Women in Today’s Russia: Part 2

Alla, our Elder Economic Security Initiative intern continues her series on Russia's economic security, focusing this week on women.

After 2000, when transition to capitalism was more or less complete, and Russia’s economic situation improved, Russian women began choosing to have children somewhat later in life in order to start building a career first. Surveys show that modern Russian women overwhelmingly prefer combining their career with raising children than concentrating on just one or the other. Therefore, in recent years, the number of working mothers of young children has consistently grown in Russia. This is, especially prevalent in big cities such as Moscow where women are highly educated. An estimated 57% of Moscow City mothers of preschool age children have at least some college education.

Working mothers still enjoy strong protection under the law, which guarantees partially paid 18-month childbirth-related leave (extendable up to 3 years of unpaid leave). Sadly, not all employers follow the law. Russian women often face discrimination and negative stereotypes at the workplace, comparable to that experienced by women over the course of many decades in the United States. The social institutions established by Soviet system that protected working mothers are now in decay, and there are very few new institutions to replace them.
The category of working mothers has become as crucial in Russia as it is in the United States. However, while employment laws are more generous to women in Russia, the actual mechanisms for implementation of these laws are far less developed in Russia as compared to the United States.

Even so, more ought to be done to assure workplaces are flexible and responsive to working mother’s needs, such as through paid family leave and part-time or flexible work options, in both Russia and the U.S. Making sure working women are able to balance work and family responsibilities is critical to assuring their economic security over the life span. Women are likely to cycle in and out of the workplace due to care-giving responsibilities, lending to fewer hours worked, lower wages and less opportunities for career growth and mobility. Promoting work life balance and economic security across the generations goes hand in hand.

Balancing Work, Family Life, and Retirement in Russia: Part 1

Our Economic Security Initiative intern, Alla, will be a guest blogger for the next four weeks. As a native of Russia, she will be sharing her thoughts on economic security in Russia across generations. Here is her first post introducing the role of women in Russia. Look for her subsequent posts each Wednesday.

Women in Russia: Soviet Background

One of the most recognized features of the Russian social system is that it is based on the remnants of the Soviet system. After the Revolution of 1917, Russia became one of the first countries in the world to declare the equality of both sexes; moreover, Russia was the first country to start implementing social policies that sought to establish equal conditions and opportunities for women.

During the Soviet period, employment rates among women were close to 100%; this was made possible by a federally funded social system with generous employee benefits (such as paid sick and family leaves) and universal provision of public institutions, such as schools and pre-school organizations. However, things have changed dramatically since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Throughout the 1990’s, due to Russia’s painful transition from a socialist to a capitalist economy, unemployment rates were high and economic insecurity was severe for both men and women.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was a major social upheaval that substantially shaped the state of Russia’s modern-day society. This makes it difficult to compare present-day Russia to the United States. Nevertheless, fascinating similarities surface, particularly concerning women’s issues and intergenerational economic security.

This post marks the first a four-part series exploring how issues related to the workplace flexibility, family self-sufficiency and elder economic security play out in Russia’s political and social systems and how WOW’s efforts to promote economic security across the generations is impacting policy conversations internationally.

Women and Social Security

This week I attended a webinar sponsored by the National Women’s Law Center on women and Social Security which reiterated the importance of Social Security for elder women.
Here are some important facts shared on the webinar:

• As a widow, you can choose to take your widow benefit (as a result of your deceased spouse) or your own worker’s benefit first. By waiting to claim benefits until full retirement age, a high earning spouse will provide a large Social Security benefit to the surviving spouse.



• If your marriage lasted for 10 years and you are currently divorced, you get the same benefits as a current spouse or widow and do not have to wait until your ex-husband applies to receive his benefit, as long as both of you are 62 and have been divorced for at least two years.

Older women in retirement struggle to make ends meet, and older minority women are more likely to have a tough time in retirement. Social Security is the sole source of income for one in five elders, and women are almost twice as likely to live in poverty as a man in their older years. Check out WOW’s Single Elder Women’s fact sheet for more information on how vital Social Security is for so many elder women. Social Security alone is not enough, but without it some elder women would have nothing to support themselves.

Quality Long-term Care Allows Elders to Age in Place

This week, Kristen, the Elder Economic Security Initiative intern, continues the discussion around family care giving by spotlighting a new book on the issue.

The percentage of Americans over age 65 has tripled during the 21st century, but support and funding for this group has not kept pace. The book When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions, by Paula Span, sheds light on this population by telling stories of adult children grappling with the difficult decisions surrounding their parents’ long-term care.

The book gives personal perspectives on long-term care, including home care and facilities. It offers insight for each choice and exposes the emotional and financial burdens that many incur during this transition.

Although the book goes into detail about the struggles that adult children, most often daughters, face when choosing long-term care, Span and others believe that its overall message is hopeful.“If you get depressed about the way things are going in the world, just look at the people caring for their family members… there’s nothing they won’t do!” commented David Ekerdt, director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Kansas.

Caring for a family member, however, should not necessitate financial struggles.

Because the majority of seniors wish to age in their communities, the Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index) illustrates the cost of home and community-based long-term care, and the findings show these expenses can be quite burdensome. For instance, the Minnesota Elder Index shows that home and community-based long-term care can range from $7,262 to $43,798 per year. These costs are in addition to elders’ monthly expenses for basic needs, which can double or triple their total expenses.

On average, Medicaid dollars can support about three older people with home and community-based services (HCBS) for every one person in a nursing home, according to AARP. Adjusting the Medicaid support for HCBS versus institutions can help ensure that more elders can afford to age in their communities. This is an important and growing population that deserves to age with dignity, and spreading information about long-term care could help start a dialogue for improving their support!

The Role of a Caregiver

Caregivers have a hard time juggling their multiple responsibilities. As the video above demonstrates, they must make decisions on when and where to work, and how to support their needs, as well as those of their elder relatives. Most of these caregivers are women, who struggle to make ends meet. For them, less hours worked means less collected earnings, which over time will accumulate to less money saved, directly affecting their ability to be economically secure in retirement.

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ works to ensure elders are able to age in place in their communities. The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index, an Initiative tool, maps out on a county –by- county level what it costs for caregivers to take care of the needs of their elder loved ones (such as food, housing, health care, and transportation) and can be used as a basis for caregiver support though state and federal policy and programs.
The Initiative supports the proposed policy solution, the Elder Caregiver Support and Information Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 519), introduced earlier this year. If signed into law, additional funds would be appropriated to the family caregiver support program.

Make sure you read our featured profile story on a caregiver from Wisconsin who struggled to make ends meet.

We are also interested in hearing your thoughts on the topic. Please comment below.

Feature: Advisory Board Member Martha Holstein

Martha Holstein, an Elder Economic Security Initiative Board Member, from Chicago's Health & Medicine Policy Research Group shares her thoughts on why elder economic security is part of a greater need of solidarity and security across generations.

Divided We Fall: Economic Security and Intergenerational Solidarity

Amidst all the current economic turmoil Social Security and Medicare are there—the only guaranteed source of income one can’t outlive and health care that no one can take away. These guarantees are critical for older people and for their families. If these programs were weakened, needs would have to be met by someone and that someone is most likely one’s sons and daughters. The entire family would lose. We need to think of old age entitlements as family benefits, a contribution to the family commons and absolutely essential to mitigating threats to the health and well-being of the entire family. The family commons implies that we need to share our common goods with each of us not taking more than we need—and sometimes perhaps taking less than we need. Intergeneration solidarity rather than intergenerational equity.

There is another reason to commit to intergenerational solidarity. Research makes it very clear that continuity in life circumstances is prevalent. Rather than these circumstances improving in old age, the older we get the more disadvantaged we become. Known as “cumulative disadvantage” it suggests how powerfully our family’s social and economic status, our education and our related opportunities are not easily overcome. Today, this is particularly unsettling since we know that young men are earning less than their fathers did at the same age. This statistic is apt to worsen as we see the results of the current economic downturn. The foretelling about the future condition of the aged, to be documented in the next generation’s Elder Standard, is a potent reason to act now to make sure that American’s younger families have a better shot at economic security. It is really for all of us!

Long-Term Care and Health Care Reform

Congress is moving forward in discussions around health care reform as the President looks to get a bill passed before the end of the year. This is great news for the 40 million uninsured, and will hopefully be great news for many underinsured elders who need, but cannot afford long-term care (LTC) services. Currently, discussions focus on expanding and improving acute care and insuring universal coverage. Many advocates for elder issues have tried to raise awareness around the need to include long-term care in the discussion.

The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index) measures the cost of home and community-based long-term care services depending upon an elder’s need. These costs can double or even triple what an elder needs to make ends meet. In New Jersey, long-term care costs range from $6,000 to over $46,000, according to the Elder Index. These high costs are minimal, however, compared to the institutional cost in New Jersey, and give ample evidence of why LTC reform is needed; so more elders can age in place.

Most insured elders rely on Medicare and Medigap which do not cover most long-term care expenses. The only options for elders in poor health are to qualify for Medicaid, pay for LTC insurance out-of-pocket (which becomes more expensive as you age) or rely upon the support of family and friends. The last option at times results in caregivers making sacrifices to their own financial, physical and emotional well-being to take care of a loved one.

Incremental change is possible with the Empowered at Home Act and the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act). Of course, overall health care reform should consider the LTC struggles as well. Senator Kennedy’s recent remarks in a Boston Globe Op/Ed on health care reform give many elder advocates hope, “…we'll make it possible for the elderly and disabled to live at home and function independently. Our bill will help them afford to put ramps in their homes, pay someone to check in on them regularly, or any of an array of supports that will enable them to stay in their communities instead of in nursing homes”.

The health care reform debates are the opportune time to address the LTC issue and implement policies that will increase the quality of care while decreasing the medical out-of-pocket expense for elders and we, as advocates, will need to be diligent in voicing our concerns to ensure this happens.