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- Title
AGEING, GENDER AND HEALTH IN PAKISTAN.
- Authors
Harriss, Kaveri
- Abstract
Pakistan is not yet facing the Western problem of broadly ageing populations. The over 60s have not increased as a proportion of the population in Pakistan during the last half century. This is due to poor gains in survival in late middle age, which identifies the welfare of the elderly as a priority area for public policy. Gender is an extremely important factor differentiating the health of the elderly. Unlike most parts of the world, women in Pakistan have no advantage over men in survival, which reflects the manifold ways in which patriarchal gender relations impinge on women's health throughout the life-course. In old age, women suffer higher rates of disability and chronic illness than men. Gender relations are also central to the management and care for ill-health amongst the elderly. Gender differentiates the entitlements of elderly people to care (khidmat) from family members, which is an important input to health. However, the ways in which gender influences an elderly person's entitlements depend on other dimensions of social structure, such as socio-economic class. Paradoxically, women's greater investment in the domestic kin group may allow women to adjust more easily to the social role of elder than ageing men. Negotiating family care is thus not only about economic rationalities concerning inter-generational relations, but also centrally about emotional and affective ties between kin.
- Subjects
PAKISTAN; AGING; GENDER; HEALTH; PATRIARCHY; WOMEN; ELDER care; SOCIOECONOMIC factors
- Publication
Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies: Alam-e-Niswan, 2006, Vol 13, Issue 2, p137
- ISSN
1024-1256
- Publication type
Article