THE CHANGE PAGE

Gender and ageing: a development management perspective.

Lecture delivered at United Nations International Institute of Ageing, Malta and Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana training course on Gerontology, Ghana, July 1998.

Margaret Grieco, Professor of Organisation and Development Management, the Business School, University of North London.

1. Introduction

What do we mean by a development perspective on 'gender and ageing'? What is the relevance of a development management perspective to professional training in gerontology in Ghana? A development management perspective draws our attention to the difference in a) financial resources and differences in b) social organisation which make the situation of older women even more precarious in the developing world - and particularly in Africa - than in the high income countries of the world. In the high income areas of the world organisations such as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) have drawn attention to the financial insecurities experienced by older women and indicated how this vulnerability is produced out of social structures which systematically preference males in earning and employment opportunities over the course of a lifetime. It has noted how women who frequently outlive their husbands experience a distinct drop in standard of living on the death of their spouse because much of their societal access to resources has been channelled through that spouse. This situation true of the world's wealthiest societies is exacerbated in African society where widowhood practices frequently absorb the bulk of a wife/ wives resources, property practices remove the roof over her head and entitlement to land on her husband's death and where life time earning and saving potentials have been weak in any case given the structure of society.

As the developing world ages, and according to the logic sketched here, gender and ageing will increasingly feature as a major social policy problem. It is a problem which is unlikely to be resolved by the policy thinking of the higher income economies, economies that have different social arrangements and greater financial resources to manage the problem (Grieco, 1996; Ping Kwong Kam, 1996; McCallum, 1989; World Bank, 1994). Indeed, the World Bank - perhaps the major actor in the development management field has no points person who deals with the topic of ageing, has no written policy materials on gender and ageing and is currently showing no indication that it has the intention of altering this organisational landscape despite the fact that next year will be the Year of the Older Person.

In this short presentation today we will look at two areas in which gender and ageing interacts with other key policy areas in the African continent and consider indigenous measures which can be taken to correct or improve the situation. Our first area for consideration will be the interaction between gender, ageing and infrastructural deficiencies in Africa; our second area of consideration will be the interaction between gender, ageing and education/socialisation in Africa. In both these areas, we will outline a set of problems which are readily visible from a development management perspective but concealed in the standard social policy approach to ageing, an approach which has largely neglected gender in any case. In both areas, we will suggest policy measures which can be taken to improve the current situation of older women in Africa, measures that require a change in the practices of the lead development agencies and African governments.

2. Gender, ageing and infrastructural deficiencies - women as a form of transport

There is a clear body of evidence coming out of agencies such as the World Bank and academic researchers that in Africa women make good major infrastructural deficiencies by being carriers of the transport burden (Grieco, Apt and Turner, 1996). They are the carriers of fuel, water, household goods into the household and for the removal of waste and excrement from the household. Over 80% of the transport burden in rural Africa is carried on the heads of women. The absence of solar energy technologies or electricity in rural Africa leaves women carrying the fuel burden on their heads; the absence of piped water or proximate wells places the load once again on women's heads; the poor penetration of rural areas by motorised traffic also places the loads on women's head; the absence of appropriately designed sewage systems in much of Africa adds to the transport burden of women in their contribution to household survival.

As women age, they are less able to make the same contribution to carrying the transport burden. The loss of the physical strength of a woman becomes the loss of a household resource; and the loss of that household resource places an additional strain on the existing household resources (the needs of the older woman now have to be met by the activities of another member of the household). The loss of physical strength can contribute to the marginalisation of the older woman - at its extreme, marginalisation can convert into elder abuse one marker on which is the stigmatisation of older women as 'witches'. The 'witch' definition reduces the responsibility of a community to care for its older women. It is an area of social policy and gerontology which requires a great deal more research but we can see that there is a clear potential for a strong link between infrastructural deficiencies and the marginalisation of older women given the critical role that women have played in the African transport structure.

Now let's play through the same scenario with solar energy, piped water, appropriately organised sewage systems and appropriately organised community transport provisions. If these conditions were brought into being then

• women would no longer be the bearers of the transport burden
• the loss of the physical strength of women as they aged would no longer be as salient
• there would be less functional pressure in terms of household survival strategies to marginalise older women
• there would be a reduction in the speed and extent of negative labelling ('useless', 'witches' etc) as the
• number of older women grows within a community

Our argument is clear: the planning of infrastructure and policies on gender and on ageing must be considered as related in good development practice.

3. Gender, ageing, child socialisation and education: integrating women's wisdom into the formal education structure

Gender, child socialisation and ageing is another area in which care must be taken in applying Western models to low income countries. Let's first consider the relationship between gender, child socialisation and ageing in Africa, and most particularly in Ghana.

• Historically, the old were venerated as a source of wisdom (Apt, 1995)
• Transitionally, the old provided child care services as the able bodied worked in the modern labour market.
• Currently, child care facilities and the modern education system increasingly remove the functions of child socialisation and education from older women.

The position of older women in the education and socialisation of children have been eroded as the education systems of Africa have largely been transposed from the West without reference to local constraints and local resources. The consequence of this transposition, which has ignored local constraints and local resources such as the part of older women in traditional socialisation practices, is that these systems do not function as they do in the West. In the absence of the availability of western levels of financial resources and despite the utilisation of a major proportion of their public sector resources in the field of education, African education systems:

• reach lower performance standards
• have poorer teacher: pupil ratios
• have poorer teaching materials

and

• the education system aimed predominantly at youth serves to increase the experience gap between young and old.

It marginalises the relevance of the experience of older persons and by breaking the link between young and old which existed historically it reduces the ability of the old to acquire 'modern knowledge'. Older women given their traditional role as child socialisers are the major losers in this arrangement.

Let's play this scenario out differently and in a way which recognises indigenous practices and institutions.

• Bring the older person into the classroom as an extra teaching resource(Setterlund and Abbott, 1996)
• Reintroduce traditional crafts into the curriculum Create space for older persons to learn along with young.
• Design intergenerational qualities into the educational system so as to reduce social polarisation around age (Apt and Grieco, 1994)
• Make appropriate use as a society of the educational skills of older women.

The reduction of polarisation around age and around gender (and transforming older women into 'expert' educational resources will help greatly) will reduce the marginalisation of older women by the community with clear benefits to the well being of older women, the community, the economy and the education system.

4. Neglected by the development agencies: gender and ageing, an emerging African problem

So we have seen why and how development management can and should engage with the issue of gender and ageing but what is actually happening?

• The World Bank has no points person responsible for ageing (for the professionals gathered here today in Ghana this is critical, as the World Bank is the leading donor in Ghana.)
• No development agency (outside of Helpage) has an operational programme which focuses strategically on gender and ageing as a development priority.
• Gender and ageing has been shown by the scientific evidence to be an important component of the present and future problems of the developing world, yet the operational attention received by this topic has been very slight and no major resources have yet been allocated to it.

What can be done?

• Next year is the Year of the Older Person, professionals and grass roots groups in the low income countries can raise the issue in consultancies, at donor meetings, at conferences, on the Internet, in curriculum development meetings. Let's begin to think about what the range of relevant points of interaction might be and add to this list as part of this training course.....
• The development of a local knowledge base in Ghana which can be used both for professional and advocacy purposes in the area of gender and ageing.
• As each one of us goes about our business we can focus on the gender and ageing 'account' and try to build an accurate record of what takes place on gender and ageing (Scott, 1990) inside any particular set of professional practices and the wider significance of such activities.

The next world gerontology meeting will be on gender. And Ghana could make a very real contribution. With Professor Apt and the Centre for Social Policy Studies there is a concrete step which can be taken - the Ghanaian perspective on gender and ageing can be collected, co-ordinated and presented at this meeting.

In the words of Nkrumah, forwards ever, backwards never.

5. Postscript

The trainees attending this course were professional and volunteer workers in a range of Ghanaian institutions which focus on ageing. They undertook to raise the gender and ageing issue within their various institutions.

References and background reading:

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Apt, N.A., 1995, Coping with old age in a changing Africa. Avebury: Aldershot.

Apt, N.A. and Grieco, M.S., 1994, 'Urbanisation, caring for elderly people and the changing African family: the challenges to social policy.' International Social Security Review, Vol 47 3 pp111-122,

Apt, N.A., Koomson, J., Williams, N. and Grieco, M., 1995, 'Family, finance and doorstep trading: the social and economic wellbeing of elderly Ghanaian female traders.' Southern African Journal of Gerontology, 4 (2) 17-24,

Adel Azer and Elham Afifi, 1992, Social support systems for the aged in Egypt. United Nations University Press.

Axhausen, K. and Grieco, M.S., 1991, 'The older driver: emergent trends in the European policy environment'. VTIrapport 372A 3 pp 185-201.

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Grieco, M.S., 1992, Breaking the ice: the contribution of new transport information technologies to improving the quality of life of the elderly in a cold climate. Report commissioned by the Prefecture of Niigata, Japan .

Grieco, M.S.,1996, 'Older people's role in development' in In spite of poverty: The older population builds towards its future. AARP: Washington, D.C.

Grieco, M.S., Apt, N.A. and Turner, J., 1996, At Christmas and on rainy days: transport, travel and the female traders of Accra. Avebury: Aldershot.

Grieco, M.S and Apt, N.A. (1997) Development and the ageing of populations. United Nations: New York.

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