Senior citizens - Aspects
Senior citizens - Aspects
Poverty in old age: Women and men frequently have different careers behind them because of the traditional model of the “housewife marriage”. This means that men tend to have higher income substitution and pension benefits than women, because men have longer employment records, while women’s employment income tends to be low or non-existent. As a result, social policy measures are necessary to compensate for such a “gender gap” in social security in old age.
Men looking after themselves: Men often have little or no experience of unpaid housework. This means that they tend to be somewhat helpless in housework matters and find it very difficult to look after themselves in old age after the death of their partners. What is needed here is to offer specific services to enable senior citizens to be independent.
Sexual orientation: 40,000 homosexual women and men over the age of 65 live in Berlin alone. Until now, not much has been known about their life situations. Research shows that many older gays and lesbians lead a double social life. They seldom use senior citizens’ assistance facilities or if they do they do not disclose their identities. They often live isolated and are lonely because they have hardly any family connections. This is a huge problem for social policy and for the economy. As Gender Mainstreaming demands that women and men are considered in their difference from each other, differentiation is possible here, too.
People needing nursing care: According to nursing care statistics, 2.04 million people needed nursing care in 2001, the majority (69 %) of them being women. 1.44 million people were cared for at home, one million of these exclusively by family members and 435,000 by nursing care services. 604,000 people were cared for in homes. The share of women being cared for in homes (79 %) was significantly higher than that of those cared for at home (64 %). One reason for this is that women often care for their own family members to begin with, but then, when they themselves later need nursing care, they no longer have anybody to look after them, so a place in a home becomes necessary. New forms of care between care at home and care in a nursing home will be needed to enable older women to stay independent for longer.
Lay carers: Care of family members continues to be a “women’s” affair. 70 % of those needing nursing care, i.e. one million people, were being looked after in their own homes by their family members, in most cases women. Because of the gender role attributed to women, women are traditionally left to care for family members, thus suggesting that the necessary skills are natural and do not have to be acquired. As studies have shown, the nursing care situation is a great burden on many women, and increasingly many older people, affecting physical and mental health. If specialist support were to be offered, such as nursing care courses and discussion groups, this could help them to improve their situation and at the same time provide men with a way in to caring for their family members. In addition, apart from financial assistance (nursing care allowance), measures for combining career and nursing care are needed, especially for men.
Nursing care professions: Professional carers are mostly women. 190,000 people are employed in the 10,600 care services nationwide, and only 15 % of these are men, while 85% are women. The situation is similar in the 9,200 nursing homes. Of the 475,000 people employed there, 15 % are men and 85 % are women. It is conspicuous – and typical – that the majority of people employed in these two sectors work part-time – 65 % in non-residential care services and 48 % in nursing homes. So the nursing care sector is an example of gender-related segregation of the employment market. Gender Mainstreaming in the nursing care sector would mean expanding this field of employment, reducing segregation and according nursing care work a much higher status.
Men looking after themselves: Men often have little or no experience of unpaid housework. This means that they tend to be somewhat helpless in housework matters and find it very difficult to look after themselves in old age after the death of their partners. What is needed here is to offer specific services to enable senior citizens to be independent.
Sexual orientation: 40,000 homosexual women and men over the age of 65 live in Berlin alone. Until now, not much has been known about their life situations. Research shows that many older gays and lesbians lead a double social life. They seldom use senior citizens’ assistance facilities or if they do they do not disclose their identities. They often live isolated and are lonely because they have hardly any family connections. This is a huge problem for social policy and for the economy. As Gender Mainstreaming demands that women and men are considered in their difference from each other, differentiation is possible here, too.
People needing nursing care: According to nursing care statistics, 2.04 million people needed nursing care in 2001, the majority (69 %) of them being women. 1.44 million people were cared for at home, one million of these exclusively by family members and 435,000 by nursing care services. 604,000 people were cared for in homes. The share of women being cared for in homes (79 %) was significantly higher than that of those cared for at home (64 %). One reason for this is that women often care for their own family members to begin with, but then, when they themselves later need nursing care, they no longer have anybody to look after them, so a place in a home becomes necessary. New forms of care between care at home and care in a nursing home will be needed to enable older women to stay independent for longer.
Lay carers: Care of family members continues to be a “women’s” affair. 70 % of those needing nursing care, i.e. one million people, were being looked after in their own homes by their family members, in most cases women. Because of the gender role attributed to women, women are traditionally left to care for family members, thus suggesting that the necessary skills are natural and do not have to be acquired. As studies have shown, the nursing care situation is a great burden on many women, and increasingly many older people, affecting physical and mental health. If specialist support were to be offered, such as nursing care courses and discussion groups, this could help them to improve their situation and at the same time provide men with a way in to caring for their family members. In addition, apart from financial assistance (nursing care allowance), measures for combining career and nursing care are needed, especially for men.
Nursing care professions: Professional carers are mostly women. 190,000 people are employed in the 10,600 care services nationwide, and only 15 % of these are men, while 85% are women. The situation is similar in the 9,200 nursing homes. Of the 475,000 people employed there, 15 % are men and 85 % are women. It is conspicuous – and typical – that the majority of people employed in these two sectors work part-time – 65 % in non-residential care services and 48 % in nursing homes. So the nursing care sector is an example of gender-related segregation of the employment market. Gender Mainstreaming in the nursing care sector would mean expanding this field of employment, reducing segregation and according nursing care work a much higher status.
Further reading:
- Statistisches Bundesamt: Bericht: Pflegestatistik 2001. Pflege im Rahmen der Pflegeversicherung, Bonn 2003.
- Neuberg, Sophie: Älter werden - Ältere Lesben und Schwule in Berlin, Berlin 2002.
- Eidg. Büro für die Gleichstellung von Frau und Mann (Ed.): Geschlecht und Gesundheit nach 40. Die Gesundheit von Frauen und Männern in der zweiten Lebenshälfte, Bern/Zürich 1997.
- Koppelin, Frauke: Soziale Ungleichheit, soziale Unterstützung und die Bewältigung chronischen Pflege-Stresses von Frauen in der häuslichen Pflege, in: Helmert, Uwe/ Bammann, Karin/ Voges, Wolfgang/ Müller, Reiner (Ed.): Müssen Arme früher sterben? Soziale Ungleichheit und Gesundheit in Deutschland, Weinheim/München 2000.
- Meyer, Martha: Ältere Menschen als pflegende Angehörige. Das EU-Projekt EUROFAMCARE, in: zph (zentrum für public health) info 3 (2003/04), p. 8.
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