The Feminine Face of Ageing in Singapore

THE FACE of an old-old person in Singapore who is beyond 80 years old is likely to be female, and eight out of ten would be widowed.

She is likely to be totally dependent on her children for financial support since a lifetime of poor education, low paying jobs, and unpaid labour such as care giving and domestic work – had left her with little or no savings for old age.

She is also more likely to be affected by age-related disabilities than men as women account for twice the number of older people above 65 who were semi-ambulant and non-ambulant - and a significant number lived alone.

This portrait of an older person is a snapshot of what the older population of Singapore had looked like in 2000 based on findings from a research study commissioned by AWARE and TSAO Foundation.

The 2004 AWARE-TSAO Foundation report on Women and Income Security in an ageing Singapore population is a trend analysis of existing data on women in Singapore from 1980 to 2000.

The study shows that Singapore is fast ageing, and the ‘feminization of ageing’ – a global trend of women outliving and outnumbering men in the older age groups has already taken place.

The problem of 'feminization of ageing' is further compounded by higher rates of widowhood, disability and financial dependency among older women as compared to older men; making older women most vulnerable to chronic poverty and ill health in old age.

Cycle of old age dependency

This total reliance on the family for old age is likely to be perpetuated by the next generation of older women – women now in their 40s and 50s with less than secondary school education and limited recognizable skills. They will form the future old-old in another 30, 40 years.

Most of these lowly educated middle aged women currently work in the informal sector which does not contribute to CPF, the main source of old age financial protection for Singapore workers. It is likely that these older women of the future will not have sufficient income security in their old age unless their situation is addressed now.

Policy implications

The AWARE-TSAO Foundation study has shown that women and men experience old age very differently, and any review of the current CPF and social protection policies in Singapore should take into account gender differences in ageing, and the needs of older women. The most vulnerable are the oldest old (aged 80+) and the future old (now in their 40s and 50s) who are poorly educated and unskilled.