- India’s ageing shows feminisation as women outlive men, increasing elderly women’s share and exposing gendered vulnerabilities in old age.
Causes of Feminisation of Ageing in India
- Longevity Advantage: Women live 3–5 years longer than men in India, increasing their share in older age groups.
- Male Mortality: Higher male deaths due to jobs, lifestyle diseases, and accidents reduce their survival into old age.
- Widowhood Rise: Longer female life expectancy results in more elderly women being widowed and economically dependent.
- Migration Gap: Male outmigration for work leaves a higher proportion of elderly women alone in rural households.
Current Facts and Data
- Fertility Decline: India’s TFR has fallen to 1.9 (SRS 2024), below the replacement level of 2.1, indicating demographic stabilisation.
- Birth Divergence: Bihar records a Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of 26.8, while Kerala stands at 11.1 per 1,000, showing sharp regional fertility gaps.
- Rapid Ageing: India’s elderly population has reached 9.7%, with Kerala projected to have 1 in 4 people above 60 by 2036.
- Health Divide: India’s IMR is 24, whereas Kerala’s much lower IMR of 8 reflects advanced health and development outcomes.
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Implications of Feminisation of Ageing in India
- Economic Dependency: Over 90% women in informal work lack pensions, forcing heavy dependence on family or state support.
- Healthcare Burden: India’s elderly are about 10%, with women dominating older ages, increasing demand for geriatric care services.
- Social Isolation: Higher female longevity and widowhood create loneliness, mental stress, and reduced social security among elderly women.
- Care Deficit: Around 65% elderly live in rural areas where migration weakens traditional family-based caregiving systems.
- Policy Pressure: Rapid ageing of women requires expanded pensions, healthcare access, and targeted gender-sensitive welfare policies urgently.
Government Initiatives Addressing Ageing and Elderly Welfare in India
- Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY): Integrated programme providing financial support, healthcare, and welfare services for senior citizens, including day-care and old age homes.
- Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): Provides a monthly pension to the elderly below the poverty line, ensuring minimum income security for the vulnerable aged population.
- National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE): Focuses on geriatric healthcare services, dedicated wards, and district-level elderly health facilities across India.
- Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY): Provides free secondary & tertiary healthcare services for senior citizens.
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Key Challenges of Feminisation of Ageing in India
- Income Insecurity: Over 90% of women work in the informal sector, leaving most elderly women without pensions or retirement savings.
- Healthcare Gaps: India has only about 2–3 geriatric specialists per lakh elderly population, leading to inadequate access to age-specific healthcare and long-term care.
- Family Breakdown: With urbanisation and migration, the number of elderly households in India is rising, and around 20% of the elderly now live separately from their children in some states.
- Rural Isolation: Over 65% of India’s elderly population lives in rural areas, where migration of youth has significantly reduced caregiving support systems.
- Gender Vulnerability: Higher female life expectancy leads to more elderly women facing widowhood, dependency, and social insecurity.
Way Forward
- Gender Lens: India’s elderly women dominate older age groups, requiring dedicated gender-sensitive ageing frameworks.
- Pension Shield: Over 90% women in informal work lack pensions, requiring universal indexed social protection coverage.
- Health Boost: With 10% elderly population, India needs stronger geriatric, home-based and mental health systems urgently.
- Digital Inclusion: Digital literacy and skill engagement empower elderly women for service access and active ageing.
India’s feminisation of ageing demands rights-based, inclusive ageing that ensures dignity, participation, & empowerment for elderly women. “Ageing with Dignity, Living with Security, Growing with Grace.”
Reference: New Indian Express
PMF IAS Pathfinder for Mains – Question 702
Q. “Longevity without dignity can deepen social exclusion.” In the context of feminisation of ageing in India, discuss the need for gender-sensitive elderly care policies. (250 Words) (15 Marks)
Approach
- Introduction: Write a brief introduction about the feminisation of ageing in India.
- Body: Write how longevity without dignity can deepen social exclusion, then highlight the need for gender-sensitive elderly care policies, and the way forward.
- Conclusion: Emphasis on gender-sensitive elderly care policies is essential to ensure the dignity, participation, and empowerment of elderly women.
