Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine care giving to the elderly from a gender role perspective. Data were collected from a randomized sample of Québec care givers (n=294) who provide various levels of care giving to people with different kinds of impairments. The results indicate that although women provide more care than men, both experience an equivalent burden. Familial obligations (Presence of a Spouse × Presence of Children) affect men and women care givers differently. An intersex generation effect is evident with regard to professional burden: husband care givers report a greater burden than wives, whereas daughters and sons report the same level. The findings suggest that men have more difficulty assuming responsibilities associated with multiple roles, whereas women have adopted new roles in addition to the traditionally ascribed care-giving role.
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The research reported in this paper is part of a study funded by the Conseil québécois de la recherche sociale, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux. The authors wish to thank Jocelyne Boivin for her helpful work with the documentation and Lottie White for her help with the English version of this paper, as well as the anonymous reviewers of whose judicious comments were greatly appreciated.
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Jutras, S., Veilleux, F. Gender roles and care giving to the elderly: An empirical study. Sex Roles 25, 1–18 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289312
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289312