Elderly Female Groups in India: Critical Perspectives for Social & Policy Innovation

Abstract

Once an honored phase of life, aging in the modern era isn’t just afflicted by sociocultural stigma and bias, it is also under-addressed by public health and welfare governance, further exacerbated by a lack of intersectional approaches toward building equity. Gender, economic status, access to vital resources, local conditions, and a plethora of factors both public and private have a disproportionately unilateral impact on the elderly’s quality of life. A silent crisis has been unfolding globally, ignored by mainstream media and lawmakers alike, but while more developed nations provide for a wider range of social security benefits that may help alleviate some of senior citizens’ pain points, developing countries’ welfare programs are under-resourced, under-equipped, and predictably under-funded. Nevertheless, developing countries can turn to a range of governance measures that can directly improve senior citizens’ access to community and public resources necessary for self-actualization. Measures studied also include programs that provide required interventions for improved mental and physical health outcomes, a key concern for ageing people, as well as specialized pension schemes. This chapter presents vital approaches and strategies, proven or promising, with a comparative case study of governance for the elderly in Nepal and Norway, before listing several recommendations for improving the condition of elderly women in India, and perhaps useful even beyond South Asia.