Older women : Issues and vulnerabilities

Since the last century, the world has been witnessing ageing of population across the globe (Gore, 1992). The World Population Ageing 2019(United Nations, 2019), projects that by 2050 the population of people over 65 years and above will rise to 1.5 billion from 703 million in 2019. Along with the growth in the absolute number of the elderly populace the share of the persons over 65 years is forecasted to increase from 9 percent in 2019 to 16 percent by 2050. The process of ageing universally shows a greater number of older women than men in the later years of life. Over two-thirds of the world’s oldest (85 years and above) population are women. This is mainly because life expectancy of females is higher which means they outlive their male counterparts. (Kishore, Kohli & Grewal, 2018) . While on the one hand longer life expectancy is a victory for women over deprivations and marginalisations of this gender throughout life (Kishore, Kohli & Grewal, 2018), on the other hand, for many women older age is plagued with a series of challenges like social and financial marginalisation. Increased life expectancy is often not always accompanied with healthy living ( Davidson, Digiacomo, McGarth , 2011).