Artiles L

Language: English
References: 0
Page: 48
PDF size: 121.77 Kb.

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I once met anthropologist Dolores Juliano, who wisely observed that women “don’t live more, they just die later.” Women’s longer lifespan is almost mythical, but our longer lives are fraught with excessive morbidity. And extended life expectancy itself – a phenomenon that has caught health systems unprepared – has boosted the role of “the caregiver” needed for older persons and the chronically ill.
In Cuba, middle-aged women are at the epicenter of family dynamics; the majority of them still work, even though they may have reached retirement age; and they are the caregivers for children and aging parents alike. As they get older themselves, these women more than men have had to change their life plans, leave their work, and dedicate themselves entirely to people in their care, bearing the guilt that arises when tension and stress convert to irritability — usually towards the one in their care.