Are Indian elderly women worse off than elderly women in the West ...

Here?s what I think.

Traditionally elder care for Indian men was provided by their wives who were frequently 12 ? 20 years younger than the husband. To ensure there was no neglect in care, the wife was allowed certain?privileges (basic rights) only as long as the husband lived. These ?privileges? included a social life; some kinds of foods (eaten after the husband and his family had eaten); permission to participate in festivities and prayers for the husband?s and sons? long lives; respect (some conditions applied); symbols of suhaag?etc.

But who looked after the wife once the husband died, specially since women live longer and,

At the age of 80 years and above, 71 per cent of women and only 29 per cent of men have lost their spouse.

Here are some more points from, The feminisation of old age.

1. The predicament of elderly women is aggravated by a life?time of gender-based discrimination.

2. Social mores inhibit women from re-marrying, resulting in an increased likelihood of women ending up alone.

3. The life of a widow is riddled with stringent moral codes, with integral rights relinquished?and liberties circumvented.

4. Social bias often results in unjust allocation of resources, neglect, abuse, exploitation, gender-based violence, lack of access to basic services and prevention of?ownership of assets.

5. Ageing women are more likely to get excluded from social security schemes due to lower literacy and awareness levels.

And a lot of it could change if Indians stop seeing women as paraya dhan. Once parents start valuing their girl-children, so would the society. And if the society respects women, we would take women?s happiness, safety, self reliance and general well-being seriously.

Then, maybe these surveys would find a mention of senior citizens who only have girl children.

?There is a common belief that only daughters-in-law abuse elders. On the contrary, 56 percent of those surveyed felt it was their sons who abuse them; daughters-in-law scored as low as 23 percent,? Mathew Cherian, chief executive of HelpAge India, told IANS. [link]

What about the daughters?

Source: http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/are-the-indian-elderly-women-worse-off-than-elderly-women-in-the-west/

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