Long-Term Care Is A Women's Issue
I. Women As Our Nation's Caregivers
The typical caregiver is a middle-aged daughter. On average she provides 24 hours of care and works 34 hours per week. She is more likely to provide intensive levels of care including dressing, toileting, and bathing than her male counterpart.1
The majority of caregivers actually work full-time (56%) and often they must balance their need for income with the demands of caregiving for an elder as well as their own children, (we will discuss "The Sandwich Generation" below). They must organize and draw on personal resources in combination with public or private assistance, both of which may be limited. Unmarried women caregivers may have even fewer options for balancing work and care-giving.2
What does this mean for working women?
The demands of care-giving can have a deleterious and long-lasting effect on professional development and in turn finances. One national study on women and caregiving highlighted the conflicting demands of work and eldercare.3 The study found that:
II. The Financial Toll Of Care-giving
Since caregivers are disproportionately women, who take more time away from work to care for others, their finances are also disproportionately impacted. In addition to money spent out-of-pocket on caregiving, time away from work can reduce current income and contributions toward retirement savings. As the following facts and figures show, reduced work hours and/or fewer years in the workforce may add up to a significant loss in assets.
The Sandwich Generation5
In addition to providing care to an adult, women often simultaneously provide care for their children. The term, The Sandwich Generation, was coined by Dorothy Miller, a social worker in the 1980's who noted the increasingly common phenomena of multigenerational care-giving. Couples who put off having children until their mid to late 30s also experience parents who live longer and develop more ongoing health issues. Increasingly, women are not only taking time off of work, but time away from parenting their own children; and as we will discuss below, postponing their own health needs.
As you would expect, this predisposes caregivers to health problems of their own as a result of the physical and emotional stress of caregiving and failing to attend to their own needs.
Here are some surprising facts about The Sandwich Generation5:
III. The Toll Of Care-giving On Health And Well-being
Unfortunately, the cost of caregiving can go beyond finances and one's career. It is well documented that caregiving can take a toll on a caregivers health. In fact, the more time spent on caregiving, the greater the likelihood of ill effects.2
- Women who spend 9 hours or more caring for a spouse double their risk of coronary heart disease.6
- Middle-aged and older women who provided care for an ill or disabled spouse were almost 6 times as likely to suffer depressive or anxious symptoms as were those who had no caregiving responsibilities.7
- Women who cared for parents were twice as likely to suffer from depressive or anxious symptoms as noncaregivers.7
- Women spend twice as many years in a disabled state (as men) at the end of their lives: 2.8 years if they live past 65, and 3.0 years if they live past 80.10
- More than 70 percent of nursing home residents are women. Their average age at admission is 80.
- Over three-fourths (75.7%) of residents in assisted living communities are women. Their average age at admission is 85.7.
- Almost two-thirds of formal (paid) home care users and informal (unpaid) care recipients are women.
- Among people age 75 or older, women are 60 percent more likely than men to need help with one or more activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing or getting around their home.