Women and Aging International

Diversity, Challenges and Contributions

Lee Ann Mjelde-Mossey,Iris Chi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135754792
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

According to a recent population report by the United Nations, "in most countries, older women greatly outnumber older men. In many cases, the difference is so large that the concerns of the older population should in fact be viewed primarily as the concerns of older women." Internationally, the concerns of older women emanate from the unique gendered challenges they experience because they are more likely to be widowed, poor, have lower educational attainment, fewer skills, restricted inheritance and land ownership, and have fewer sexual rights. To add to this negative scenario, ageist and sexist attitudes in both developed and developing societies throughout the world tend to categorize older women as non-contributing burdens even though they are in fact often highly productive and bear most of the burdens of family caregiving responsibilities. In spite of their majority status and list of concerns, older women are less likely to be equally represented in the literature on aging. This edited book introduces the reader to the diversity, challenges and contributions of older women in several of the major regions of the world.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work.

Women and Aging International: Diversity, Challenges, and Contributions

LEE ANN MJELDE-MOSSEY
Psychology Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Department of Social Work & Social Administration, University of Hong Kong

Introduction

The phrase, “the world is aging” has become a familiar and accepted piece of knowledge. What may be lesser known is that older women are the majority of older adults throughout the world. According to a recent population report by the United Nations, “in most countries, older women greatly outnumber older men. In many cases, the difference is so large that the concerns of the older population should in fact be viewed primarily as the concerns of older women” (United Nations, 2009, p. 47). Internationally, the concerns of older women emanate from the unique gendered challenges they experience because they are more likely to be widowed, poor, have lower educational attainment, fewer skills, fewer sexual rights, fewer inheritance and property rights, and more family caregiving responsibilities. In spite of their majority status, and list of concerns, older women are less likely to be equally represented in the literature on aging. Since women outlive men in both developing and developed countries, and thus will continue to be the majority, it is hoped that their concerns will gain more prominence.

The reasons and need for editing this book are many. First, and foremost, is that I have yet to find an existing book that I can use as the primary text for the course I have developed which has the same title as this book. Another reason is that older women are fascinating in the richness of their diversity. How a woman ages is profoundly affected by where she ages. In addition, the experiences of older women are not irrelevant. The present-day life circumstances of older women can sometimes be a glimpse into the social and economic future of young women and girls. In my own research for publications, and for developing and teaching the course on women and aging international, I find that there is always something new to learn about older women. As a specific group, their historical and contemporary litany of hardships, oppression, and contributions is truly worthy of more focused scholarship. Editing this book is one small effort to bring attention to this remarkable segment of the world’s population.

A popular image of older women is that of a dependent group who, on balance, consume more resources than they contribute. It is important to understand their dependence in context. The reality is that many older women have experienced a lifetime of discrimination and disenfranchisement that has left them vulnerable to poverty, poor health and other disadvantages. Dependency can have many roots and for many women throughout the world their dependence is the result of cultural and policy practices that discriminate against older women. It would be much more realistic to stand in awe of some of these women as they cope with adversity and continue to contribute their unacknowledged productivity to the informal economies of family and community. In their chapter on older African women, Kimani and Maina describe how customary and legal barriers to inheritance and land ownership by women can almost guarantee a cycle of poverty. These older African women, many of whom are the primary family providers and caregivers to younger generations, are denied basic rights. These are hardy women who work long days raising crops and tending animals even as they struggle to gain rights to the land that sustains their families.

A group of older women who face a multitude of challenges are widows. Women in all regions of the world are more likely to be widowed than are men. Throughout the world, marital status is associated with economic well-being and widows in certain regions, whether by custom or law, can lose rights to assets, resources, or family support. A United Nations (2001) report on widows in developing countries refers to them as invisible women who are subjected to disenfranchisement in inheritance, thereby suffering social isolation and exploitation by family. In their chapter, Sreerupa and Irudaya Rajan report on the gendered effects of widowhood for women in India. Culture and custom, such as women marrying older men and prohibitions against remarriage by women, contribute to India’s high number of widows. The plight of widows in the world finally received international recognition in 2010 with the United Nation’s official designation of June 23 as International Widow’s Day. In her opening remarks at the First International Widow’s Day Conference in 2011, the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, said that “attention to the world’s widows is long overdue” and called for the promotion and respect of widow’s rights “across all regions and cultures” (UN Women, 2011).

There are traditional cultures in which women age into a higher and more powerful status than when they were younger. The traditional role and status of older Chinese and Native American women have interesting parallels in that regard. In both of their traditions, old women and grandmothers are respected for their wisdom and have an honored and productive role as caregivers and teachers of tradition to younger generations. In Chinese Confucian culture this is known as filial piety. For somewhat diverse reasons, both of these cultures are changing and older women are experiencing a decline in their traditional positions. In their chapter, Guo and Chi report on the effect that the perceived filial piety of adult children can have upon the life satisfaction of older Chinese women. The Native American grandmothers described in Byer’s chapter have seen a decline in their high status in family and tribe, but retain their productive role as primary caregiver to grandchildren. Historical assaults upon their cultural traditions and contemporary changes within middle-generations have not blunted the willingness of these Native American women to be caregivers. In both Chinese and Native American traditions, older women are expected to be productive and to contribute to the family and community.

The chapter on older women in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), coauthored by J. Perek-Bialas and myself, offers a brief window into the challenges that a unified Europe faces when trying to categorize and understand its diverse aging population. Although the Constitution of the European Union pledges to eliminate all discrimination against women, some of the CEE nation’s policies and practices continue to exacerbate economic problems for older women. The chapter highlights the need for consistent and comparative data about older CEE women. This sort of clarity about the actual situation of older CEE women is essential for pinpointing areas in which gender equitable policies and practices could be implemented.

What is truly remarkable about older women, whether African, Indian, European, Chinese, Mongolian, or Native American, is that they can be astonishingly productive, sometimes at very old ages and with some infirmities. Survival, at times, depends upon their ability to work to raise crops, tend animals, or craft goods. As has been succinctly stated, working until you drop is the primary social welfare for older women in some regions. Their economic safety net consists of their own labors and family support. The older ethnic Mongolian women in China who were interviewed by Liu, Feng, and Zhu provide a clear example of this. The older women shared how their lives have been affected by China’s economic and social reforms. What emerged from the interviews is an uneven distribution of government social welfare between urban and rural areas which leaves the rural ethnic Mongolian women still primarily dependent upon themselves and their children.

Nations and communities tend to want to solve social and economic problems through programs or policies. The chapters presented here do report that some policies and programs have alleviated some concerns of older women. However, formally legislated policies oftentimes do not override customary practices or religious law. In those situations, older women have little access to ways in which to secure equitable rights. There are movements to empower and promote human rights and enfranchisement for older women. One example is the United Nation’s Second World Assembly on Ageing in which the members developed a Plan of Action to re-conceptualize the aged as a resource rather than a burden. The Assembly also presented key policy proposals for older women that included recognizing their contributions to the informal economy of family and community (United Nations, 2002). Again, these policy proposals are only as effective as the support and recognition they are given in a particular society or culture.

It is the hope of myself, my co-editor, and the other authors in this text that this collection of manuscripts about older women in the world will pique and inspire readers’ interest in the global concerns of aging women.

References

UN Women. (2011). Opening Remarks by Michelle Bachelet at International Widow’s Day Conference, June 23, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2011, from http://www.unwomen.org/2011/06/openingremarks.

United Nations. (2001). Widowhood: Invisible Women, Secluded or Excluded. Department of Economics and Social Affairs Division for the Advancement of Women, New York: Author.

United Nations. (2002). International Plan of Action on Aging. Second World Assembly on Ageing. Madrid: Author.

United Nations. (2009). World Population Aging 2009. Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Division, New York: Author.

Older Women’s Rights to Property and Inheritance in Kenya: Culture, Policy, and Disenfranchisement

ELISHIBA N. KIMANI
Department of Gender and Development Studies, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

LUCY W. MAINA
Department of Sociology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

Women’s rights to property and inheritance are safeguarded through various human rights policies and laws at international, regional, and country levels. However, many women continue to experience discrimination while claiming these rights. In Africa, older women, in particular, experience obstacles as they attempt to secure inheritance and property rights. These older African women, who are already more likely to be among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, have little recourse when denied access to property or inheritance. In Kenya, there are various legislated policies and guidelines regarding property ownership and inheritance. Despite these policies, cultural, structural, and even judicial impediments continue to disenfranchise women. This article highlights the historical and cultural context of property and inheritance rights for older women in Africa and Kenya and the evolution of policy responses to these impediments.

Introduction

Globally, social and human development has encompassed the rights of all, from the unborn to the very old, the endowed and the deprived, as well as those of different race, ethnicity, or gender. These rights were recognized as early as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (United Nations, 1948), followed by other international, regional, and country-specific instruments of human rights such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981) and the Constitution of Kenya (Republic of Kenya, 1992). Yet there are categories of peoples whose rights are of particular concern due to their socioeconomic status, age, race, ethnicity, gender, or geographical habitation.

A key factor in the global development agenda is reversing the historical exclusion of women from leadership roles in planning and policy formulation. This disparity was highlighted at the Fourth World Congress on Women in Beijing (United Nations, 1995a). Women, in general, and older women, in particular, have been excluded and given low representation in key decision-making structures and institutions such as parliaments and trade unions. As women continue to be excluded from major decision-making positions, their concerns or plights continue to be obscured in gender-insensitive policies and plans. Of even more note is that women comprise the majority of older persons in most of the developing world (Gist & Velkoff, 1997; HelpAge International, 2007). With respect for the needs of older women, the International Plan of Action on Aging (United Nations, 2002a) asserts that recognizing the differential impact of aging on women is integral to ensuring full equality between men and women, and to the development of effective and efficient measures to address inequalities.

World conferences held from the 1970s to date confirm the understanding that women’s property and inheritance rights are essential underpinnings of the development process. This was echoed in the first World Conference on Women held in Mexico City (United Nations, 1975), the Second World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen (United Nations, 1980), the International Conference to Review and Appraise the Decade for Women (United Nations, 1985), the Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna (United Nations, 1993), the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen (United Nations, 1995b), the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing (United Nations, 1995a) and the Beijing Plus Five Platform held in Mexico (United Nations, 2000a). The concerns of older women were further accentuated in the Second World Assembly on Ageing held in Madrid (United Nations, 2002b) and the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women (2005). The Protocol emphasizes the need for older women to own and control property given their socioeconomic vulnerability in their traditional sociocultural roles and responsibilities. In Africa, at the same time that women’s rights have been codified, the shift from the traditional view of women’s rights to a universal practice of equality has been slow. The recognition of gender equality as prerequisite for long-term economic growth is also slow in coming.

No country in the world can achieve meaningful development when a major portion of its population is denied access to or control of resources or direct participation in decision making and policy formulation. Unfortunately, this is one of the frustrations that women in developing countries, including Africa, have to contend with. Gender-insensitive policy formulation has worsened the situation for Kenyan women, resulting in wide-scale feminization of poverty (African Development Fund, 2007).

In a report commissioned by the African Union Policy Framework and Plan of Action on Aging, data gathered in Kenya indicated that poverty was most acute among older women. In all of Kenya’s provinces these women were traditionally less entitled to property or had no property at all, especially land (HelpAge International, 2007).

Older Women in Africa

The reality for most older women in Africa is that they not only suffer discrimination, but that their suffering often goes unnoticed even though the majority of Africans are women (Kimani, 2006; Kimani & Chiuri, 2004). This discrimination can impose direct and indirect costs on local and national economies and gender bias in access to land and other resources can impact the larger economic well-being through inefficient use of land resources. Given that land is the main means of production in such economies, access, control, ownership, and utilization rights become very critical. African women of all ages perform a large portion of agricultural work which amounts to approximately 90% of hoeing and weeding, 60% of harvesting and marketing, and 90% of processing food, storage, and transport from home (Woomer, 2006). Yet, the high inequalities in land ownership make it impossible for women to acquire credit to enable them to improve their farms. For instance, women in Kenya account for only 5% of registered landholders. Even so, all over Africa, women are the primary providers of food for families and livestock. Women constitute more than 80% of the agricultural labor force, often working on an unpaid basis, and 64% of subsistence farmers are women (African Development Fund, 2007). Furthermore, female-headed households in Kenya provide 60% of farm-delivered income even though they own less than half of the farm equipment that male-headed households own (Kimani & Chiuri, 2004). In addition, older women in Africa are the majority of caregivers for AIDS orphans, which further strains their ability to care for themselves in old age (HelpAge International, 2007; Wanjama, Kimani, & Lodiaga, 2007).

Women, Culture, Inheritance, and Property Rights in Africa

In most communities in Africa, culture dictates who has access and control of assets and resources, and these rights are largely limited to men (Nyaga, 2008). The assets or resources can be the means of production such as land and labor or capital/finances in the form of cash and/or credit. The traditional patriarchal systems in Africa were reconstructed under colonialism (1895–1963) in ways to benefit men, disadvantage women, and strengthen male control over female labor and productivity. Local chiefs became colonial functionaries who retained the power to allocate land. As such, the ownership of the allocated resources, especially land, were given to men along with the reserve of land-owner...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Women and Aging International: Diversity, Challenges, and Contributions
• 2 Older Women’s Rights to Property and Inheritance in Kenya: Culture, Policy, and Disenfranchisement
• 3 Voices of Older Ethnic Mongolian Women in Rural China: Economic and Social Contexts
• 4 Gender and Widowhood: Disparity in Health Status and Health Care Utilization Among the Aged in India
• 5 Native American Grandmothers: Cultural Tradition and Contemporary Necessity
• 6 Older Women in Central and Eastern Europe: Economic and Health Concerns
• 7 Effect of Perceived Filial Piety on the Life Satisfaction of Older Chinese Women Who Provide Tangible Support to their Adult Children
• Index