The Gender Gap in Family Caregiving

Traditional social roles based on gender have created gaps for women in many aspects of life, and family caregiving is no exception. Although the gap may be closing, the social expectation for women to provide care continues to create inequity in Canadian families.

Given the many different types of family caregiving situations, it can be hard to see the gaps clearly. Men do provide care for family members – but the type of care, the time commitment, and the impact on the caregiver’s own well-being reveal significant gender differences.

THE CONSISTENT COMMITMENT GAP

Men are more likely to support family members by helping with odd jobs, such as home maintenance. Women are more likely to provide regular, ongoing care, such as helping family members manage their medical treatment, housework, and personal care. Not only is this type of care more time-consuming, but it is also often inflexible in terms of scheduling. This results in a time gap, where women spend more time overall, and have less flexibility in arranging when and where the care is delivered. In fact, female caregivers spend up to 50% more time providing care compared to male caregivers.

This time gap may explain why women are more likely to face employment challenges associated to caregiving than men.

THE EMPLOYMENT GAP

Women are more likely to experience negative consequences in their employment status than men as a result of caregiving responsibilities. They are more likely to reduce hours, take compassionate care leave, lose out on promotions, miss work, retire early and leave their jobs altogether. Women who are caregivers earn $20,000 less per year than male caregivers. The long-term impact of the employment gap for female caregivers are significant: they retire with less money saved, face higher rates of unemployment and report greater stress than male caregivers, with finances being a top stressor. The employment income gap for female caregivers is greater for lower-income women and visible minority women, placing them at higher risk for all associated negative outcomes.

THE STRESS GAP

Given that caregiving has less serious consequences and a lower time commitment for men, it’s not surprising that they report lower levels of stress because of their role. Female caregivers report more chronic stress than male caregivers, as well as higher levels of anxiety, depression and fatigue. In part, the time gap and employment gap can explain some of these differences, but there are additional contributing factors.

Women are more likely to provide emotional support as part of their role compared to men. Women in caregiving roles are more likely to skip their own medical appointments and prioritize the care recipient’s needs over their own. The stress gap is not solely emotional or psychological. Female caregivers face higher risk of heart disease and other chronic health conditions, a risk that increases with the intensity of care. This is not to suggest that male caregivers don’t experience stress or other negative impacts to their health, simply that women experience more of these impacts than men overall.

THE SANDWICH GAP

The final gap is between men and women who provide care to both minor children and an aging parent: the so-called sandwich generation. Families with intergenerational caregiving needs disproportionately rely on female family members. Women in these situations face a higher caregiving load, resulting in greater overall impacts. The gaps between male and female sandwich caregivers are greater than the gaps between those caring only for an adult: for example, in an adult-only caregiving arrangement, 30% of men provide personal care compared to 37% of women. In a sandwich caregiving scenario, men hold at 30% while women increase the level of personal care, with 45% providing this service. Similar increases in the gender gap exist for transporting care recipients, household chores, home maintenance, medical treatments, scheduling and coordinating and emotional support.

HOW TO CLOSE THE GAP

Families should approach caregiving systematically, creating a plan with roles and responsibilities outlined. Here are some ways families can be more equitable as they provide care to their loved ones:

• Ensure regular, habitual care is spread out amongst potential caregivers rather than the responsibility of a single person.
• Work with a financial advisor to develop a care plan that is financially equitable.
• Ensure sandwich-generation women get extra support instead of extra work.
• Consider the role of paid support and/or access to government funded support.
• Use a family counselor or social worker to support your family.
• Talk about your caregiving plan as a family early on, before a crisis.
• Reframe caregiving as an opportunity to support your entire family rather than just the care recipient.
• Preserve women’s income and employment status as a top priority or create a financial support plan.

As more Canadians require care, every family will be impacted – having an open dialogue about how to share caregiving responsibilities will go a long way to supporting better outcomes for caregivers and care recipients alike.