experience greater stress from greater responsibility, and more obligations in terms of their roles in paid and unpaid work. As a social work student, it is important to know how these women’s diverse oppressions or inequality were shaped through their life courses. It is also important to know how I perceive these oppressions and help them improve their strengths, and empower themselves. By examining women’s experiences through the lens of life course, we can help older women reduce their emotional stress. -Eunkyeong

References

Gazso, A. (2010). Mothers’ maintenance of families through market and family care relations. In N. Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues (pp. 219-246). Toronto: Pearson

Canada Kahn, R. J., & Pearlin, I. L. (2006, March). Financial strain over the life course and health among older adults. Journal of Helath and Social Behvaviour 47(17), 17-31. DOI: 10.1177/002214650604700102

Novak, M., & Campbell. L. (Eds.). (2010). Aging and society: A Canadian perspective. United States: Nelson Education.