A sociological exploration of childless elderly women’s uncertain source of security: Life histories of marginalized Filipina elderly

Maria Cecilia R. San Luis

University of the Philippines Baguio, Philippines

Children have always been looked at as a constant source of security in old age for their elderly parents. Studies have already established the security-in-old-age function of children as a motivation for having and raising children. This tends to overlook the precarious situation that childless elderly couples and those elderly women who have remained unmarried and have no children of their own are in. If children do really provide a sense-of-security-blanket for their elderly parents, what then could give these other categories of elderly people certainty? This leads us on to ask whether there are social safety nets that could be a source of security for these elderly in lieu of their own adult children.

The social network of an elderly person is a very significant locus for exploring the availability or unavailability of sources of support-providers for childless, elderly women. Given that Filipino women generally outlive and are more likely to be unmarried than Filipino men, this qualitative study highlights the personal insights and experiences of uncertainties and insecurities as the childless, elderly women themselves define and give meaning to their lives in old age. It presents an examination of how these marginalized women cope with their precarious situation. A description of their relationships with their own family, friends and neighbours explicates the social structures that provide a social safety net (that can be looked at as a substitute support network in the absence of children) in old age.