Challenges of old age: public policies, gender and intergenerational relations

Abstract

The aim of this project is to provide elements for reflection on the new meanings that gender and old age has acquired in the contemporary world, taking into account its insertion into two networks of relationships: the network involved in policies implemented by the executive branch and in the proposals that have been generated by the councils for the elderly rights; and the network of solutions that have been created within families or groups of the elderly to meet the challenges of aging, particularly when the more advanced stages of old age are at stake. Based on a qualitative methodology, it will be explored several types of textual and ethnographic materials related to three orders of questions: public policies focused on the elderly issues; councils for the elderly rights; set of laws to regulate the profession of caregiver. The main interest is to identify who is the elderly target of these policies, how their needs and their family needs are identified and carried for and how the elderly and their caregivers evaluate those actions. The hypothesis is that one of the most difficult barriers to overcome is the assumption that it is the desire of the elderly to be cared for by the family. This assumption, typical of countries where public policies are shortsighted, tends to reduce public action to the creation of stimuli so that the family - and in this case, especially woman - assume what is considered its natural function. It is therefore important to understand how families react to these stimuli and compare the Brazilian case with other national contexts in which the belief in family duties for elderly care is less present. (AU)