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:

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This material was prepared by John Galego
1 National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP Public Policy Institute. Caregiving in the U.S. 2015
Caring.com Usage and Attitudes Survey. San Mateo, CA. 2014
AARP Public Policy Institute. Valuing the Invaluable: 2015 Update. Washington, D.C. 2015
LS-LTC-13002-C ST 09/15
2 Family Caregiver Alliance, “Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures,” FCA, https://www.caregiver.org/print/240, February 2015. (https://www.caregiver.org/women-and-caregiving-facts-and-figures)
3 The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents, as cited in Family Caregiver Alliance, “Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures,”
FCA, https://www.caregiver.org/print/240, February 2015. (https://www.caregiver.org/women-and-caregiving-facts-and-figures)http://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mmi-caregiving-costsworking-
caregivers.pdf
4 Rice University Sociologists Calculate Caregivers Risk of Living in Poverty as cited in Family Caregiver Alliance, “Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures,” FCA, https://www.caregiver.org/print/240, February
2015. (https://www.caregiver.org/women-and-caregiving-facts-and-figures)
6 Caregiving and risk of coronary heart disease in U.S. women: A prospective study. As cited in Family Caregiver Alliance, “Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures,” FCA, https://www.caregiver.org/print/240,
February 2015.
7 Reverberations of family illness as cited in Family Caregiver Alliance, “Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures,” FCA, https://www.caregiver.org/print/240, February 2015.
5 What Is The Sandwich Generation? October 2015. https://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/10-05-15-what-is-the-sandwich-generation/
8 Spousal Caregiving and Incident Hypertension, April 2012 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836043/
9 High Blood Pressure Is Even Riskier https://mindyourrisks.nih.gov/
10 Long-Term Care - Important Information For Women, 2018. http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/learning-center/for-women.php
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