Sunday 1 September 2013

Empowerment of Elderly Women

Many of us often tend to consider the population of older persons as a homogeneous group, with similar types of needs and demands. May be that is why most of the schemes by the government focuses on older population in general and not specifically on the gender dimensions, thus making the much needed empowerment of elderly women a difficult task to accomplish.

With an increase in proportion of older persons in India, maintenance of health and well-being of both male and female elderly has become an important issue, however, this has become a serious concern among the elderly women, who as compared to their male counterparts are more vulnerable to health problems such as osteoporosis, menopausal complications and depression; and are more likely to face financial constraints due to less workforce participation or lack of financial savings for old age. As they live longer than men, they are more likely to be widowed and living alone, thus becoming more vulnerable to crimes and abuses.Situation is worst for those who belong to lower economic status.Due to the phenomenon of feminization of ageing in India, all these issues have become more acute and are thus emphasizing on the dire need to implement older women specific programmes and schemes toward promotion of their health and well-being. I seriously believe that the promotion of health and well-being of elderly women is a major step towards their empowerment, because until and unless they are not physically and psychologically healthy and are not satisfied with their life and environmental context, they won't be able to empower themselves.Empowerment of elderly women is a gradual process in which elderly women, their family, civil society and government have a major role to play to tackle the various challenges at their own level towards achievement of this goal.

Recently, had a fruitful discussion on these issues with fellow participants at the International Conference on Ageing Women (organized and supported by Stree Shakti and HelpAge India), where I was invited as a speaker to highlight and discuss various issues and concerns related to health and well-being of elderly women. Strongly wish that our deliberations should contribute towards empowerment of older women in India.


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