Aging and social networks: A perspective on gender disparity in India.

ABSTRACT

In India, the "feminization of aging" is one of the areas in which prejudice most frequently occurs. Noticeably, poverty, isolation, changes in residential care, and weak institutional support push women into several vulnerabilities. This study demonstrates that elderly women are often denied basic rights and are compelled to reside in old-age homes; the situation is worse for elderly widowed women. We examine the claims that the lives of elderly women are more precarious due to their lower literacy, limited social exposure, and monetary dependence. Being women, old, and widowed, they are affected by triple vulnerabilities that require concrete policy implications.