The Poverty Of Older Women

Because the Korean pension system is still relatively young and underdeveloped, its elderly poverty rate is higher than in other OECD nations. In most OECD nations, poverty among the elderly dropped sharply as pension systems matured. The rate in Korea is currently much higher than the rates for other population groups. Korea’s elderly poverty rate stands at 45.1% compared to a 13.5%, average for the 30 countries of the OECD. For those countries, poverty among the elderly dropped sharply from the 1980s onward, with the rate for those aged 66-75 falling below that of children and young adults. Social issues such as the high suicide rate among the elderly have led to a widespread perception of the need for a community-level response to poverty among the elderly.

Singled and divorced women are most likely to have low paying jobs than men. This causes a financial strain on the

Kathleen M. Rehl, PhD, CFP, CeFT, shares insightful experience and expertise on working with widows through her speaking, writing, and mentoring. Carolyn C. Moor is the executive director and founder of Modern Widows Club, a nonprofit organization leading a movement to enable and empower widows to become mentors, leaders, and advocates. Linda Y. Leitz, CFP, EA, CDFA, is co-owner of It’s Not Just Money, Inc., a fee-only financial planning firm in Colorado Springs that serves middle-income clients, including those who are single due to the death of a spouse or to divorce. John E. Grable, PhD, CFP, holds an Athletic Association Endowed Professorship at the University of Georgia where he conducts research and teaches financial planning. When I look at the background of each author I can see how they teamed up together to write this article on financial planning for

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

According to the National Council of Welfare, The majority of those who rely on social assistance in Canada tend to be women, children and people with disabilities, it is noted that government policy focus on getting them into the paid workforce without adequate supports such as childcare, housing, and money for basic expenses, these policies are considered to be unrealistic and create much misery for the Canadians that are forced to live under these policies (Women, 2007). According to Census 2000, the average annual pre-tax income of women from all sources including government transfers was $22,885 or 62% that of what men receive. In Canada, female lone parent families have by far the lowest average total incomes among families. Although women continue to be among the poorest of the poor in Canada, they make up a disproportionate share of the population with low income 2.4 million women in 2001 compared to 1.9 million men (Work, 2004).

Women are more prone to live in low income circumstances than men, hence introducing the social problem of gender discrimination. Women have been discriminated in the workplace over time in that they are paid less than men in specific jobs and are not seen to be ‘suited’ to particular jobs, especially in the manufacturing and trade industries. Marxist feminist Margaret Benston believed that women were oppressed by capitalism in that they were treated almost as a back-up, or secondary option of cheap labour that enabled profits to be kept up. ‘In 1994, 6.41 million women were in low-paid jobs and on average women’s full-time gross weekly pay was 72 percent of that of men’(Kane, 2003:115).

There are a few different reasons for this phenomenon as illustrated by Gray and Heinsch (2009): “women feel that retirement planning is a male role, and that they will be taken care of; women find existing preretirement planning programs are generic, male or couple oriented, and do not address women’s specific needs and situations; women are traditionally ‘otherfocused’ and place their wellbeing behind nurturing others; and women may not feel they have a locus of control.” It is fascinating that these differences are illustrated, and they really make a lot of sense. The point about how women place their wellbeing behind nurturing others is really key; it is discussed so much in class about how women are often placed with the pressures of caring for their elderly parents or family. It is really interesting that this theme of caring for others seems to follow women up until and through their own retirement, when self-care is truly essential. It is really important as a social worker working with this population that women are reached out to and informed about the

Considerable changes have taken place over the past two decades (WGEA, 2017c). Women have become more prominent within the workforce (WGEA, 2017c). Participation of women in the workplace has risen from 45% to 60% over the last 40 years (WGEA, 2017c, ABS, 2017a). Women’s education attainment has risen, showing a 28% increase since 1996 (ABS, 2017b; WGEA, 2017c). Despite this, earnings are not equal between male and female undergraduates (WGEA, 2017b). One suggestion is that women are choosing lower paid professions, contributing to an unequal distribution among part-time and full-time work (WGEA, 2017b).

Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.

Over time the economic opportunities for women have increased. Many service jobs opened up and women were able to find and fill these jobs quickly because their employers offer lesser pay than their male colleague. Women’s heightened expectations combined with their growing economic independence caused divorce rates to accelerate (Coontz, 252).

There are three main causes of divorce: changing in woman’s roles, stress in modern living, and lack of communication. The first significant cause of recent rise in the rates of divorce is a woman’s role being completely changed. In the past, men had to earn all the money to afford the expenses of the family, whereas woman only did housework. That led to the woman having no money

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that

Further inequality is outlined in Table 2, which shows that women in professional and manager positions are unemployed at higher rates compared to men. However, it also display that women achieve higher rates of employment in education and health care positions. This is consistent with the ‘soft roles’ that women in rural agriculture are generally employed in, highlighted in pink.

It is believed that men are the least affected by divorce. However this doesn’t mean that they do not suffer at all. Indeed, men suffer financially from divorce; they are obliged to support their children as well as their ex-wives. And because before divorce the responsibility was shared by both husband and wife, divorced men cannot always afford to pay alimony, thus they may be