Understanding the implications of population ageing for mid-life women

Abstract

Population ageing now affects every region of the world, with all societies beginning to adopt a mature demographic profile. Falling fertility and increased longevity impact upon women's transitions as workers, carers, mothers and grandmothers, and also on the social structures within which these individual roles and responsibilities occur. Shifts from a high-mortality/high-fertility society to a low-mortality/low-fertility society and the ageing of family transitions have significant implications for both family relationships and kinship roles. Low-mortality/low-fertility results in an increase in the number of living generations, and a decrease in the number of living relatives within these generations. Women in mid-life will thus face increasing care demands as children of frail parents and mothers of adult working children with children. In addition, they will increasingly face mid and late life divorce, and the new demands of reconstituted or step families. This will occur within the framework of reduced extended kin to call upon for practical and psychological support.