Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

103
Table II.4
SEVEN SELECTED CITIES: PROPORTION OF OLDER PEOPLE HAVING DIFFICULTY
AND RECEIVING HELP WITH EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES,
BY DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS a
(Percentages)
Characteristics
Functional activities b
Instrumental activities c
Having difficulty Receiving help d Having difficulty Receiving help d
Age (years)
60-64 13 26 15 75
65-74 15 33 21 79
75 and over 31 51 47 88
Sex
Male 15 43 20 83
Female 23 42 35 84
Marital status
Unmarried 23 43 35 85
Married 16 40 21 82
Source: Paulo Saad, “Transferencias informales de apoyo de los adultos mayores en América Latina y el Caribe: estudio
comparativo de encuestas SABE”, Notas de población, No. 77 (LC/G.2213-P), Santiago, Chile, Latin American and
Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE) - Population Division of ECLAC, 2003.
a
b
c
d
Mexico City, Havana, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago, Bridgetown.
Functional activities: everyday activities such as washing and cleaning oneself, getting out of bed, dressing and eating.
Instrumental activities: everyday activities such as household cleaning, food preparation and essential contacts with the
outside world (visits to the dry cleaner, post office or shoe repair shop; going out to buy clothes or food; using the telephone
and public transport).
As a percentage of those experiencing difficulty.
These data show the extent of the family contribution to the social reproduction of the elderly
population. As a number of authors have pointed out, however, when speaking of the family it is
necessary to highlight the work done by women in providing care services (Sánchez, 1996).
Generally speaking, care is associated only with children and other types of care are therefore
overlooked. In addition, it is generally thought that the burden of care falls mainly on the young, since it
is young women who have to care for children. The evidence shows, however, that women can also be
caregivers at other stages of life and that they provide care more than once in their life cycle, starting with
their children, continuing with their parents and ending with their sick spouse. These three stages of care
generally correspond to three different stages in a woman’s life: youth, adulthood and maturity (Robles,
2003). The fact is that tradition, socialization and financial relationships combine to give women the
central role in caring for older people (and indeed for other social groups), and this tends to hold true
whether the woman is in paid employment or carries out domestic work only.
The problem for care systems is not the increase in the older adult population but the fact that
societies have not created the optimum conditions for coping with this phenomenon and its consequences.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, furthermore, there is debate as to whether care should be provided
by the family, the market or the State (ECLAC/CELADE, 2003b). This is shown by data from the
Latinobarómetro survey, which revealed in 2006 that respondents in most of the countries saw the
responsibility for ensuring that older people enjoyed good living conditions as falling upon the family
and, to a lesser extent, the State and the individual (see figure II.17).