Counseling Aging and Social Justice

COUNSELING

Counseling: Social Justice and Aging

Psychological Impacts upon Women Due to Gender-Based Wage Discrimination and Feminization of Aging

Counseling is based on the provision of interventions that help sustain psychological well-being. The professional values have to be kept in line with the ethical values of the patient so that the therapeutic process is conducted smoothly for interventions that serve the best for the selected population segments for treatment. This paper aims to examine the social justice and aging issue in the world and provide a viable solution and suitable intervention.

Literature Review

Aging

Aging well is the most prioritized area of the medical field since a greater portion of the global population is now aging. It is deemed implant to provide physical and mental well-being interventions so that the goal of successful aging is obtained. The lifestyles, health activities, social participation, and domestic and environmental factors are under study to depict what influences the most in successful aging for people, particularly over 60 years of age. The medical experts and their endeavors for maximized quality of life (QoL) for aging individuals have been geared towards realizing their potential for physical, mental, and social engagement (Halaweh et al., 2018). The self-reported themes coming from the old population comprise a sense of well-being, possessing physical and mental health, and positive feelings towards life when it comes to healthy aging (Halaweh et al., 2018). Not only this, but active aging is now an emerging concept that should be focused in line with healthy aging as leisure activities, diet, and physical exertion is the possibilities for optimizing opportunities and improved quality of life.

A synthesized literature review study revealed certain factors of successful aging, such as inner feelings of happiness and satisfaction, physical activity, social interactions, and personal attitudes of older adults towards their aging (Estebsari et al., 2020). The pleasant inner feeling that they can still participate in life to the full extent and a resultant bloom in the personality are the signs of successful aging. This could also contribute to self-care and gaining awareness of one’s well-being so that old persons who are suffering from diseases like hypertension or diabetes, etc., should be able to self-manage themselves in a better way. Again, this would be fruitful in gaining a superior quotient of QoL as older adults would be better equipped with self-adherence of caretaking individually.

Health practitioners have their findings while working with the older population since they perceived the changing demographics create different implications for formulating optimized interventions for healthy aging. They disclosed that while working with this segment, social and spiritual components contributed to their healthy aging (Dev et al., 2020). The aging individuals wanted to be free and less dependent on others for their survival through these years. This included self-care and more fulfillment of physiological needs for improved mobility. Cognitive, encompassing proactive and conscious control over their lives, were the influencers of the positive attitudes of older adults, deemed critical for maintaining a higher quality of life. Moreover, the social component includes social support from family and friends. Greater connectivity leads to more involvement in daily activities, giving a rise to improved contribution toward society and an amplified sense of self.

Feminization of poverty refers to the greater proportion of the population that would suffer from poverty would, be females or children (Woehrle & Engelmann, 2008, p. 861). It directs to the understanding of the feminization of aging since research has corroborated that a greater proportion of the global population would be women when they grow old (Yang et al., 2020). With the gender discrimination in pay, women have been given fewer opportunities for professional advancement and reduced access to highly influential work positions, affecting their decision-making skills. The social and economic stability becomes doubtful with lesser resources when they age, leading to social injustice for their old age survival. These restrictions in gender roles and the relevant performance limit their participation in real life, and most of the stereotyping only refer to their child-bearing or home caretaking abilities.

In some of the under-developed societies of the world, where there are limited resources, women have fewer chances of access to healthcare, education, food, and home security since employment opportunities are highly unavailable. In such situations, the legal protection in old age is inferior, even if it is for domestic violence (The World Bank, 2018). In the work context, the feminization of aging reflects the majority of women experiencing gender-based discrimination, particularly for a wage that forces aging women to meet life difficulties during these years (Cepellos, 2021). It has been investigated that women have longer life expectancy than men, which delivers the finding that more women in old age would be present in the whole population, signifying a large part of the population under the threat of wage discrimination and ageism (Cepellos, 2021).

Gender-based wage discrimination

For every dollar paid to males, females are paid only 79% of the wage (Schieder & Gould, 2016). The earning differences contribute to the gender biases at workplaces despite having equal qualifications, experiences, or expertise. According to human capital theory, this unfairness is due to women’s low possession of the ‘human capital,’ which knowledge, talent, skills, and experience are relevant to the job (Grybaite, 2006). It is assumed that women have to invest most of their hours in taking care of the children and lesser time, especially after delivery baby, for which a gender gap in earnings is witnessed. Working intermittently and part-time forces women to withdraw from the working population soon, leading to a higher wage gap. The gender role theory states that men and women have their determined roles in school, home, personal interactions, family balancing, and even employment that they follow (Brynin, 2017). Therefore, it could be explained that societal segregation leads to wage discrimination due to their social pressures and expectations from each role.

However, with changing dynamics of society, greater divorce rates, and single parenting for both genders, it has been observed that working with full commitment to serve their families has been on the rise (Grybaite, 2006). This leads women to ask for better opportunities for professional development and higher job posts with better salaries. The pay practices are perceived to be socially constructed since the work done by women, no matter how complex or hard it is, or maybe even at par with that of men, is occupationally ‘undervalued,’ proposing the pay discrimination with occupational feminization (Brynin, 2017).

With age, the social inequalities resulting from the wage gap could also be seen in the light of the life course approach. This theory denotes the accumulation of disadvantages over time and life for men and women separately since men are observed to gain incline in their wages as they age due to greater experience. In contrast, women face opposite circumstances (Toczek, Bosma & Peter, 2021). However, certain disadvantages could be due to low education levels and the resulting perks in working life for men and women; nevertheless, gender inequality in the labor market persists, having clear consequences on work-life trajectories for both genders over the life course.

Problems with aging women due to lesser financial security and pay disparity

As the larger part of the world population is based on the women population, leading to the fact that women would majorly represent the aging population, the existing gender gap for wages is causing financial security problems for women. Gender-based discrimination with an increasing feminization rate might lead to greater poverty in the aging years of these women since they are not empowered with equal growth opportunities compared to men and no equal pay chances for securing their old age (Serrao, 2015, p. 6). This causes stress and anxiety for women as care and social support are diminishing for the aging women due to social isolation and loneliness, especially when a spouse is either absent or no longer in the position to support his family financially.

Women live longer than men, which implies the social and economic vulnerabilities would be higher in the aging of this segment of the population with a higher percentage of women present in the entire global population (Serrao, 2015, p. 6; Yang et al., 2020). There are certain regions where women’s access to health, education, employment, and other life benefits is even minuscule that causing problems for them and their children when women grow old. A greater portion of the population, represented by women, grows old and grows poor- the actual feminization of aging- it would certainly be a matter of concern for the psychological health of women.

With women representing the larger part of the population, their aging and employment dimensions would be complicated. For instance, women have to take care of the household chores and children, for which they are also stereotyped in the workplace (Napley, 2021). However, as they age, old workers might be less productive but have strong work ethics and greater experience. They take fewer sick leaves and have seasoned problem-solving tactics compared to the younger generation. For women, the work progression prospects are still fewer, and gender pay disparity is still witnessed with minimum flexible working policies.

The psychological impact of the social issue

The previous section does not necessarily imply that women are at a greater disadvantage than men when they grow old or suffer more financially due to higher gender-based wage discrimination or the maximum portion of the population. It is said that there are sex differences in the brain’s aging as well. It means that women might be at greater risk of developing psychological problems such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, hypertension, autism spectrum disorder ASD, etc. due to higher levels of stress, leading to higher imbalances in hormonal changes and aging-related cellular processes that go complex with time (Bale & Epperson, 2015). The failure of society and the organizations to provide social and gender role equality for women causes health risks for females due to clear distinction in the gender pay gap and wage rates, causing serious stress and depression in the aging years (Batool, 2020).

The brain’s stress reactivity over a male or female’s life span is different since the brain’s perceptions and reactions depend on homeostasis and survival capabilities (Bale & Epperson, 2015). Hence the interventions have to be gender-based to devise appropriate interventions for the stress created due to gender-based wage discrimination and its impacts on the feminization of aging. The health impacts magnify when the age increases, and the resilience is minimized in stress response.

Many studies have indicated that women have high self-reported stress reactions, particularly to acute stressors (Goldfarb, Seo & Sinha, 2019). It has a strong physiological, and hormonal effect on their health since coping strategies for men and women appear different. It could be suggested that women show passive coping strategies whenever they experience stress while males actively engage in coping through ‘fight or flight reaction. Therefore, whenever females face gender discrimination in pay, which is a social injustice, their sense of well-being and emotional stability is hurt (Vigod & Rochon, 2020). They feel they are unrecognized and under-acknowledged for their efforts, which has led to more stress response rates among women, at least two-thirds of the ratio compared to men (Vigod & Rochon, 2020).

Plan to Improve the Situation/ Intervention

The declining health with increasing age is the sole concern that forms the basis of counseling intervention for women who are victims of feminization of aging and work-related and financial problems causing stress. Due to the gender-0discrimination that they already face in wage payments, this continues until their old age, when a maximum number of women have high life expectancies and a greater proportion of the population under this health risk.

For dealing with stress, depression, or anxiety related to financial insecurity stemming from gender-based discrimination and extending up to a large segment of the population, counselors have to respond to the situation immediately. Healthy or productive aging is planned to improve the situation and mitigate the mentioned issue’s adverse health impacts. Occupational therapy is deemed best for treating stress and depression in old age. Health-promoting activities and lifestyle changes are involved in the counseling intervention to improve older women’s quality of life (QoL) and personal health.

Cognitive-behavioral sleep strategies, physical exercise routine, healthy diet, and health education for reducing stress with self-management strategies are included in the occupational therapy for older women facing financial difficulties, feminization of aging, and resulting stress (Smallfield & Elliot, 2020). The counselor could advise progressive muscle relaxation exercises for cognitive sleep strategies before going to bed, listening to music, or book reading. Hygiene practices should also be taught before entering into the night, such as taking a hot shower, which would help obtain sleep goals or required sleep hours throughout the night (Smallfield & Elliot, 2020). Effectiveness could be monitored by gauging the sleep patterns.

A healthy diet and physical exercise cannot be overstated for healthy aging and keeping older women motivated to look forward to life despite having financial problems, stress, or insecurities due to feminization of aging or gender-based discrimination. They need to be psychologically trained that lifestyle modification could be their source of energy so that risks of nutritional frailty could be alleviated (Shlisky et al., 2017). Women who already siffer with some form of illness, such as diabetes or cholesterol during old age, need more attention regarding diet and exercise so that stress does not aggravate their condition. Obesity is the top concern that should be avoided under this therapy, for which intake of more fruits, vegetables, fresh juices, and less sugar, saturated fats, and oils are suggested. Social support at home could be instigated to monitor their routine, such as asking their children or spouse to help them achieve their goals and constantly reminding them that they have to fight with resilience. Energy needs should be met with greater mobility to keep them active and engaged so that nutritional deficiencies do not contribute to stress or anxiety. Social activity is only possible with a healthy body and productive aging.

For self-managing stress, there needs to be a strong provider-patient relationship (Clark et al., 2008). The health education for self-management of stress, which could be, for example, in the form of noting down the daily routine for fowling the stress-management exercises, like writing a journal or mingling with neighborhood friends who are of same old age to increase social activity, self-management is a call-for-action for such women at risk of stress and depression. The awareness of vulnerability to health is an essential part of occupational therapy in this regard.

References

Bale, T. L., & Epperson, C. N. (2015). Sex differences and stress across the lifespan. Nature Neuroscience, 18(10), 1413–1420. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4112

Batool, F. (2020). Gender discrimination at workplace and mental health of women: A systematic literature review. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/ Egyptology, 17(8), 622-633. https://archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/download/4454/4367/8503