Warm Hands in Cold Age : Gender and Aging

Public discussion of population aging usually focuses on the financial burden that increasingly elderly populations will impose on younger generations. Scholars give much less attention to who does the actual work of day-to-day care for those no longer able to care for themselves; and although women are the majority among the elderly, little is heard about gender differences in economic resources or the need for care. This volume is dedicated to giving gender - and a full range of social and cultural differences - their rightful place in these discussions. The authors address, amongst other issues:

• the worldwide dilemmas of eldercare
• the structure of income and care provisions for older populations
• the role of family, marital status, and class in these provisions
• the impact of polices affecting retirement age
• the role of social insurance in preventing poverty among elderly women.

The essays included address these topics in a myriad of geographical contexts, including South Africa, the US, Palestine, Australia, South Korea, Spain, Germany, and Sweden. The concerns highlighted here also remind us that whether through individual families or social insurance, through family caregivers or paid help, the oldest generation will continue to depend on adults of working age for its well-being.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Feminist Economics.

Nancy Folbre, Lois Shaw, Agneta Stark