Women’s plight in later years examined

Popular 1980s TV series The Golden Girls provided viewers with a model of supportive and affordable housing for a quartet of older women. Sophia, daughter Dorothy and her friends Rose and Blanche shared life’s ups and downs including physical, mental and sexual health issues.

In The Astonishing Lives of Older Women, Toronto journalist Moira Welsh examines how Canada’s growing cohort of women over 60 are increasingly facing hard choices in terms of financial stability, housing and personal relationships. Welsh has researched these issues for her Toronto Star articles on aging and consulted with experts to provide an in-depth look at the serious challenges older women are experiencing.

Using the stories of three middle-class women, Welsh shows how life changes such as motherhood, job switches, divorce and widowhood have an enormous impact on women’s ability to live a safe and secure life in older age. Susan, 76, was forced to live in her rusty Ford Focus, sleeping in parking lots for months because she couldn’t afford an apartment on her basic pension. Pat longs for a meaningful relationship with a man her age, but realizes she’s competing against younger women and her tight budget restricts social opportunities. Elizabeth led a comfortable life; at 84, she’s afraid her modest investments might not stretch over another 10-15 years, especially if her health declines.

Welsh says the three women’s situations are shared with many others. “They managed husbands, did the domestic labour, worked outside the house, spent their money on children and sometimes buried those husbands, if not literally then emotionally.”

Welsh includes statistics showing the pension gap between Canadian men and women, with women only receiving 83 cents for every dollar men get — due in part to the difference between what men and women earn on average. In 1997, the gender gap was 37 per cent; it decreased to 28 per cent by 2021.

Women are also more likely to take time off for child care responsibilities, which can reduce lifelong earnings and negatively affect future pension payments. Typically women have also been employed in sectors where employers don’t offer a pension plan. The number of companies offering such plans is decreasing, and if a worker can’t afford to pay into a personal savings plan, they become dependent on federal pension payments.

Canada and Quebec pension plans offer a maximum monthly payment of $1,433; Old Age Security pays a maximum of $730 monthly to those aged 65 to 74, and $800 to those aged 75 and over; and the Guaranteed Income Supplement is only payable to those whose annual income is below approximately $22,000. With rising rental costs and a lack of affordable housing for low- income Canadians, many older people are in a precarious housing situation.

In order to find a safe and pleasant place to live among their peers, some women are sharing accommodations, with a female house or condo owner renting rooms to women or a group of women pooling their money to buy a dwelling. Welsh describes a few of these alternative housing arrangements that work — until a participant’s health fails.

She also explores the dilemma of social isolation among Canada’s elderly, and how financial stress limits the ability of many older people to take part in social activities.

While Welsh primarily writes about women over 60, The Astonishing Lives of Older Women holds a cautionary message for younger women who might not be aware of how the decisions they are making now regarding their careers and relationships will influence their future ability to enjoy their retirement and old age. The book holds useful information for women of all ages.

Andrea Geary is a freelance writer in Selkirk.