Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:11:26.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Old Women's Experiences of Needing Care: Choice or Compulsion?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Jane Aronson
Jane Aronson
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing on a qualitative study of women as givers and receivers of care, this paper explores older women's experiences of needing care. Old women find themselves in a social context in which government services are kept in the background and families are generally regarded as the proper locus of assistance to old people. Respondents described contradictions between needing support and security and wanting to adhere to cultural values of independence and self-sufficiency. Their low expectations of public services and sense of marginality in their families exacerbated these dilemmas. The fallacy of understanding old women's conduct in this constrained context as the exercise of choice is elaborated, and attention is given to ways of fostering the conditions in which elderly women can shape the kinds of supportive environments they would like to see in the future.

Résumé

Cet article utilise les données d'une étude qualitative de femmes dans le rôle de pourvoyeuses de soins pour explorer les soins que requièrent les femmes âgées. Celles-ci se retrouvent dans un milieu où les services gouvernementaux ne sont pas évidents et où les families sont appelées à fournir de l'aide aux personnes âgées. Les participantes ont décrit les contradictions qui existaient entre le besoin de recevoir de l'appui et la sécurité et entre le désir de conserver les valeurs culturelles et l'indépendance et l'autonomie. Le sentiment de marginalité qu'elles ressentent par rapport à leur famille et la déception qu'elles éprouvent face aux services publics exacerbent leur dilemme. L'article examine la notion erronée selon laquelle semble-t-il les femmes âgées auraient opté de vivre dans ces conditions restreintes, et il traite également des méthodes à adopter pour créer le milieu positif désiré.

Keywords

WomenAgingFamily CareSocial Policy
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , Autumn/automne 1990 , pp. 234 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aronson, J. (1988). Women's Experiences in Giving and Receiving Care: Pathways to Social Change. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1979). Concepts in the Analysis of Qualitative Data. Sociological Review, 27 (4): 651–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1987). The Social Basis of Community Care. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Dalley, G. (1988). Ideologies of Caring: Rethinking Community and Collectivism. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Evers, H. (1981). Care or Custody? The Experiences of Women Patients in Long-Stay Geriatric Wards. In Hutter, B. and Williams, G. (Eds.), Controlling Women: The Normal and the Deviant. London: Croom Helm (pp. 108–130).Google Scholar
Evers, H. (1985). The Frail Elderly Woman: Emergent Questions in Aging and Woman's Health. In Lewin, E. and Oleson, V. (Eds.), Women, Health and Illness. New York: Tavistock (pp. 86–112).Google Scholar
Finch, J. (1984). Community Care: Developing Non-Sexist Alternatives. Critical Social Policy, 9: 6–18.Google Scholar
Finch, J. and Groves, D. (Eds.). (1983). A Labour of Love: Women, Work and Caring. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Grant, D. (1985). “Bed-Blockers,” Blamed for Emergency Ward Crunch. The Globe and Mail, February 18, p. 16.Google Scholar
Health and Welfare Canada. (1986). Aging: Shifting the Emphasis. Working Paper.Google Scholar
Land, H. and Rose, H. (1985). Compulsory Altruism for Some or an Altruistic Society for All? In Bean, P., Ferris, J. and Whynes, D. (Eds.), In Defence of Welfare. London: Tavistock (pp. 74–96).Google Scholar
Laurence, M. (1964). The Stone Angel. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Leonard, P. (1984). Personality and Ideology: Towards a Materialist Understanding of the Individual. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Lessing, D. (1984). The Diaries of Jane Somers. London: Michael Joseph.Google Scholar
MacDonald, B. with Rich, C. (1984). Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism. San Francisco: Spinsters Ink.Google Scholar
Margolis, D.R. (1985). Redefining the Situation: Negotiations on the Meaning of “Woman”. Social Problems, 32(4): 332–347.Google Scholar
Marshall, D. (1987). Silver Threads: Critical Reflections on Growing Old. Toronto: Between the Lines.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. (1983). Blaming the Aged Victim: The Politics of Scapegoating in Times of Fiscal Conservatism. International Journal of Health Services, 13(1): 155–167.Google Scholar
Moroney, R. (1980). Families, Social Services and Social Policy: The Issue of Shared Responsibilty. Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.Google Scholar
Oakley, A. (1974). Housewife. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Ontario Office for Senior Citizens' Affairs. (1987). “One Stop Shopping”: An Integrated Approach to Community Health and Social Services. Consultation Tour.Google Scholar
Ralph, D. (1988). Researching from the Bottom: Lessons Participatory Research has for Feminists. Canadian Review of Social Policy, 22: 36–40.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, C.J., Marshall, V.W., MacPherson, A.S., and French, S.E. (1980). Nurses, Patients and Families. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Shott, S. (1979). Emotion and Social Life: A Symbolic Interaction Analysis. American Journal of Sociology, 84: 1317–1334.Google Scholar
Smith, D.E. (1986). Institutional Ethnography: A Feminist Method. Resources for Feminist Research, 25(1): 6–13.Google Scholar
Spector, M. and Kitsuse, J. (1977). Constructing Social Problems. Menlo Park, CA: Cummings Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Ungerson, C. (1987). Policy is Personal: Sex, Gender and Informal Care. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar