From the day a woman consents to growing old, her situation changes.

Up to
that time she was still a young woman, intent on struggling against a
misfortune that was mysteriously disfiguring and deforming her; now she
becomes a different being, unsexed but complete: an old woman. It may be
considered that the crisis of her "dangerous age" has been passed. But it
should not be supposed that henceforth her life will be an easy one. When she
has given up the struggle against the fatality of time, another combat begins:
she must maintain a place on earth.(1)
It arises from the combined influence of physiology, culture, institutions, and
economic choice, in ways that we take as given (Martin and Preston, 1994).

Background:

The ageing of the world's population is one of the most significant developments in
the twentieth century. In 1990, almost half a billion people were 60 years old and
above. By 2030, the number will triple, to 1.4 million. Most of this growth will take
place in developing countries, over half of it in Asia, and more than a quarter in China
alone.1 In India, while the total population is expected to rise by 49 per cent between
1991 and 2016, the number of aged is expected to increase by 107 per cent, and by the
year 2026 the aged will number 179 million, making up about 13.3 per cent of the
total population of 1,331 million. In most countries, older women are much more
numerous than men. 1
By the early 1990s, 45 per cent of the world's population lived in urban areas.
Therefore, older people, most of the women, are often left behind in rural areas,
without support. in high-income countries today more than 17 per cent of the
population are over 60, in low-income countries fewer than7 per cent are over 60.12
The decline of traditional support systems affects women and men differently. The
gender dimension has received very little attention by researchers and practitioners. a
modern industrialized society associates great age with diminished economic
function.

Older women are more likely to be poor than men. During their lives, women
generally have fewer possibilities to earn and save money. Their labour is mostly
unpaid, irregular. There is no recognition to the value of household work. Women
have less access to formal pensions as they work most of the time in informal sectors.
Cultural practices and legal systems discriminate against women in many countries.
Often, women have less access to property and inheritance and a lower social status
than men.

In the United States, one third of single women over 65 lived in poverty in 1986,
twice the rate for the rest of the population. A study of seven developed countries
revealed that an elderly person living alone had less income than an elderly couple
(adjusted to differences in household size). That is especially true when the single
person is an elderly woman. In India, for example, households headed by widows are
by far the poorest group. Their spending is 70 per cent below the national income
For men their social image is that of not being emotional, being bread earners and
always entitled to higher position every where in society. This is also a problem
because to carry that role is a difficult job in a society which is so much hierarchical.
And so it is difficult to satisfy that social image which may not be giving the
messages of being someone in society at large, but in family they have that in ample.
And that contradictory situation creates havoc in men’s psychology. In gender
workshop which we had in the family welfare agency this social image and associated
findings were confirmed. Out of 37 men and women (26 Women and 11 men approx)
all had experienced battering as battered woman or as battered men. This is a most
important finding in context of intervention addressing self esteem because the effects
of being battered can be very deep rooted.

Self Esteem as a method of Intervention

So, when I was asked to chose the subject for presentation and submission I chose self
esteem. Because in whatever I have worked with women in the capacity of an activist,
I have found the value of self esteem and sense of self worth and its importance to
one’s life as very crucial to adult life on maturity. Subjective and social cultural norms
make the issue much more complicated along with gender, age etc. Even in
psychological terms it is important to look at self esteem as a complex process where
at each stage of life the nature of adjustment or maladjustment would have its additive
effect and across age and gender, region and religion, and in Indian context, the caste
effects

At all levels, micro (family), meso (peer group, associations) or macro (Village, state
and international global level), at all these different level environments, the essence of
well being of any human being is self esteem. And in case of elderly it is more so
because of the social, cultural and morals and existing values have been changing
rapidly from the time when they were in their prime.

To understand the concept: self esteem in elderly people

The self esteem is a concept which is a ratio of success and potentials. And elderly
lack in both, there is no sense of success as it is past glory, and as well as no
possibility of realising any potential in present situation.

Elderly persons have the issues of the ageing process due to failing bodies, loss of
energy and circumstances and social construct which cannot give them sense of self
esteem. The hardships in life, the addictions, abuse of the body and without realising
the process starts. The wear and tear, abuse, ill treatment of the body all has a
cumulative effect on the body. Retirement in case of women brings in more
responsibilities and for men it brings emptiness, purposelessness. Concepts like self
esteem needs to look at subjective factor and to look at life as continuous process. The
sense of success for elderly is mainly in terms of past life, and to sense that past is
also with lot of complexities of life.

Branden, in fact, describes [self esteem] as the one common denominator in all
neurotic problems. He sees them either as direct expression of or a defense against
inadequate self-esteem. Yet the subject has not received the kind of attention that it
deserves. Unless our self-esteem plummets to the extent that we can no longer handle
our lives effectively, we are content to leave it alone. The reason is that few of us are
really conscious of its wide-ranging impact on our lives. By Suma Varughese

How much do you think you are worth? No, don't check out your bank balance.
Look within and assess your self-esteem. For the true
http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/personal-growth/self-love/esteem.asp

How we deal with its wide ranging impact of this wide range is based on our changing
needs at different junctures of life.
Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" expertly classified five fundamental human
needs from the most primitive to the most refined. At the first level as infants and
dependent children, we have physiological needs that require the provision and
support of others for basic human sustenance and shelter. The second level of need—
more psychological—is that of safety and security, which comes from the comfort of
our immediate surroundings, our neighborhood, our laws, our health care
institutions, nationhood, and our religious beliefs. The third level is love and the
comfort of belonging. The fourth and fifth levels are those which are the most
psychological and rewarding: self-esteem derived from what one produces and the
recognition that results from that accomplishment; and self-actualization coming from
realizing one's true potential and fulfillment of living life to the fullest.
Elderly Self-Esteem: What Can We Do About It? May 2004 issue of eNN of E. PA
and SW NJ www.newseasons.comwhich

For Korman(1970), self-esteem reflects the degree to which the individual “sees him
[her]self as a competent, need-satisfying individual” (p. 32); thus, the high self-esteem
individual has “sense of personal adequacy and a sense of having achieved need
satisfaction in the past” (Korman, 1966: 479). In addition to reflecting a cognition
about oneself, Pelham and Swann (1989) note that self-esteem also consists of an
affective (liking/disliking) component – high self-esteem people like who and what
they are. Thus, people high in global self-esteem agree with statements like “I am a
person of worth, on an equal plane with others” and “I am satisfied with myself”
(from Rosenberg’s, 1965, widely used measure of self-esteem).

We are talking about the organisation, institutional intervention process and so it is

also important to understand the self esteem in context of organisation.

Building upon the notion that self-esteem is a hierarchical and multifaceted

phenomenon, and Coopersmith’s (1967) observation that self-esteem indicates the
extent to which the individual believes him/herself to be capable, significant, and
worthy; Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham (1989) introduced the concept of
organization-based self-esteem. Organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) is defined as
the degree to which an individual believes him/herself to be capable, significant, and
worthy as an organizational member.

Here is the mechanism adopted by the elderly and that is very important to understand
while looking at self esteem as a way to deal with issues.

A more sophisticated set of cognitive strategies used to maintain a positive self-

concept. Older individuals may not need to devalue a domain to maintain a good
feeling about that domain. Instead, they are able to rescale their goals and focus on
the positive aspects of the domain. Another possibility is that older adults resort to
other strategies to maintain self-esteem, such as social integration and social
comparisons (Heidrich & Ryff, 1993). Heidrich, S. M.,&Ryff, C. D. (1993). Physical
and mental health in later life: The self-system as mediator. Psychology & Aging,
8(3), 327-338.

Experiments and experiences all over the world

In this experiment the zest for life is indicative of self esteem, capability and potential
component is looked into to carry out the experiment.

Researchers in this case studied 320 Swedish octogenarians for 10 years. At the
beginning of the study they used measures to distinguish between those who had a
high zest for life and a happy and optimistic attitude with those who did not score
high on these indicators. Some of the questions used to test for "zest was: "I am just
as happy as when I was younger;" "These are the best years of my life;" and "I
have gotten more breaks in life than most of the people I know." Their concern was
whether the two groups would differ in terms of longevity. The results were dramatic:
Those who had the lowest Zest for Life scores had a risk of dying that was twice as
high than those in the highest quartile, even when sex, age, number of serious
illnesses, and frailty were taken into account. Researchers also ruled out the effects of
social class, depressiveness, and social and cognitive functioning. Being a "big shot"
when you were younger did not count for much either. Even when people had serious
illnesses, their mortality was still more closely related to their zest for life than their
diseases.
6, Mary and Ken Gergen From: Satisfaction with Present Life Predicts Survival in
Octogenarians by
Tiina-Mari Lyra, Timo M. Tormakangas, Sanna Read, Taina Rantanen, & Stig Berg.
Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 2006, 61B, P3199-P326.

For women there is no sense of retirement and that may be the reason that against
adverse situation women not only survive but survive against all odds. Grandmothers
were better adjusted in extended families than in nuclear families. This adjustment
was in part mediated by the level of traditional belief within the family. Families have
done with widows and the intervention process helped these destitute widows who
were begging on the roads of Banaras, work with them to towards giving them sense
of self realisation and thus helping them to explore there potential has done wonders
to these widows,
there was a time when women of Vrindavan with tonsured head and an emaciated
look were begging on the streets. On May 13, when the entire country was observing
solidarity with the sisters of Gujarat, the widows of Vrindavan did not want to be left
behind. Today, they are not only self-supporting, economically empowered with a
strong sense of self esteem but they are also playing an active role in nation building.
Today, their concern is no longer for their next meal, it extends to empathy for those
in distress. Changing tides of time
5 Mohini
Girihttp://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2002/07/28/stories/2002072800300
400.htm*
The experiences like Family Welfare Agency with the multiple service centre and
Chai-Masti in Dignity Foundation, and well equipped day care centre of the Harmony
are trying to achieve that intervention process which would address the issue of self
esteem. And in the process creating documentation to address the criticism of
present day research where, while rhetoric of much research and policy acknowledges
the need for older people’s views and voices to be heard, the dominant storyline
continues to construct older people as objects rather than subjects 4 (Russell and Ken
dig, 1999) ‘Social Policy and Research for Older Citizens’,. Australasian Journal on,
18(3), 44-49. 1999

Self esteem is very subjective and has to be realised as a social context phenomena.
And so the interventions like yoga which are addressing the issues of mind and body
help in dealing with self esteem of the elderly. It is the sense of having control over
the situation which gives the opportunity to explore the potential of self.

"Yoga works on the principle of psycho-neuro-immunology. There is a large number

of hormones which are released when we are happy," says Dr SC Mahapatra,
additional professor, department of physiology at AIIMS. "Psychological benefits
cannot be ruled out although this can't be measured by science.

" All-round health Is yoga only about de-stressing or does it have health benefits? A
few studies offer cause for hope. In 2008, a study conducted over a two-month period
on 65 year-olds in the US reveals that Iyengar Yoga showed significant improvement
in their balance and stability.

The 24 elderly women not only looked fitter, but were more confident when walking
and were less likely to fall.

Another US study conducted in 1990 of patients who had coronary heart disease,
indicated that a regimen of aerobic exercise and stress reduction, including yoga,
combined with a low-fat vegetarian diet, stabilised, and in some cases, reversed
arterial blockage.

Yoga indeed comes with a lot of health benefits. Anuj Kumar, yoga trainer at the
Bharat Thakur artistic yoga institute says: "Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity
that massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner,
including those - such as the prostate - that hardly get externally stimulated during
our entire lifetime." The stimulation and massage of the organs keeps away disease
and provide a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of a disorder,
he adds. Old masters Jaya ShroffSun, Apr 13 01:20
AMhttp://in.news.yahoo.com/hindustantimes/20080413/r_t_ht_hl/thl-old-masters-
5e57af8.html

Efforts like the laughter clubs are also trying to deal with the issues of elderly by
addressing the multiple needs of elderly. It may be occupying them for some regular
activity and giving them the opportunity and incentive to walk and walk in open air,
clear out the burden on their lungs and mind by laughing and doing yoga. It is also
free of cost and helps in breaking away from notions of social hierarchies of caste,
religious minority etc.

Life skills which in case of elderly may be of different magnitude, for example
communication, being able to communicate emotions in constructive way, would
create space for adults also to open out.

Another possibility is to work towards taking responsibility in a changed capacity in

the household. It can help to learn to adapt to the changed role by not being
authoritative and expressing power but facing the situation with an open-mind. Or it
can be learning to cope with changed bodily needs of sleep and eating habits and
matching them the routine of the household.

Sense of self esteem can be acquired and increased only it is defined differently. This
is the challenge and with whatever one has learnt of science, anthropology and
feminism, one would like to address the same. The need is to understand the family
structure where the parents need to be considered as part of the household. As Sarah
Lamb says in her study of West Bengal that Hindu philosophy talks about elders in the
family especially parents as the people who had given caring and nurturing, should
be given similar caring when they grow old. Is it possible to give that caring, do the
elders expect it? Or the notion of care is important than its literary meaning. These
notions which are based on value systems, present demands of life for the adults, and
socio-cultural construct of elderly and the subjective factors which determine the
process of caring. Caring for elderly can be in terms of their physical and material
needs.

The special emotional needs of the elderly which are outcome of the life process may
not be possible to get fulfilled. Another aspect of Hindu philosophy talks about
disengagement theory, the varna system where elderly are supposed to be disengaged
emotionally, materially and physically from the earthly social environment. But the
same philosophy looks down upon the homes for elderly. There is taboo in society and
whatever is expected from elderly is resented by them. There is sense of passivity
some elderly carry within them while staying in home for elderly. There are not many
films on home for aged but films like Shararat show the intergenerational dialogue
which happens to rehabilitate the happy go lucky careless, reckless young man who in
turn fights for the dignity of the elderly and his newly found bonds with the residents
of old age home. He also fights hard to secure a room of their own for the elderly by
preventing the demolition of the old age home.

Our Work in the FWA: Multi activity centre and self esteem of lower middle
class elderly

History: The centre is the ongoing work of Family Welfare Agency (FWA) in the area
of BDD chawls. In '79, the social workers in the course of family visits realised the
plight of the elderly in the families, and the experiential knowledge of the guiding
teacher, to be in family of four generations made the new start of the programme for
elderly. The organisational objective is to work with the marginalised people within
The grants were sanctioned and FWA started work with elderly from the chawls. The
day care centre was started where the formal activities of giving inputs from the
agency for two days began. It was discussions, lectures and space for the elderly to
share their problems with each other. Knowing each other and being together with
same age group members. The carom board, yoga, physiotherapy and medical check
up were the activities taken up along with counselling and psychiatric help and
became the key areas of work of Family Welfare Agency.

The two day activity which was initiated in the early years of the work with elderly is
continuing and I and Anju Jani go there as volunteer to work with elderly population
for two days a week. One day is meant for men and another is meant for women.
Women are more regular and are more vocal and also participate with much more
vigour. And they are eager to do something.

I and Anju in the process of independent work with elderly had started work with the
men and women in 2006. On occasion of World Elderly Day we had conducted a
workshop with the elderly that of search of diamond. The workshop is to explore the
life line of elderly which is the guiding and surviving force for elderly. So, it was the
search and while its search is on one can sharpen it and brighten it was the idea. And
this life line is called diamond and to cut the diamond was the name of the workshop.

We visited and started going there as volunteers after one year and we could see the
same enthusiasm with both men and women. And every week we have opportunity to
interact with 25-30 women and 5-10 men. So far as organisational commitment and
self esteem related to organisation is concerned it is one of the best possible responses
we got from them on various occasions. One of them has said, `This is our agency and
this is like our paternal house, this place is like school to us.'

The people who not had a role to play in the house or their families – like the
confirmed bachelor who has no role or acceptance in his family – has a place and
respect in the agency. He cannot hear but he is the one person who is always there.
The people who had worked in social field beside there jobs also had no role to play
in those activities because they were considered old and those activities were meant
for the young. Those people who had experience of being part of social activity have
become the active participants in the agency.

Women who had realised in our first interaction that they do not know many things
about themselves have explored newer areas of their personality and have been
talking, participating in plays, in essay competition and day today activities of role
playing, discussions etc.

Self identity is different in men and women. The realisation of being woman comes to
women late in life and for men it is ingrained in them by socio-cultural familial
environment in which they grow. For women it is mainly negative that is don’ts,
denial of space, happiness and also opportunity to get education, to get good job. All
the time it was important for her to remain in good books of the elderly women or
even their younger sons. It may be systematic denial of their existence and so it results
in low self esteem. Battering has been the reality of every woman and all men have
been batterers.

Self esteem for men comes from different notions. And this aspect is the reason for
their low esteem too. The realisation of lack of opportunity and sense of time being
too short gives them low self esteem. Here are excerpts from what some of them have
said which express their notions of self esteem or the lack of it. The attempt on the
parts of women and men to establish self identity is reflected in all the statements.

As an elderly worker of the organisation they should give me respect. The young girls
dont even give me a smile, but make faces” Bhai.

I had been on pilgrimage and was expecting my daughter-in-law and son to show due
respect to me, I was expecting that gesture and they not only stood by that expectation
but I heard her saying to my neighbour that to give due credit to her pilgrimage, I
should feel respect for her” Sonubai
I am not married, I have never worked on regular basis, I have no money, I am alive
and here due to mercy of my nephews, Vishnubhau
I am dependent on irregular government pension, I have a house but my main force in
spite of the insecurities comes from the agency. Rama
How can they ask me to do such lowly tasks in the office, at least now looking at my
age they should stop! Manjula
They never consulted me on any issues but expected me to give money all the time.
Jayant
I never did any housework, but they feel free now to tell me even to wash the toddlers
of the house” Rambhau.
My sons just ignore me and are least concerned about my well being, they do expect
me to give them money, and for me it is simple, if you do not care my needs, even
though you need money, in those circumstances why should I give them money?
Suresh. I am diabetic, I can not walk properly, I had heart problem but I make it point
to come to the centre, sit on ground, do yoga and participate in all activities. Vinaya.
I was alcoholic, did all the things which can be considered antisocial and do suffer
from mental ill balance but this [Agency] is my home and I need to come here. The
days when I can not come makes me uneasy and I take out my anger by giving gaalis
to my sons. Joshi)

Making difference : enhancing Self Esteem

Critical evaluation of the organisation

Multi pronged approach to deal with process of ageing is in a sense unique. Catering
to local people in their vicinity is another advantage of agency. Activities which are
carried in a mixed group as well as in separate groups The emphasis is given on need
based approach of elderly is key factor of the agency

The need to look at special needs of women in particular regarding the all three
aspects of recreation, health, services.
With men allowing them to open out and looking at their life critically is something
needs to be done.

The approach of men and women towards more co-operation and to look beyond the
near and close families needs to be worked out in special way

The need to look at special needs of women in particular regarding the all three
aspects of recreation, health, services.

With men allowing them to open out and looking at their life critically is something
needs to be done.

The approach of men and women towards more co-operation and to look
beyond the near and close families needs to be worked out in special way

Research and Further work

Concept of self esteem and the most used term `empowerment' are very subjective
and relative terms because the meanings of both change in different contexts. The
improvement felt in their quality of life by preadolescent girls after getting a simple
thing like a pocket sized notebook with their photographs was something I
experienced when such diaries were distributed to 2500 girls attending the upper
primary municipal schools in Mumbai. 1 (1999-2002. Experience as research co-
ordinator of the project balkishori, titled as the health status of preadolescent girls for
Vacha women’s Resource centre). That intervention could enhance the sense of self
esteem for those young girls. The self esteem which if it sets in at an early age may
help women to handle the oppression and exploitation they face in later years, most
important of it is identifying women’s role as reproducers only.

The work we did on the nature of women’s health and reproductive technology where
I realised how the low self esteem of women is exploited thoroughly by science and
technology and society in systematic ways. Science and technology claim that science
is seeking objective knowledge and so that pursuit necessarily would be value free.
However, we find that science and technology are also expressions of the accepted
norms and sanctioned values of the society they come from. So, they engage in
research to evolve long acting contraceptives based on the cultural and social
practices prevalent in society which would harm woman’s body and tends to lower
women's self esteem. In contrast, the ability to read one’s body and being observant to
communicate the changes in bodily self is most important for women to gain self
esteem and control. For example, in case of reproductive biology ovulation is the key
aspect on which reproduction is built. We would keep in mind the important fact of
reproduction as a process. The viability of the egg and its meeting with sperm has to
be within 72 hours to get fertilised on maturation. This fact could be used by women
to control their fertility and gain self esteem. 3. (1999, Chayanika, Swatija and
Kamaxi Titled We and our fertility comet media foundation publication.)
Self esteem is a concept which is deep rooted in relational skills and so it is most vital
concept in bringing in change in social situations. And family structures in caste,
creed, religion and geographic context needs to be studied in great depth.

Basic framework of the study of families would be based on questions like how
democratic? How egalitarian and unbiased and treats equally all the members. How
secure it is in real sense?

=======

Beyond the Welfare State?: The New Political Economy of Welfare By Christopher
Pierson, Chris Pierson Contributor Christopher Pierson, Published by Polity, 2006
ISBN 0745635210, 9780745635217

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