Full Citation
Title: Gender Disparities of Older Adults in Southeast Michigan
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2011
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Abstract: Older adults in Southeast Michigan are more likely to be women. The male and female ratios of the population are roughly equal through youth and middle adulthood, but a gender imbalance develops with increasing age. The explanation for the gender imbalance later in life, of course, is that in general, older men suffer from higher mortality rates than their female counterparts. Because of the gender imbalance between males and females over the age of 65, women are more likely to be widowed. Further, because the imbalance increases with age, the rate of widowhood among women increases as they get older. The greater level of widowhood for women means that older women are more likely to live alone than older men, and therefore to be more at risk of insufficient social and physical support. Older women are also more likely to be financially disadvantaged when their spouses die. Women of earlier generations tended to have lower levels of education, were more likely to be homemakers or to be employed in lower-paid jobs with fewer retirement benefits, and therefore depend upon the retirement income of their spouses more than men do. For this reason, the loss of a spouse later in life has a greater potential to negatively affect the income of women. Gender differences in poverty, for the most part, show that women are at a distinct disadvantage to men. Some women are twice as likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts, such as those age 65 to 74 in Monroe, Oakland, and Washtenaw Counties, and those age 75 and above in Monroe, Oakland, and St. Clair Counties.
Url: http://www.iog.wayne.edu/sc_/seniors_count_no._2_1-27-11.pdf
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Authors: Jankowski, Thomas B; Booza, Jason C; Leach, Carrie A
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Publication Number: 2
Institution: Institute of Gerontology Wayne State University & Adult Well-Being Services
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Publisher Location: Detroit, MI
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Aging and Retirement, Gender, Poverty and Welfare
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