Premium
Women's Association for a Better Aging Society
Author(s) -
Higuchi Keiko
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1111/j.1447-0594.2004.00209.x
Subject(s) - socialization , association (psychology) , wife , medicine , welfare , gerontology , population , social security , economic growth , political science , psychology , social psychology , law , environmental health , psychotherapist , economics
The Women's Association for a Better Aging Society was established in 1983 to study and take action to address problems of aging, and to promote the well‐being of women in their later life. With the ultimate goal of building a better aging society for both men and women, the Association intended to put forward proposals from the viewpoint of women who are living a longer elderly life and who are taking greater responsibility in giving care to elderly family members. At present, the Association is a nationwide network embracing 1500 individual members and 150 group members. In the early 1980s, due to population aging, giving care to elderly parents was becoming more demanding and requiring a longer period of time, and the heavy burden was concentrated on daughters‐in‐law (mainly the first son's wife). Women's social and economic status was lower than men's due to discriminatory employment practices and wage and social security systems, resulting in their economically weak old‐age life. There were only a very small number of women involved in the decision‐making process for social welfare policies, even though women were the main caregivers and recipients. The main activities of the Association are research and advocacy to national and local governments. The Association's efforts culminated in the creation of the Public Long‐term Care Insurance that was adopted by the Diet in 1997 and was applied in April 2000. The Association, as a member of the ‘One Million Citizens’ Committee to Promote the Socialization of Elderly Care’ together with trade unions, NGO, scholars and concerned individuals, had acted to raise public opinion toward the creation of the insurance scheme. In 2050, it is expected that nearly 40% of the population will be people over 65 years of age, of whom 60% will be women. The Association will continue its efforts to improve women's lives and to increase women's participation in policy‐making structures so that the future society will not consist only of impoverished elderly women.