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	<< Back "DAWN" Newsletter of The DAWN CENTER Utilizing the Power and Experience of the Elderly in Society Women's Association for a Better Aging Society/Osaka Yoshiko Yamada, Deputy Representative Introduction According to the "Abridged Life Tables for Japan 2002," released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on July 11, 2003, the average life expectancies of the Japanese are 85.23 years for women and 78.32 for men, reaching a new high. It means that today 54.2% of men and 75.9% of women live to be 80 years old. These figures are significant, because the most serious problems concerning an aging society in Japan today are the increase of older senior citizens (people aged 75 and over) and the existence of elderly women who heavily outnumber their male counterparts. Changing Social Structure and Women The life cycle for both women and men in Japan is changing as they live longer, but this affects women more than men. In post-war Japan, with the exception of the "baby-boom generation," those who were born immediately after World War II, the number of children per family has drastically decreased and now most married couples have only one or two children. This is partly because people favor the idea of having and raising fewer children in more comfortable circumstances. In 2002, the birth rate, that is the total number of children a woman bears during her lifetime, declined to 1.32. The trend toward a declining birthrate is combined with the aging population spreading throughout the world. I would like to pay attention to the relation between an aging society and the "M-shaped labor force rate," one of the most noticeable working patterns for Japanese women. Many Japanese women quit their jobs when they give birth to their first child, dedicate themselves to raising children for a certain period, and go back to work when their children are grown, forming the M-shaped labor force rate which is said to be unique to Japan. Higher education for women, an improved social system, including the enforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law between Men and Women, and the outsourcing of household functions have made it easier for women to go out to work, increasing the number of working women. However, we must not overlook the fact that the M-shaped labor pattern, in which a woman gets a full-time job after she graduates from school, quits her job when she gives birth to her first child and starts working again as a part-time worker when her children are grown up, has firmly taken root. Women's careers are interrupted because the burdens of housework, child-raising, nursing care, and other unpaid work at home are imposed almost entirely on women, which can be described as a division of labor by gender role. Since women are forced to stop working, they cannot make full use of medical insurance, pension, nursing care insurance and other social security systems which full-time employees are entitled to. Their lives after retirement are not fully supported by pensions. As a result, the economic disparity which women experienced as employed workers also affects them when they become old. Most women have less economic power than men and grow old as a member of the economically handicapped. Old Age and a Gender-Equal Society The movement for the elimination of discrimination against women, which has gained momentum all over the world since the International Women's Year of 1975, has brought about great changes in politics and the social system in Japan. The Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society, enacted in 1999, was epoch-making in that it stipulated that men and women are equal in their rights and responsibilities in society. Old age visits men and women equally, and for this reason, men and women should be treated equally in their older years. However, elderly women are often treated unfairly just because they have gone through menopause and are no longer sex objects. The human rights of elderly women, who are also economically handicapped for the reasons mentioned above, should not be infringed upon. Like all other living creatures, human beings are born, mature, and grow old. In a gender-equal society, everyone should be guaranteed freedom and dignity as a human being and enjoy a fruitful life irrespective of his/her age or gender. Longevity as a Result of a Spiritually Affluent Society "White Paper on Longevity for 2003," complied by the Cabinet Office, predicts that in the early part of the 21st century a full-scale aging society, which is unprecedented in history, will visit all the nations of the world. There is no example to follow. We will pioneer a totally new world. The labor force has shrunk to the level where a fundamental revision of the social structure including social security reforms is needed. Under these circumstances, the "Second World Assembly on Aging" was convened in Madrid, Spain, in April 2002. One of the participating groups from Japan reported on the "nursing care insurance system," part of the improved social security system in Japan. In response, participants from developing countries mentioned that in their nations improvement to the social security system should be given priority, though introducing a nursing care insurance system for the elderly is nothing but an ideal, even if the disparities of wealth and social structure between Japan and their nations are taken into consideration. Faced with such harsh realities of developing countries, we were reminded of the disparities among nations and regions of the world. However, it is indeed a great progress that thousands of elderly people from all over the world participated in this world assembly on aging. A political declaration was issued at the end of the assembly, which highly appreciated longevity as one of the most significant successes human beings have achieved, and stressed that the power and experience of the elderly could be utilized as social resources. With an unprecedented super-aging society close at hand, now is the time to get rid of the mistaken image of the elderly as social burdens. A New Era Initiated by a New Generation of Senior Citizens Since the International Women's Year of 1975, women have changed dramatically in their consciousness and have aggressively become involved in various activities. Among others, women who were middle-aged in the 1970s and 1980s have witnessed these changes with deep emotion. They are the generation of women who have brilliant intelligence as well as broad experience but were kept out of paid work under the social structure of the time. They started to learn with heightened awareness and an ambition to create a new society. They learned about family consciousness and the changing family structure. The knowledge they acquired was enriched by their own experiences. They realized that families cannot bear all the burdens of nursing care for the elderly. They deliberated on how an approaching aging society should be, gathered information, and formed networks. Thus, a new generation of people was born who understand the importance of putting an idea into action through various kinds of volunteer activities. Their steady efforts were the driving force behind the introduction of the nursing care insurance system, translating a slogan into reality. The women, called active full-time housewives in the 1980s, have reached old age and begun to act as pioneers of a new era. However, it is also true that many elderly women cannot keep up with today's information society. It is a great challenge for the new generation of pioneering seniors to reduce the disparity between social classes and to create a society in which every elderly person has access to information. In every corner of Japan, there are people who share these ambitions and actively engage themselves in volunteer efforts. Whenever I have a chance to communicate with some of these people, I am impressed by their freewheeling exchange of ideas based on flexibility and generosity peculiar to the elderly. I am moved by their enthusiasm and eagerness to make an approaching aging society fulfilling and fruitful. An 80-year old woman in our group is always careful about her appearance. She says, although she is old, she wants to look nice and fit into the surrounding environment. I am looking forward to celebrating a new era pioneered by this new generation of senior citizens, who are indeed important social resources and are also beautiful, in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape. A brochure of the "Second World Assembly on Aging" Page Top Copyright (C) DawnCenter. All Rights Reserved.