On this day, let’s remember to empower ageing women

Women carry bricks at a factory in Karad, Maharashtra, on Monday, the eve of International Women’s Day. (Photo: PTI)

The world observes another Women’s Day with calls for programmes to celebrate women and their importance. However, the focus on ageing women is invisible in many countries, though they constitute a considerable proportion of the population and their numbers are growing.

Data from US-based group AARP show that over the first half of the current century, the global population of those aged 60 years and older is projected to double — reaching two billion by 2050. Women will continue to make up a larger share of this population and will outlive men in nearly all countries as life expectancy is higher for women. In the developed world, women outlive men by a margin of four to 10 years. In the developing world, 58 per cent of older people are women.

Yet, many women in their later years are considerably disadvantaged in several ways — they have the lowest literacy rates, have to struggle to meet their basic needs, face financial and health insecurity, have minimal assets, are deprived of their rights and live in poor conditions. The deprivations are much greater in old age than in younger ages as the cumulative effect over the years can be tremendous. It makes older women more vulnerable, marginalised, discriminated and neglected. This results in women facing the risk of experiencing suboptimal ageing.

The condition of ageing widows and single ageing women is, in particular, a matter of concern not only in India but in a number of countries.

In 2016, the United Nations rightly emphasises gender parity to mark Women’s Day by calling upon countries and civil society to step up the push for gender equality. The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN member countries in September 2015 are a step forward in attaining women’s empowerment with a rights-based approach and, importantly, for all ages.

Women, more than men, are impacted by food insecurity, lack of health care, poverty, global economic crisis and climate change. The gender inequality experienced in societies does not give women opportunities to take care of their well being, especially in their later years.

As data from the US is indicating “the care burden” which women face — leading to low and lost wages, pensions and social security benefits — amounts to nearly $3 trillion (AARP International Journal, 2016). Further limited access to social protection increases the risk to women from violence and neglect in old age.

It is important that women of all ages have provisions for training, development of skills and facilities for loans so that they can empower themselves even in their later years and remove their dependency on families, which often leads to exploitation and low social status as well as low self-esteem. Women, irrespective of age, have a right to a dignified life.

A matter of great concern is the higher levels of morbidity among younger and older women. There is a lack of adequate levels of healthcare facilities, and while reproductive health care has picked up in many countries and maternal mortality rates being gradually reduced, post reproductive health care is still very limited. Very few countries in the developing world have provisions for geriatric care, but the incidence and prevalence of chronic old age diseases are rapidly increasing. This epidemiological transition has a growing gender face, leaving a large number of older women in ill health. It renders women more susceptible to sickness without long term care provisions and less likelihood of obtaining professional care, for reasons ranging from affordability to social conventions keeping them at home.

National health programmes and strategies need to bring greater attention to women’s health and well being from a life course perspective.

In many countries, legal and legislative measures don’t favour women and in particular ageing women. Inheritance matters need specific attention as in many developing countries older women are discriminated against as they have less of a right than their children in the inheritance of assets. Often they are excluded from property matters and experience domestic violence, with limited legal aid and shelter homes available to safeguard their interests.

Recent data across countries reveals the growing problem of elder abuse, violence and neglect with scarce resources devoted to its prevention and management. It is encouraging that the SDGs, unlike the Millennium Development Goals, pay attention to violence against women of all ages and prompts countries to eliminate it in Agenda 2030.

Advancing women’s political participation and economic empowerment can go a long way in giving young and older women their rights and remove the abusive environments in which they live more often than not. A lot of initiatives to empower ageing women can be realised through gender planning of programmes and budgeting. Old age policies from a gender perspective have still to be taken up in many countries. Further gender and age disaggregated data on different dimensions of quality of life issues needs to be collected and analysed for programmatic action and policy planning.

Mostly statistical data collected on important aspects of development indicators exclude later age groups, depriving older men and women from being counted and bringing about a change in their lives. Clearly the feminisation of ageing, the demographic change taking place in the world, is a challenge to gender equality and parity, the UN theme for this year’s observance of International Women’s Day. This focus would be meaningless if empowering ageing women is not taken into account in national development planning. It is critical to think of strategies for empowering women and making successful ageing accessible to women all around the globe.

Allow women the power to influence the course of their own life, enhance their capacity to dream and age on their own terms.

The author is an associate professor of sociology at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi.