Feminism and dementia
Most people who have dementia are women
Women tend to be the primary caregivers to people with dementia
Dementia is a feminist issue. Over 60% of people with dementia are female. Partly this is because women live longer and dementia is related to age. But that is not all.
Dementia is not a disease, but the symptom of a range of diseases the commonest of which is Alzheimer’s. Unlike other diseases, the severity of the symptoms is not always directly related to the severity of the underlying disease. Symptoms are made worse by struggling with depression, loneliness, poor diet, and lack of exercise – problems that are worse for people who have fewer resources.
Older women tended to depend on a man’s occupational pension
The current generation of older women, particularly if they were married, often depended on a man’s occupational pension after 65 because they mainly worked at home.
Until relatively recent times it was possible for the husband to divorce his wife without reference to her unwaged contribution to the family resources, leaving her in poverty in old age even if he was still alive.
Stress is related to dementia, and women have been more stressed than men in the last century
Research shows stress in midlife is related to women’s dementia in later life, and women’s lives in the last century were more stressful in many cases than men’s.
But research shows other ways in which women currently would be disproportionately affected
Care workers in dementia care are low waged and often not held in high esteem, which is reflected in their working conditions, and they are mainly women
When an older woman has a husband with dementia she often has the life skills to care for him, so he is more likely to end his days in reasonable comfort at home, especially as she is probably a little bit younger than him
When an older woman has dementia, the reverse is sometimes true, which is another reason why a disproportionate number of residents in care homes are women
Men are carers for their elderly parents of course, but the majority of this work falls on female descendants, daughters, granddaughters and nieces
Midlife stress raises the likelihood of dementia in women, and older women have often experienced stresses that we will never know…how recently did unmarried women have their children ripped away from them in an atmosphere of violence and disgrace? What other secrets do they carry about miscarriages that could not be discussed, or abortions?
It is really important that what is said here is not misrepresented as an angry feminist diatribe from someone who hates men and refuses to recognise their contribution
It is really important that what is said here is not misrepresented as an angry feminist diatribe from someone who hates men and refuses to recognise their contribution, which is often as heroic as women’s.
However, the older ladies we care for now, in their eighties and nineties were the pioneers who did without a lot of the benefits that they subsequently won for us; maternity leave and allowances, equal rights at work, laws that worked against violence and rape, recognition of the need for education, decent sanitary products, washing machines and disposable nappies.
God bless these women and let us keep them safe from harm. And allow me to say that for the next thirty years at least…dementia is a feminist issue.
If you would like more information, you can buy my book Dementia, the One Stop Guide or Care Homes: When, Why and How to Choose a Care Home. I am available for consultancy for families or organisations. And if you have any further queries or questions, or suggestions for something you’d like to see me write on, please contact me via the Contact Page
See my new course on Dementia the One Stop Guide on Policy Hub here
