Where is elderly care in the Czech Republic heading? Historical and gender perspectives in relation to informal carers

0480489 - SOÚ 2018 SI eng C - Konferenční příspěvek (zahraniční konf.)
Maříková, Hana
Where is elderly care in the Czech Republic heading? Historical and gender perspectives in relation to informal carers.
Soočanje z demografskimi izzivi. Ljubljana: Institut Jožef Stefan Ljubljana, 2017, s. 16-19.
[Informacijska družba – IS 2017. Ljubljana (SI), 09.10.2017-13.10.2017]
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378025
Klíčová slova: elderly car * gender welfare regimes * Czech Republic
Kód oboru RIV: AO - Sociologie, demografie
https://is.ijs.si/archive/proceedings/2017/files/Zbornik%20-%20F.pdf

The issue of setting elderly care policies and changing them is mostly monitored in West European countries, with some exceptions. Therefore, this work focuses on the shift in the setting of elderly care policies in the Czech Republic as one of the post-socialist countries in the period from 1948 until now. I ask what the identified shift means with regard to gender in/equality as far as informal carers, who are mostly women (partners, daughters or daughters-in-law, or female neighbours and friends), are concerned. Leitner´s typology is used to analyse elderly care policies in CR. A mixed-method approach was used in the analysis, combining several data sources (policy documents, administrative data, statistics, and secondary use of qualitative and quantitative data). After 1989, the gendered nature of care was prolonged, including potential negative impacts on carers (women): A) In case of fully (or heavily) dependent person, the negative effects of elderly care include (forced) economic inactivity due to the provision of care, higher possibility of subsequent unemployment or under-employment, a low level of income during the period of care and following this period, and also a lower assigned pension (when the low amount of financial remuneration of care contributes to feminisation of poverty as well as feminisation of poverty of women at older age). B) In case of care for a partially dependent person, it is usually a double burden placed on women as they often have a paid job while providing care. C) In both cases, long-term care for a senior may affect the physical and mental health of the individual when the burden of care is too high (year-round without any rest – free time to recover).
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0276266