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Forbes Magazine: Is Caring for Aging Parents Unfair to Women?
Estimates are that 60 million families are caring for an aging or disabled parent at home and that 80%-90% of the care givers are women.
The average care giver earns less on average than her male counterpart and only 50% of women caregivers are able to keep their jobs during care giving which drastically impacts access to employer health benefits and retirement savings.
Particularly hard hit are women who have aging parents and children at home; 69% of them report having to leave work early, arrive late or miss work entirely to meet care giving duties.
Most home health workers and elder companions make notoriously low salaries, often without benefits.
Women with siblings who are unwilling to pitch in or who believe one sibling should do so for free because ‘its family’ should advocate for themselves and demand that available financial resources within the family be deployed for the care of the aging parent. One way is for the care giver sibling to draw up a contract with an attorney between themselves and their siblings outlining care duties as well as compensation.
Non care giving siblings could be asked to manage bills, do shopping, manage medications, or assist in travel to doctors and specialists.
