AJPH -- eLetters for Masotti et al., 96 (7) 1164-1170

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COMMUNITY MATTERS IN HEALTHY AGING:
Paul J. Masotti, Robert Fick, Ana Johnson-Masotti, and Stuart MacLeod
Healthy Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities: A Low-Cost Approach to Facilitating Healthy Aging
Am J Public Health 2006; 96: 1164-1170 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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The Importance of Gender when Discussing Healthy NORCs: Deborah R Weiss, Josette Dupuis, Abby Lippman, and Christina Wolfson (13 August 2006)

The Importance of Gender when Discussing Healthy NORCs 13 August 2006

Deborah R Weiss,
PhD Student
McGill University,
Josette Dupuis, Abby Lippman, and Christina Wolfson
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Re: The Importance of Gender when Discussing Healthy NORCs

deborah.weiss{at}mail.mcgill.ca Deborah R Weiss, et al.

We read with great interest the article entitled Healthy Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities: A Low-Cost Approach to Facilitating Healthy Aging, by Masotti et al.1 The discussion of the links between social, physical, and environmental well-being is especially important, but would be even stronger if an intersectional gender analysis had been included.2 For example, while disability, chronic stress, isolation, neighborhood safety, poverty and income inequality are all discussed as issues relevant to development of healthy Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs), women and men experience and are often affected by these structural features differently, making a gender-based analysis essential for appropriate policy development. We suggest that all policy options proposed regarding the facilitation of healthy NORCs need to acknowledge that men and women age and experience aging differently. In fact, men and women may have different requirements in order to age successfully; “seniors” are not a heterogeneous group. Thus, not only do women have increased life expectancies as compared to men, they also tend to experience more disability 3, and are more likely to exhaust their financial resources.4 Also, while men are often supported by their wives in old age, older women are more likely to live alone.5 One researcher has gone so far as to say that “ageing hits women harder than men”, resulting in serious economic, health and social consequences for women as they age.6 Given that women comprise a greater proportion of the older population 7, it is particularly important that their needs be addressed in order to better facilitate the evolution of healthy NORCs.
1. Masotti P, Fick R, Honson-Masotti A, MacLeod S. Healthy Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities: A Low-Cost Approach to Facilitating Healthy Aging. American Journal of Public Health. 2006;96(7):1164-1169. 2. Gonyea J, Hooyman N. Reducing Poverty among Older Women: Social Security Reform and Gender Equity. Families in Society. 2005;86(3):338- 346. 3. National Advisory Council on Aging. A Quick Portrait of Canadian Seniors. Aging Vignette no. 12. National Advisory Council on Aging. Available at: Available at: http://www.naca-ccnta.ca/vignette/vig12_e.htm Accessed July 25, 2006. 4. Arber S, Ginn J. Gender and Later Life. A Sociological Analysis of Resources and Constraits. 1991. London: Sage. 5. Scott A, Wenger G. In Arber S & Ginn J. Gender and Later Life. A Sociological Analysis of Resources and Constraints. 1991. London: Sage. 6. Browne C. Women, feminism, and aging. 1998. New York: Springer. 7. National Advisory Council on Aging. A Quick Portrait of Canadian Seniors. Aging Vignette no. 1. National Advisory Council on Aging. Available at: http://www.naca-ccnta.ca/vignette/vig1_e.htm. Accessed on July 25 2006.