Daughters carry the burden of parental care
If you ask around, you’ll probably find that more of your female friends have had to care for their ageing parents than your male friends. Why is this? That’s what a recent study from Princeton University set out to learn.
“Sons provide a lower relative share of total parent care if they have a sister, whereas daughters provide a larger relative share if they have a brother,” sociology graduate student Angelina Grigoryeva found. “This finding suggests sons may pass on parent-care responsibilities to their sisters.”
Grigoryeva believes this may be due to society’s tendency to raise girls to become caregivers and homemakers, however the gender divide is even stronger in caring for elderly relatives than other responsibilities. “Gender inequality in elder care is more pronounced than in housework or child care,” she said.
However, the divide may be due to another reason entirely – the traditional beliefs of a generation who grew up in a society where women were expected to always take on the caregiver role. “It is possible that elderly women in need of care resist the caregiving efforts of sons,” Grigoryeva explained.
Postdoctoral fellow Marina Bastawrous from the University of Toronto agreed, telling CBS her own research found this to be true. “[Daughters] took on the caregiving role because they were the only female sibling and, in turn, their brother or brothers wouldn't do it,” she said. “On the other hand, daughters who had female siblings often talked about a more even distribution of responsibilities.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2015 Survey on Disability, Ageing and Carers, women accounted for 68.1 per cent of primary carers, and among people aged 55 to 64, the number of female primary carers was double that of men.
There’s also a divide in the caregiving duties carried out by men and women. “Women play a greater role than men in helping with personal and daily tasks, while men (except for spouses) more often undertake occasional help, such as doing repairs, putting together items like furniture, or installing equipment in the home,” writes Bittman et al.
Have you noticed this gender divide between sons and daughters caring for their ageing parents? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.