Dementia disproportionately affects women whether living with dementia or supporting someone living with dementia in aged care, a fact largely ignored in the final report of the Aged Care Royal Commission, an analysis by QUT health law researchers has found.
- Analysis of the RC into Aged Care Quality and Safety Report finds heavily gendered aspects of dementia ignored
- More women experience dementia, most care partners of people with dementia are women
- Report failed to bring gender into dementia care policy, leaving women with dementia and women care partners socially and economically devalued in the Australian aged care system
Dr Kristina Chelberg (pictured, above), from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, said the gendered experiences of women with dementia and the unpaid work of women care partners of people with dementia in aged care were overlooked in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s (ACRC) final report.
Dr Chelberg and Associate Professor Linda Steele, from University of Technology Sydney, explored the representation of women, dementia and aged care in the ACRC that informed the ‘once-in-a-generation’ reforms contained in the new Aged Care Act, in an article published in the Journal of Aging Studies.
Dr Chelberg said the Act failed to address gendered issues of dementia aged care even though 63 per cent of people with dementia are women and 75 per cent of care partners of people with dementia are women.
“Using the ACRC’s final report as a case study we found it reflected global patterns, where the standard or normative gendered structure of aged care shaped both women’s experiences of dementia, and supporting/or advocating for someone with dementia,” Dr Chelberg said.
“In particular, the harms experienced by women with dementia in aged care were overlooked, while the feminised labour of women care partners was taken for granted.
“The ACRC was explicitly required to inquire into dementia and dementia care, as well as action to be taken to address findings of substandard care including mistreatment, abuse and systemic failures.”
More information
To read the original media article, visit QUT news.
The research article by Dr Chelberg and Dr Steele, “Hidden in plain sight: Women and gendered dementia dynamics in the Australian Aged Care Royal Commission”, is available in the Journal of Aging Studies.
