The Existing Living Circumstance And Needs Of Elderly Woman In China

Along with the more-extended aging degree, elderly females will account for a higher percentage in the whole structure of the aged population, which is especially true for those with higher ages. Accordingly, as a dilemma the international community has to be confronted with, the pension issue that concerns those with higher ages will be more focused on elderly women.Compared with elderly men, the group of elderly women features a plethora of disadvantages. Based on data matrix, this paper will explore into those aspects of gender, age and the weaker status shared by those urban and rural elderly females; meanwhile, those contributive causes by gender differences will also be touched. Apart from that, it will summarize the unique characteristics of elderly females' requirements. Through comparison with the status of Japanese elderly females, this paper aims to discuss the process of perfecting China's relevant laws and policies in a gender perspective with the expectation of addressing the bottleneck resulted from the elderly women pension and finding ways in altering elderly females' inferior status.The main contents are as follows:1. Carry on the comments and narrations for those domestic and foreign researches concerning elderly females' life condition; elaborate the research background and its status quo; determine the significance and the goal of this research.2. Analyze the characteristics and developmental trend of elderly females population based on data obtained from census and population forecast both in China and Japan,. The result indicates that the two countries are experiencing a fast increasing of elderly females population and its proportion will gradually enlarged in the following several decades. The elderly females will account for a much higher percent in the group with higher ages.3. Based on survey data and comparison with the masculine old person, analyze the characteristics of the present situation of feminine old person in China and Japan, including their physiological and psychological particularities, their situation in possessing living substances and obtaining attendance resources, their ideology and the degree of social participation. The conclusion is that the feminine old persons tend to be disadvantageous in almost each aspect; many of them live in poverty and cannot support themselves; they are more vulnerable to higher rate of chronic illness and always suffer from bad health and the lack of nursing; they are more dependent on their children and are afflicted with solitude, deficiency of care as well as widowhood and loneliness. A large number of them can hardly be engaged in managing household whereas they are attached to fewer hobbies and lower level of social participation.4. Analyze the causes of gender differences existing in senior citizens' lives and summarize factors that determine feminine old persons' disadvantageous situation. The result is that there are more attributive elements concerning physiology, history and policies. From the perspective of physiology, it is shown clearly that the longer life span of elderly females normally results in higher rate of widowhood. As for the historical reason, it mainly stems from traditional perception of inequity between male and female, which lead to females' lower education level, overloaded household and economical poverty. The last is related with policies such as lower level of life insurance, medical insurance and less pension obtained, to name just a few.5. Summarize the characteristics of feminine old persons' needs, including those shared by all senior citizens and those distinctive for elderly females. Compared with masculine old persons, feminine old persons should have more economical independence, effective medical insurance and social caring resources. That they are more exposed to infringed eligibilities makes more protection of possession and rights badly needed. Their lower level of social participation demonstrates that they should be provided with more accesses to the participation of communities and society6. Introduce relevant laws and policies in Japan, including those systems about its social relief, annuity, the nurse insurance, joint planning by men and women, parental care leave and adult system, etc. Summarize inspirations learnt from those policies in addressing a series of social issues deriving from China's elderly females.7. Suggest that the gender difference should be given more consideration in the social support projects for the elderly; establish societal support network that reflects those requirements from elderly females; suggest that females should consolidate themselves with self-striving, self-dependence, self-esteem and self-affection; Suggest the policy should be more inclined to feminine old persons and more attention should be given to gender difference in legislation so that amphitricha equity can be finally and really achieved.The problem of vulnerability of elderly women is not merely concerning old ages, it involves women's whole life in terms of their education, working conditions, health status, and marital status and so on. Moreover, it is linked to ideology of the whole community, social divisions, labor-law-making as well as its implementation. To literally re-orient and alter the vulnerable state of female elderly, an integrated effort from individuals, families, societies and the nation is most indispensable. The process of completely solving elderly females' problems coincides with that process of achieving social justice and gender equity. Elderly women's happiness is a longing for themselves as well as their relatives and friends. Changing the disadvantageous state of elderly women has been making social development and harmonious society-building at stake.