UNAM: women in old age are conditioned by inequality

Most adult women in Mexico do not manage to save enough to reach old age, a new study developed by the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (IMCO) warns while the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) warns ) said that during old age women were conditioned by the gender inequalities that persisted throughout their lives.

Although the majority of the population in Mexico is young, minority groups such as older adults reach 15.1 million people aged 60 or older in 2020, according to the Institute of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), which represents a 12% of the total population in the country, with females being the dominant sex aged 80 years and over.

Verónica Montes, researcher at the UNAM Institute for Social Research, which coordinates the Interdisciplinary University Seminar on Ageing and Old Age (SUIEV), explained that the condition of women during this stage is a socio-historical construction.

According to the IMCO report, she explains that in Mexico only four out of 10 women work in the paid economy and, of these, 55% work in informality. This results in women not being able to save enough for their old age, apart from other influential cultural factors such as unpaid domestic work, which is still mostly done by women.

A newsletter published by the National Institute for Women (INMUJERES), the most frequent activity of older women is unpaid work. 62.8% of them are engaged in household chores, an activity that most likely they have developed all their lives, and which is done by only 8.0% of men.

The specialist Verónica Montes explains that this situation is purely cultural because the circumstances of women in old age are influenced by biological, psychological and social aspects. In addition to being determined by history, culture and socio-economic conditions.

According to data from INEGI, there are 2.4 million older adults in Mexico who cannot read or write, which is equivalent to 16% of the total population of this age group. When analyzing this information by sex, there are more women aged 60 and over who are illiterate with 19% as opposed to men with 13%.

INMUJERES points out that only 8.7% of older women are pensioned or retired, or receive widowhood pension. This is a big problem as most women over 60 are in a situation of vulnerability.

In terms of health issues, older women suffer more disabling diseases and for a longer time than men, since 3 out of 10 have difficulty performing some daily tasks such as eating, bathing, walking, preparing or buying food, compared to 2 out of 10 men.

According to an analysis published by INMUJERES, it is due to the physiological changes that women suffer since adolescence, such as menstruation and in later stages such as pregnancy and menopause, which makes them the most vulnerable group to contracting sexually transmitted infections (STDs).

Dr. Verónica Montes UNAM explains that it is necessary to make young generations aware of taking care of themselves, preparing and demanding that women's human rights be respected in order to ensure a better lifestyle during old age. In addition to demanding that inequalities between men and women be addressed and social security promoted, with the aim of guaranteeing all people the care and the attention they require.

“Since we are children, we have to be aware of our life process and our aging process, to take care of our health, prepare ourselves educatively and fight for people's fundamental rights. Anything we do for the benefit of the elderly will one day we have to enjoy it,” said the researcher.

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