Older Women’s Expectations of Care, Reciprocity, and Government Support in Australia. ‘Am I Not Worthy?’

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the lived experience and meaning of care for women born between 1946 and 1951, who are living alone, and are participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH). The discussion is based on free-text survey comments (n = 150 women) and in-depth interview data (n = 15 women) exploring women’s experiences of ageing and their future expectations of care. It delves into tensions within relevant themes relating to care (unpaid informal care, volunteer work, and reciprocity), and the caring ethos, as described by women who are ageing in Australian communities. It highlights dilemmas faced by women who have grown old with the expectation of government support and care in later life, but who are facing the possibility this might not eventuate. These dilemmas are discussed with reference to governmental ethical-moral responsibilities for care within the context of user-pays welfare systems and profiteering within marketised aged-care services.

KEYWORDS:

• Informal care
• aged care marketisation
• ageing
• welfare policy

Acknowledgements

The research described in this paper was conducted as part of the ALSWH, the University of Newcastle and University of Queensland. The ALSWH is grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided survey data. Cassie also extends her gratitude to those women who provided interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cassie Curryer is a Higher Degree Researcher (Candidate for PhD Sociology & Anthropology, 2018) at the University of Newcastle (UoN) investigating the housing, social support networks and future expectations of women baby boomers in Australia. She is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), and a recipient of the UoN Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Most Outstanding Research Candidate (2015).

Professor Mel Gray is Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Newcastle (UoN), having moved to Australia from South Africa where she practiced social work for 15 years. Mel has published over 200 articles and books. Her expertise and research interests include evidence-based, feminist and indigenous practice, theory and ethics, knowledge production and translation, social policy and human services.

Professor Julie E. Byles is a gerontologist and clinical epidemiologist and Director of the Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing (RCGHA). She has been involved with the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health since its inception (1995). Recently appointed as Global Innovation Chair in Responsive Transitions in Health and Ageing, Julie has led international research and policy collaborations and published over 230 papers.

ORCID

Cassie Curryer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7282-3338

Mel Gray http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9886-5138

Julie E. Byles http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3984-6877

Additional information

Funding

Cassie’s Higher Degree Research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (APA), and Supplementary Scholarships from the ARC Centre for Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) UNSW, and the University of Newcastle, Australia (UoN).