To Women Caregivers On International Women’s Day: Seek Gender Balance

How many family caregivers are women? Who most often takes the lead in planning for and carrying out the needed tasks to manage the needs of an aging parent at home? Women often take on the primary childcare role in families and when parents age, they are most often the ones who take on the primary parent care role too. We see a bias in our society that considers caregiving “a woman’s job”. Is it?

In families where there are no female adult children, I see many courageous and willing men who do the job of aging parent care very well. But they remain in the minority. At AgingParents.com, where we consult with families of aging parents and other loved ones, the one who makes the first contact for advice is nine times out of ten the daughter or daughter-in-law of the elder.

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