Men are historically underrepresented in the world of caregiving. Although the vast majority of family caregivers are women, this isn’t always the case. In fact, many men are caregivers, too. Whether they help a family member or do this as a profession, the number is higher than you might think.
One of the great things about the President’s infrastructure plan is that it places an emphasis on men caregivers, in addition to women. Historically, our country has primarily allowed women to pick up the brunt of the caregiving burden, especially in the family setting. And this makes a lot of sense–to an extent. For example, women tend to live longer than men. In the U.S., the average life expectancy for a male is five years less than a woman. That means that men tend to experience end of life health issues and complications sooner than women. Unfortunately, men tend to need help sooner than women, leaving women to shoulder the burden.
But what about women? Who is providing informal care for them? In a lot of cases, it’s younger family members, both men and women. Sometimes there’s a friend that pops in once in a while to help. Sometimes it’s just professional level care.
Regardless of whether or not you are acting as a family caregiver, it’s important to know what options are out there when it comes to providing help for an older family member. Addressing these potential disparities in care–both family and professional level–can help to better improve the quality of life that those who need care are experiencing. One easy way to help here is to not just assume that men are not caregivers. Every family composition is different and has different needs. Supplying both men and women with resources to help their families is a good way to begin doing this. This way, different income levels, races, and living situations are more fully addressed. From here, other disparities can be focused on with more precision.
Everyone deserves the best care possible, regardless of sex, gender, race, religion, or other circumstances. That can be hard to accomplish at times, especially because it tends to be the most vulnerable people (minorities, the impoverished, people with disabilities, etc.) that have the hardest time connecting to the best quality care. Unfortunately, the people that are already in a potentially difficult situation that have the most difficulties connecting to care.
Having a good team to help can put an end to this. This goes way beyond the family and into the core of our communities themselves. Who do you know in your community? How can they be better connected? Obviously, there’s only so much that you can do, or should realistically expect to do. But thinking about these things is the first step to resolving them.
We’d love to further the conversation about improving care by focusing on those areas that are often overlooked, such as male caregivers. Post your thoughts below, send us an email, or give us a call. Expanding caregiving is important and we’d love to talk more about it!
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