Explorations Gender and Aging: Cross-National Contrasts.

Stark, Agneta; Folbre, Nancy; Shaw, Lois B; Smeeding, Timothy M; Sandström, Susanna; Lee, Sunhwa; Chung, Kyunghee

The contributions in this Explorations section reveal differences across countries in the support systems of the elderly and shows that poverty among the elderly has not been eliminated, even in rich countries. Social insurance systems with an adequate minimum benefit do the best job of avoiding poverty among elderly women. Poverty rates among older women are much higher than for older men and much higher in the US compared to other nations in the Luxembourg Income Study. Most nonmarried elderly women in the US live alone and are heavily dependent on Social Security, while in the Republic of Korea the majority of elderly women live with children. Families provide most of the support for elderly in the Republic of Korea, including financial support and daily care when needed.

UNITED States; POVERTY; SOCIAL networks; SOCIAL security; OLDER women; FEMINIST economics

Feminist Economics, 2005, Vol 11, Issue 2, p163

1354-5701

Academic Journal

10.1080/13545700500115985