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Taking a
brisk walk through the heart of the city of Accra notably Nkrumah circle
and other traffic joints during rush hours reveal a lot. Beggars calling
out is most outstanding. A number of
these beggars are women- some with children including twins. The most
pathetic of them all are the older women who should be nursing their grand
children at home. Some older
women who look very sick, with some visually impaired are helped by
children of school going age to beg for alms. Others in
wheel chairs are more concerned about the money they get than their lives
and cross on-coming vehicles anyhow. One would ask
what has led to their current state of life? According to
a lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Prof. Nana
Araba Apt the story of many African older women are sad. Faced with
widespread poverty, deprivation, illiteracy, poor health and banishment,
many older African women are still struggling . The fact that
a woman may live longer does not in any case indicate that she is
healthier than a man or that a woman has more qualitative existence. Women's
greater longevity means that the world of older people is predominantly
one of poor women, often-widowed and suffering from social seclusion. The UN's
information on ageing states that in 1950, the proportion of older persons
to the total world population was eight per cent. It rose to 10 per cent
in 2000 and is projected to increase by 21 per cent to the year 2050. Today, the
number of older people in the world is 629 million with women forming
about 328 million. This is also projected to grow to about two billion by
the year 2050. In developing
countries like Ghana, the report says the rate of increase in the number
of older persons between 1990 and 2025 is expected to grow seven to eight
times higher than in Britain and Sweden. Again
available data also indicate that 78 per cent of older men are married
compared to 44 per cent of older women. Additionally, widowed men are more
likely to get married than widowed women. Prof. Apt
also pointed out that older women face many hardships and these are
directly linked to their economic conditions. Prof. Apt who
was speaking at a meeting on gender and the aged said there exist
gender-related differences in the allocation of pensions and age benefits.
"Women who do not take up remunerated work in the formal sector have
little or no access to pensions, a situation, which is much pronounced in
Africa," she said. She explained
that in developed countries, the level of pensions of widows is linked to
the level of pension of their former husbands. Furthermore,
women's work history is characterised by low paid jobs, and frequent
interruptions of their professional life for childbearing, child care and
family responsibilities. Truth is in
Africa and the rest of the developing world existing pensions generally
cover a small proportion of the population and even a smaller proportion
of female population. According to
Prof. Apt, the extra years that women have over men can rather
disadvantage women. "Most
older women must of necessity continue to work physically harder to
survive after their childbearing years and after they become widowed or
divorced," Prof. Apt said, adding throughout their lives, African
women have poor access to resources with the cumulative effect that in
their old age, they have insufficient resources for a decent quality of
life," the sociologist explained. The
improvement and quality of life therefore can only be achieved through the
understanding of the relationship among biology of ageing related
conditions and social characteristics. Prof. Apt was
also of the view that, the health problems of older African women is
linked to economic insecurity and social rejection often as a witch after
many years of physical toil to keep her family going. He also
pointed out that health and welfare is an important element to women's
social participation. Vaginal infections, cancers of the reproductive
organs and fibroids have direct effect on women's morbidity and mortality
and have increasingly cumulative effects on the elderly African woman who
is already weakened through excessive childbearing, she said. Presently in
Africa many women in old age are already afflicted with chronic conditions
or will develop them in the near future, however, they continue to
function with their chronic situations. Prof. Apt
said the gravest disadvantage of older African women is that they lack
education. This, she
said, has many consequences: older women are less likely to participate
fully or benefit from national development issues. According to
a retired cardiologist, Dr. Joe Pobee, old people suffer a lot of diseases
beginning from wrinkled skin, menopausal problems, brittle bones and
breathing difficulties. He explained
that constipation, loss of teeth and falling hair are common features of
old age. Added to these, there are also the problem of hearing losses,
strokes, Alzheimer's disease, acute confution, kidney problems leading to
urinary incontinence, immobility due to arthritis, diabetes, thyroid
disease and falling due to the malfunctioning of the nervous system. Dr. Pobee
said a study conducted by the Ministry of Health indicates that over the
past 50 years, the focus has been on primary health and safe motherhood
with little or no health programme for the aged. Governments
all over the world and most importantly in developing countries have come
to accept the fact that population ageing is no longer a thing for the
developed world. A draft policy on the aged in Ghana has identified key
areas for programming and implementation by the various sectors including
Non-governmental organisations. Some of the key areas are health and
nutrition, social welfare, income security, housing and living
environment, legal aid and preparation for retirement.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
