The Burden of Caring

Women are faced with an array of social restraints throughout life and it is no surprise that these adversities should be reflected at end of life. The following blog will examine end- of- life- care policy using a feminist perspective. You may wonder why the policies on end of life care would concern you- well for one, we all age and will eventually face the problems that the elderly face with lack of support and services, and secondly there is no doubt that the Canada’s demographics is changing as the baby boomers are amidst retirement and soon after will be facing end of life. This in turn will tax the health care system tremendously and as demands for health services increase without the fiscal adjustments made to support an large aging cohort- one must wonder… who will pick up the slack?- well women of course!

Due to increased longevity of Canada’s population, the process of dying has been prolonged and has become a costly enterprise for the state. It can be assumed that individuals use more health services when close to death than at other times in their lives. Therefore to free up costs, the state has essentially relegated care of the elderly to the private domain. This is all well and good if these responsibilities were distributed equally among citizens, however, this is not the case. A study conducted in Britain reported that three times as many elderly live with daughters as opposed to sons. In addition, those elderly without a close female relative were more likely to be institutionalized regardless of the condition of their health. This can be extrapolated to the Western world where similar patterns of care-giving occur. Does this sound equitable?

Contemporary policies concerning end of life care are often reflective of the values of society at large. In Canada, no policies actually pertain to death directly, but those policies in the realm of health and social care influence the circumstances surrounding death and are beset with assumptions that serve to reinforce the patriarchal system. These policies and services often come in the form of respite, caregiver tax credits and lastly compassionate leave of absence from work. The very need for respite indicates a failure within the existing system. Respite in the form of in- home and out of home day care has been a well documented need of carers who request temporary relief from duties. If the labor of care was equally distributed between genders the conditions that make respite a necessary social service would not exist. Caregivers Tax credit is another avenue used to provide resources to the elderly that is secured with strict eligibility requirements and rarely exceeds 4,000$ annually. This amount grossly undervalues the work that is done in caring for the old. Also, this places resources in the hands of caregivers assuming that they will allocate them in the best interest of the elderly - which – although this is hoped- is not always reality.

Reinstated in literature on end of life is that the elderly “prefer to die at home”. This tends to overt attention from a pivotal point of controversy namely where the responsibility lies in ensuring that services are available and accessible. When left unchallenged this ‘policy of inaction’ bears grave consequences for women who are left to burden the needs of an aging population. In this current system women are disadvantaged three fold; first in that are primary caregivers and provide unpaid labor to support the elderly, secondly that women have greater longevity and are therefore more likely to be dependent on the state, and thirdly that higher proportions of women than men are employed in the social sector providing end of life services and therefore cuts made to this sector means loss of jobs for women. Cuts to publicly funded facilities shifts paid labor into private sphere of unpaid labor. This shift renders ethics of elderly care invisible and free from public scrutiny. It doesn’t allow for state reinforced standards of end of life for its citizens. It is deeply sinister and rests on faulty assumptions that family members will 1) accept the care-giving responsibilities of their elderly 2) equally distribute these responsibilities between genders, the family and the community and 3) will have the ability and resources to meet the needs of their aging loved ones.

In sum, dying has become a women’s issue as the state continually exonerates itself from the responsibilities of caring for the old. Canada needs to revamp the current approach to end-of-life care in a way that addresses the unequal distribution of caring labor between genders. Furthermore, the responsibility of regulating that elderly are treated ethically during this critical point in their lives is of utmost importance. What makes this matter more pressing is that the baby boomers are slowly approaching end of life. It has been noted that by 2026, one Canadian in five will have reached the age of 65. At the present time, Canada is ill-equipped to deal with the financial and social pressures that will surely accompany this shifting demographic.