Aging and social networks: A perspective on gender disparity in India

ABSTRACT

In India, the “feminization of aging” is one of the areas in which prejudice most frequently occurs. Noticeably, poverty, isolation, changes in residential care, and weak institutional support push women into several vulnerabilities. This study demonstrates that elderly women are often denied basic rights and are compelled to reside in old-age homes; the situation is worse for elderly widowed women. We examine the claims that the lives of elderly women are more precarious due to their lower literacy, limited social exposure, and monetary dependence. Being women, old, and widowed, they are affected by triple vulnerabilities that require concrete policy implications.

KEYWORDS:

• discrimination
• elderly
• isolation
• poverty
• widowed

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the journal for constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ HelpAge India conducted a survey (2018) on elder abuse in 23 cities of India by interviewing elderly people over 60 years of age with almost equal distribution of both genders.

² Berg et al. (2009) considered the “older-old” to be persons aged 80 and older and persons aged 60–79 to be the “younger-old.”

³ In Indian society, the dalit is described as an identity of vulnerable caste groups (caste-based discrimination).

⁴ Government of India (GOI) (1961–2011), Census of India, Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Government of India.

⁵ For details please see Rajan. (2000). Financial and social security in old age. In S. S. Raju & M. Desai (Eds.), Gerontological social work in India: Some issues and perspectives (p. 118). New Delhi, India: B.R. Publishing.

⁶ For more details, please see https://www.pmjay.gov.in/about-pmjay.

⁷ For more details please see https://financialservices.gov.in/insurance-divisions/Government-Sponsored-Socially-Oriented-Insurance-Schemes/Pradhan-Mantri-Vaya-Vandana-Yojana(PMVVY).