V OL UME I | NÚMERO 1 | J AN-JUN / 2 0 19 RECEBIDO EM: 13/06/2019 ACEITO EM: 25/06/2019
65 Woman: an inquiry on
the retired women and their
contribution to the identity,
culture, society and economy of
Oñati
R. Leopoldo Cruz Balbuena1
Abstract
The reduction in the birth rate and the increase in life expectancy in most of the developed countries has raised a debate about what the future demographic of various population centers around the world will be. Oñati, despite being a small village is close to this problem. With a retired or retirement age population that is around a quarter of the population of the town, it is necessary that the municipality take the necessary policies to ensure that in the near future this group will meet their most basic needs. This article studies the contribution (social, cultural, and economic) of retired or retirement age women living in the village. The article takes a journey through studies of gender and sociology of elderly people, through the experience of Emakunde in support of women and Euskadi Lagunkoia, to complete the statistical study of the situation of women, the description of the activities that they develop in the public space and the report of a series of interviews developed with retired women. The article seeks to verify the intersectionality that crosses the women who are part of the study group, in order to demonstrate the historical importance, they have had for the village and theirs current contribution in real terms of economic impact, children and adults care; as well as organization and participation in the various activities in social, political and cultural associations of the town.
Keywords: Elderly people. Feminism. Local economy. National
identity. Social security.
1 Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco. E-mail: cruz. balbuena@icloud.com
65 Mulher: uma investigação sobre as mulheres aposentadas e sua
contribuição para a identidade, cultura, sociedade e economia de
Oñati
Resumo
A redução na taxa de natalidade e o aumento da expectativa de vida na maioria dos países desenvolvidos levantaram um debate sobre o futuro da demografia de vários centros populacionais ao redor do mundo. Oñati, apesar de ser uma pequena aldeia, está perto deste problema. Com uma população aposentada ou perto de se aposentar que é cerca de um quarto da população da cidade, é necessário que o município tome as políticas necessárias para garantir que, no futuro próximo, este grupo possua as suas necessidades mais básicas. Este artigo estuda a contribuição (social, cultural e econômica) de mulheres aposentadas ou perto de se aposentar que vivem na aldeia. O artigo faz uma jornada através de estudos de gênero e sociologia dos idosos, através da experiência de Emakunde em apoio às mulheres e Euskadi Lagunkoia, para completar o estudo estatístico da situação das mulheres, a descrição das atividades que desenvolvem no espaço público e o relato de uma série de entrevistas desenvolvidas com mulheres aposentadas. O artigo busca verificar a intersetorialidade que atravessa as mulheres que fazem parte do grupo de estudo, a fim de demonstrar a importância histórica que elas tiveram para a aldeia e sua atual contribuição em termos reais de impacto econômico, cuidado de crianças e adultos; bem como organização e participação nas diversas atividades em associações sociais, políticas e culturais da cidade.
Palavras-chave: Pessoas idosas. Feminismo. Economia local. Identidade nacional. Seguro Social.
65 Mujer: una investigación sobre las mujeres jubiladas y su
contribución a la identidad, cultura, sociedad y economía de
Oñati
Resúmen
La reducción de la tasa de natalidad y el aumento de la esperanza de vida en la mayoría de los países desarrollados ha planteado un debate acerca del futuro demográfico de diversos núcleos poblacionales alrededor del orbe. Oñati, a pesar de ser una pequeña villa no está lejana a esta problemática. Con una población jubilada o en edad de jubilación que ronda una cuarta parte de la población, es necesario que el ayuntamiento tome las medidas necesarias para asegurar que en el futuro próximo este grupo encuentre atendidas sus necesidades más básicas. Este artículo estudia la contribución (social, cultural y económica) de las mujeres jubiladas o en edad de jubilación que viven en la villa. El artículo hace un recorrido sobre estudios de género y sociología de los adultos mayores, pasando por la experiencia de Emakunde en apoyo a la mujer y Euskadi Lagunkoia, para culminar con el estudio estadístico de la situación de la mujer, la descripción de las actividades que desarrollan en el espacio público y el reporte de una serie de entrevistas desarrolladas con mujeres jubiladas. El artículo busca comprobar
así evidenciar la importancia histórica que han tenido para la villa y su contribución actual en términos reales de aportación económica, cuidado de menores y mayores y organización y participación en las diversas actividades y asociaciones sociales, políticas y culturales de la villa.
Palabras clave: Adultos mayores. Feminismo. Economía local. Identidad nacional. Seguridad social.
SUMÁRIO: 1 INTRODUCTION; 2 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO ELDERLY WOMEN; 2.1 Woman;
2.2 Elderly woman; 2.3 Intersectionality in elderly women; 3 THE BASQUE EXPERIENCE; 3.1 Emakunde; 3.2 Euskadi Lagunkoia; 4 THE ELDERLY WOMEN AND THEIR WORLD; 4.1 Elderly women in numbers; 4.2 How do elderly women are seen?; 4.3 How do elderly women see themselves?; 5 REMARKING CONCLUSIONS; REFERENCES.
1 INTRODUCTION
On Women’s Day we proclaim ourselves in debt to those women who fought to achieve equality of rights and duties between the sexes. We also express our concern at a supposedly feminist opinion stream that claims to speak on behalf of all women, impose their way of thinking and portray themselves as victims of the birth of what they call the heteropatriarchy. We do not recognize ourselves as victims of our brothers, couples, parents, children, friends and fellows, our masculine equals. We rebel against that politics of identity that imprisons us in a monolithic block of thought that denies individuality. (GIMÉNEZ BARBAT et al., 2018)
This was the beginning of the manifesto signed by 28 women of the most diverse spheres, published in El País on March 6, two days before we witnessed the most multitudinous mobilization for the woman’s day in history. Mobilization that was feminist, but not exclusively, it was a mobilization that made the necessary feminist demands but attracted countless realities.
In Oñati, the demonstrations were similar to those held in the rest of the State. Three rallies were held on March 8, two in the morning and one in the afternoon. One of the morning rallies was held in the neighborhoods of Olakua and San Lorenzo, seeking common feminist movements demands, with a particular vision, the recognition and participation of elderly women.
The demonstration organized by a group of adult women had as its main subject on the agenda to pay tribute to those women of the neighborhood whose activism and example of life has contributed to the vindication of women’s rights. However, it was not (as one might imagine) a homogeneous space in which a group of adult and elderly women performed a rally. The space counted with the participation
of very diverse groups. People of all ages, families, single people, Basque speakers and immigrants, Catholics, atheists and Muslims. All united with a common goal, to denounce gender violence, to celebrate the social rights achieved by women and to look for a more egalitarian future for all.
The women’s demonstrations were absolutely overwhelming, they had face-to-face support and an accomplice of men and women all over the world, the women showed that their struggle goes beyond social class, religion, nationality, education and even gender. The struggle of women is a transversal struggle, a transforming struggle, an undeniable reality, that is finally coming.
In addition to the extraordinary panorama that occurred on March 8th, another claim, also transversal, had been carried out throughout the Spanish state since the end of 2017. The elderly had taken to the streets to fight for their rights, the elderly went out once again to demonstrate that this generation born in the mid-twentieth century was ready to fight another battle.
The movement of pensioners, as it was called by the media, is much more than a movement of elderly people. It is a generational movement, it is a movement that does not have gender flags, nor social class, but it has special meaning for the most vulnerable, for women, for immigrants; for the millions of poor people who, throughout the world, that do not receive a payment for years of work and who are condemned to feel that they live on the charity of the State.
This generation of daughters of the navel of the twentieth century struggled during their childhood to survive, some in conditions of unimaginable poverty, under the oppression of a totalitarian regime, without access to a quality education, with serious problems to express themselves freely, in the mother tongue and above all, they had to fight being women, with its significance on those times. After so many years of struggle, when they could (at last) live their lives, they have found that what they have contributed to social security is not enough for them or for others and the struggle must continue.
The elderly women taking the streets to demand their rights raises a new scenario, one in which elderly people are no longer willing to rest during their retirement and dedicate the last years of their lives to the contemplative life. This research seeks to reveal what is the new role of this generation of activists. By finding their new role or roles we can answer the question, what is the contribution of elderly women to the identity, culture, society and economy of Oñati?
This new visibility of the elderly people has also brought criticism, placing this group in a position of greater vulnerability. The argument I intend to follow is that elderly people have an important contribution in shaping the identity, culture, society, and economy of the village of Oñati.
Women, subjects of study are women who suffered child labor, who had to leave their jobs after marrying or fight to stay or choose not to marry. They fought side by side with the thousands of men who wove the cooperative networks that holds the Basque Country’s economy. They contributed to the pension system with
the promise of a dignified retirement and now retirement has found them with a lot more responsibilities than any of us would be willing to accept.
Women are beings who, like any other, are subject to the conditions of suffering immanent to life but should not be seen as victims. On the contrary, the women subject of this study were the only support of several families during the crisis. Nowadays they take care of their grandchildren, so that their offspring can work, work out and go on vacations. They take care of their partners, elderly relatives and acquaintances. They participate in social, cultural and political events. They do sports, theater and sing. The least that society should give them back is gratitude and a dignified guaranteed income that does not jeopardize their future stability.
I approximate this reality and this theoretical approach from the deepest respect and with the hope of attracting the attention of other social scientists to feminist theories. The feminist reading of reality does not only provides a valid theoretical framework for any sociological research; but it provides tools such as the concept of intersectionality, fundamental to understanding any object of study in the social sciences.
I have used a mixed methodology to solve the research question posed; this is, using the qualitative method, a series of interviews were conducted with retired women whose age ranges around 65 years (age used as a parameter to define the age at which the population may retire). Applying the qualitative method, I followed up on the public activities of the various groups of women that correspond to this age in the town of Oñati, particularly the groups of Pake Leku and Lagun Leku. A fundamental part of this follow-up were the concentrations held every Monday at the main square, in protest for the loss of purchasing power of the pensions and the derisory increase announced by the Spanish government at the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, a methodology of quantitative analysis of secondary information, extracted from the Basque Country databases, is used. It is important to point out that the data and documents published by Emakunde (Basque Institute for Women) have been fundamental for the development of this research, because through them I was able to reach very interesting conclusions about the empowerment of retired women and how they translate that empowerment into their daily activities, both public and private.
The article is structured to approximate to a theoretical approach to women, elderly people, and the intersectionality between both concepts. The second chapter gives an account of the experience in the Basque Country, on the one hand, in attention to the needs of women, through Emakunde and on the other hand, the attention received by the elderly people through social services and initiatives such as Euskadi Lagunkoia. The third chapter reflects the field work carried out since March in conducting interviews and monitoring activities to approach the world of elderly women in Oñati. The conclusions, on this opportunity collect the wishes and claims of a group that should not be victimized, neither forgotten, it is a collective
as strong and alive as any other, which claims attention not for themselves, but for their elders.
2 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO ELDERLY WOMEN
If we aspire to live in a more egalitarian society, we must try to protect all the groups that make part of it; especially the most vulnerable. Iris Marion Young (1997) considers that a liberal democratic society of law must respect all citizens equally and institute public policies that guarantee public support for people who can contribute to society.
Young (1997) argues that the rhetoric of family values draws on the values of the “traditional” family that fails to recognize mothers as equal citizens. This logic, in which a role is assigned in society according to the characteristics of the individual and not by its own decisions, has caused distortions in which we do not value all members of society as equally valuable. This has been the case, because we have questioned the ability to contribute in this struggle for economic growth and progress. Goals that lack on reliable indicators that allow us to see human beings as something more than numbers. Continuing with the words of Iris Young “A society that recognizes all its members as equal citizens and expects them all to make meaningful contributions must recognize and support the contribution of dependency work and publicly support many other opportunities for making social contributions.” (1997, p. 133)
What Young is wrong about is on putting the accent on supporting people who can contribute to society, because there are those who have already contributed and keep doing so. That is why a liberal democratic society under the rule of law should be able to support all its citizens and even those who are not citizens, in order to foster a more fair, free and equal society.
2.1 Woman
The exclusions, oppressions, and disadvantages that women often suffer can hardly be thought at all without structural conception of women as a collective social position. The first step in feminist resistance women can cease to be divided and believe that their sufferings are natural or merely personal. (YOUNG, 1997, p. 18) Would it be unexpected for a research on women to think and imagine what does the word woman means? Maybe, and that is why we do not have it so clear. It is relatively easy to identify women with a biological definition (this, although it
is a position that has been gradually overcome). Identify women from a legal and sociological point of view is much more complex.
A norm, usually of a civil nature, can establish a definition for woman, based on biological criteria or individual decision; nevertheless, the law finds in generality of its prescriptive assumptions the greatest of its defects to give an account of reality. The law needs and causes homogenization, which translates into a partial understanding of the reality of women. Or should I say, the realities of women.
Woman is a serial collective defined neither by any common identity nor by a common set of attributes that all the individuals in the series share, but rather names a set of structural constraints and relations to practico-inert objects that condition action and its meaning. I am inclined to say that the series includes all female human beings in the world, and also others of the past, but how and where we draw the historical lines is an open question. We can also claim that there are social and historical subseries. (YOUNG, 1997, p. 36)
This is what Boyd, Mulvihill and Myles (1995) call the gender neutrality of conventional class analysis and it is that gender neutrality that feminism has challenged. Now I must go a step further, understand the multitude of collectives for which each individual is transversal. Not all women belong to the same social class, neither race, nationality or preferences regarding marriage or professional inclinations. Each woman is part of different groups, with whom she may feel identified or not; that is, that belonging can be conscious or not. That is the true richness that the study of women encompasses, a completely different way to explain reality.
Boyd, Mulvihill and Myles (1995) quote Acker explaining the importance of the irruption of gender studies.
With the decline of the household economy, hierarchically defined gender relations were brought inside the factory gate to become part of a capitalist and, theoretically, universalistic labor market. The subordination of women in the household was reproduced in the relations of power and authority of the capitalist firm. In short, the economic structure of industrial capitalism acquired a social form derived not merely from a logic based on the imperatives of capital accumulation -the logic of the market. It also incorporated social forms derived from the patriarchal household. From this perspective, gender subordination in the market is integral to analyses of the economic structure, producing outcomes that are gender asymmetrical, or “gendered” (ACKER apud BOYD, MULVIHILL and MYLES 1995).
Iris M. Young invites us to think about the effects that feminism has brought on institutions, public policies and ideas. Feminism has added, at least, a perspective
that allows us to see and understand the world through the eyes of women. Angela Davis stresses that “feminism insists on methods of thought and action that encourage us to think together about things that seem to be separated and separate things that naturally seem to be together.” (2017, p. 124)
This has been the great revolution that feminism has to offer. The most important feminist struggle is definitely on the streets, in the process of individual and collective empowerment of women. But it must be defended as a methodological orientation, a valid theory that allows us to elevate scientific development. In this regard Angela Davis (2017) has made very clear that feminism is not something attached to bodies, nor inherent to gender; she considers it an approach and a methodology that does not belong to anyone but to everyone.
Women gain control over their lives gradually, and the transition between individual awareness (own power) and social awareness (power with) and politics (power for) can acquire different configurations depending on the circumstances of each person. (EMAKUNDE, 2013, p. 24)
The Basque Women’s Institute, in its 32nd study from 2013, assures that Basque women born in the last half of the 20th century consider autonomy as a central value. For this, as I will show later, they consider very different aspects such as financial stability, friendship and relationship, caring for others (parents, children, grandchildren, and neighbors); however, it seems that the emphasis is placed on time management as something personal, something that they are not willing to negotiate. Emakunde’s study 32 differentiates between individual autonomy and economic independence, considering that autonomy requires an internal state of legitimacy, against which society has created the perception that staying at home not only does not empower, but that diminishes individual autonomy.
Beauvoir has an entirely negative valuation of what she constructs as woman’s situation, a negative valuation of the activity of giving meaning to and maintaining home. (YOUNG, 1997, p. 148). The sojourn at home by women may diminish the individual autonomy, but there is no causal relation, it seems like the goal is to become tireless workers, delegitimizing the decision of remaining at home for those that find there their vocation. It is in this kind of decisions, in which the immanent diversity of women’s collective is glimpsed.
But this weak, or even reviled identity (EMAKUNDE, milk, p. 99), of the “housewife”, by referring to a social representation or stereotyped image of an anchor woman in a model of distribution of roles and scenarios according to gender, to an ideal type of woman scarcely empowered or, at least, to a lesser extent than others, does not mean, much less, that housewives have disappeared. They are simply being hidden. As indicated by Izquierdo (2000, p. 55) “the current references to the figure of the housewife are made as if they were a figure from the past”. (EMAKUNDE, 2013, p.71)
Young (1997) seeks to differentiate between homework and homemaking, for that we must resort to what differentiates a house from a home and the relationship of the latter with the creation of identity and security. Said in this way, the decision, conscious of thousands of women to dedicate themselves to their home, would have nothing to do with the repetitive and enslaving activities with which we usually relate this activity.
Emakunde study 32 (2013) concludes that the autonomy of women has stagnated on the individual level; and gives five indicators that allowed reaching that conclusion: (i) values autonomy in relation to the decisions that affect her private sphere; (ii) assesses an advance in equal opportunities with respect to men; (iii) values an increase in the presence of women in the social sphere; (iv) assesses a decrease in gender discrimination in the workplace; and, (v) they value their ability to relate, express themselves and manage their time.
From what has been said up to now, using the research carried out five years ago by Emakunde, it is valid for the generations covered by the study 32 (18 to 64 years) and for which it concerns us, with the exception that the last indicator of autonomy is modified by the conditions of time available of the group of women that is the object of this study, to which society unconsciously tries to return to the status of housewife.
On the other hand, if the labor scenario is where women can develop their process of empowerment, we must encourage women, individually, to decide the best way to direct her life and away from any stereotype, such as made in the pre-industrial past of the housewife.
Empowerment finds one of its roots or foundations in this game of equilibrium between society and individual. Our perspective in this respect is clear: not all the decisions that a person makes depend solely on their individual decision, nor on their social context, for that web of interdependencies that, simultaneously, shapes us, but also grants opportunities to their own agency. It is a “gradual” or “conditioned” perspective of individual autonomy that is based on Simmel (1986) and Elias (1990) approaches and is also supported by del Valle et. al. when they state that autonomy, the ability of people to govern their own actions, “is always a question of degrees” (EMAKUNDE, 2013, p.102)
What we must agree is that regardless of the decisions or living conditions that lead women to decide any path, their departure from home has caused an absolute change in our society. Women have many spaces to conquer, but, at least, “[t] he girls of today need to know that they are not victims and that they have their future in their hands.” (GIMÉNEZ BARBAT et al., 2018)
When the decision of the woman is to develop in a work environment outside the home, her retribution and possibilities of growth are usually lower. For decades,
the general clamor has been that an equal job corresponds to an equal payment. This that seems elementary logic today, it was unthinkable some time ago, but things have not improved that much.
Economist have suggested that women earn less in part because men work in dangerous, dirty, strenuous, and otherwise distasteful jobs. The results of the analysis do not support this conclusion, even when extreme working conditions and clusters of job attributes are considered. (JACOBS, 1995, p. 10)
This reflects the multiplicity of excuses that have been created to prevent women from accessing wage benefits equal to those of men. The substantive issue is not a subject of equal payment for equal work, but a theme of functions and access to jobs in which women can develop in the same way as any man. Jacobs (1995) explains that the gender gap in authority issues has been less studied than the salary, because of the scarce access to authority relations at work and that these data are usually limited to issues of supra-subordination of the workers.
Steinberg (1995), for his part, argues that the wage gap has been justified with the erroneous vision that women’s work is a complementary work to that of men; that is, the woman’s salary will serve to complement that of the man. This discourse is related to what has been said over and over again by the group interviewed and that seems to be explained as a sequel of the moment when women joined the labor market. The wage equality and the glass ceiling issues have been discussed, but little is argued (outside feminist circles, well advanced in these issues) about professions dominated by women. They are not the professions dominated by men, to which women can be incorporated, in many cases dangerous and poorly paid; but the professions dominated by women that generate that the salary gap widens. Let’s face it, few people are willing to hire a male nurse to care for an elderly person, or a male babysitter to take care of their children or a cleaning man to take care of the housework. These are just some examples of feminized professions, in those who are not always registered to social security, nor have a contract or a salary that allows for a space for the autonomy of the individual.
Yet if women’s educational choices partly reflect their views of the limited occupational choices available to them, then an estimate of the total wage consequences of sex segregation should include a portion of the education effect. Similarly, if women leave the labor force because their jobs are not sufficiently rewarding, then the experience gap reflects an additional indirect effect of sex segregation. (JACOBS & LIM, 1995, p. 260)
2.2 Elderly woman
Aging is a dynamic process that has the virtue of equaling everyone -women and men, rich and poor- and blurring colors, shapes and sizes. (FREIXAS FARRÉ, 2018, p. 51) The issue of deciding who is old and who is not yet, also seems a subject that can be solved somehow by using a biological definition. The World Health Organization (WHO) proposes that “at a biological level, ageing is associated with the gradual accumulation of a wide variety of molecular and cellular damage.” (WORLD REPORT ON AGING AND HEALTH, 2015, p. 25) But of course this does not says a lot, does not give us figures, there are no parameters to know how many molecules have to get damaged to be old. Could we apply the same parameter as for other sociological categories by saying that each one can decide to be old?
The WHO (2016) has rethought this by ensuring that the majority of the developed countries of the world have accepted the chronological age of 65 as the defining age of elderly, because in spite of being arbitrary it is the age in which workers can usually retire.
Perhaps, one of the most significant and repeatedly commented events of the twentieth century has been the progressive aging of the world population, especially in developed countries, where life expectancy has increased dramatically. Two are the most immediate causes of this process: on the one hand, the decline in the birth rate and, on the other, the increase in life expectancy -largely due to the decrease in the mortality rate in the elderly-. We are faced with a fact of great social significance that is unprecedented in history and that is a conquest of humanity. A demographic phenomenon that is durable and general, since it affects the entire population. (FREIXAS FARRÉ, 2018, p. 27) Authors such as Anna Freixas (2018) propose a truth that is increasingly evident. I mean that not long ago, maybe 20 years ago, we considered that the life cycle of people could be divided into 3 broad categories. The childhood, the adult age and the third or elderly age. Today it is proposed that the third age does not last indefinitely from 65 years; but that a fourth category is applied after 80 years. In any case, the aging process will be different in each person and that is one of the factors that makes the elderly women’s collective so diverse, so heterogeneous. It is the heterogeneity of the group that allows the individuals that comprise it to develop and grow old in the best way that pleases them. Not only the aging process is different in each of the people that make up this group; but their train of life is different; then, their decisions have to be different. Anna Freixas (2018) proposes different indicators that allow us to demonstrate the heterogeneity of older women: (i) Health condition; (ii) Independence; and, (iii) Autonomy (Physical, Economic, and cultural).
The women of this generation became young and adult during the period of the Franco dictatorship. This context, framework or social and political structure ascribed a very clear role to the female gender: home, being-for-the-others. (EMAKUNDE, 2012, p. 25). Older women have found in their being for home and for others their way of empowering themselves and others. We are before a group of women, a social category that has had to fight for themselves and for the others, making all these battles the same battle. This battle for empowerment has autonomy as its central agent; as revealed by study 27 of Emakunde (2012), which calls it a “projected autonomy”, in which the economic dimension is its main reason for having joined the labor scene and (as will be shown later) not having accepted the “dowry” to get away from his job.
[T] he comparative perception of the greater degree of autonomy displayed by these generations of younger women - among whom are their daughters, granddaughters and even great-granddaughters-, compared to their own autonomy in decision-making, constitutes a process of structural social change of such magnitude that it cannot be understood in any other way than with the support, impulse and participation also of women born before 1946. (EMAKUNDE, 2012, p. 121)
Why is the labor scenario so important in the autonomy of elderly women? Is there such a thing as the feminization of aging? The labor scenario and the professional and financial decisions that were made in youth affect everyone as we age. We are in scenarios as dissimilar as deciding to join the administrative apparatus of the State, with an insured pension for retirement. There is also the one who decides to be autonomous with the hope of retiring with a company that can put in better hands to enjoy his old age or the worker who charged in black because that was determined by his own circumstances. To all those scenarios that can modify the last third of a person’s life, should be added, in the case of older women, have been forced (by the circumstances, lack of information or any other justification) to engage in work not directly remunerated, which therefore did not contribute to social security.
The works of friendship, love, care and social activism are crucial and involve tasks of civilization that maintain the life and morals of the troops. Unpayable jobs that are not valued socially and publicly, and therefore do not contribute to improving the welfare and self-esteem of the women who carry them out. Activities such as caring for other people, volunteering or social and political participation are not considered productive, the only thing that matters is the contribution of the elderly to the economy as consumers. (FREIXAS FARRÉ, 2018, p. 47)
We are faced with a scenario where the feminization of aging is a painful but undeniable reality in which women face a much harsher old age than men. Although, statistically, they tend to have fewer health problems, face the world with fewer financial resources, but must continue taking care of a multiplicity of people who could take care of themselves. In addition, they face the sold idea of satisfactory aging, which can be translated into an aging promoted by the state to reduce costs in social security, promoted, also by the most rampant capitalism that sells the idea of eternal life and beauty that in our civilization seems to be the maximum value inherited.
Theories of active aging are victims of an imaginary aimed at the middle classes, white, educated, with material and spiritual resources and free time to engage in multiple activities, but do not take into account the broad spectrum of elderly women who cannot or do not want to maintain these levels, without necessarily meaning that they are going to rush through the hole of the most depressing old age. (FREIXAS FARRÉ, 2018, p. 45)
2.3 Intersectionality in elderly women
At the beginning of this chapter I spoke about the importance of feminism as a fundamental methodological approach for sociological studies. It is impossible to understand society without gender studies. The emphasis that is placed on feminism highlights the structural disadvantages to which women are subjected, disadvantages that go beyond the labor gap or the aberrant violence to which millions of women around the world are subjected every day. Jacobs and Steinberg claim that women have greater difficulty than men in converting their skills, experience, and training into financial gain.
This is not only because women have not achieved equal access to the best jobs in the best organizations, but also because the work in which they are concentrated is undervalued relative to its productive contribution to the work organization. It is also because turnover is viewed as more acceptable in women’s jobs than in men’s jobs, because women have less power in the politics of wage negotiations in both union and nonunion settings (ACKER, 1989; MILKMAN, 1987), and because women’s jobs do not fit neatly into well-established frameworks for evaluating and valuing jobs, developed over many years for historically male work. (JACOBS & STEINBERG, 1995)
Anna Freixas (2018) argues that various factors affect aging as gender, education, social, cultural and health development of the country in which one lives
determine the limits to which people face as they get older. The brilliant ideas of the Catalan author remind us of the emergence of black feminism that sought to correlate categories such as gender and race. Angela Davis, one of the most renowned academics and activists of black feminism, expertly explains this relationship and takes it to the next level.
We are still faced with the challenge of understanding the complex form in which race, gender, sexuality, nation and capacity are intertwined, but also how to go beyond these categories to understand the interrelationships between ideas and processes that seem to be separated and not related. (DAVIS, 2017, p. 20) Davis calls these correlations intersectionality. The intersectionality reveals the interrelationships that exist between the different categories to which a person belongs. We could define intersectionality as “Not being able to think about gender without thinking about race, class, sexuality, nationality, skills and a whole range of issues.” (DAVIS, 2017, p. 57) Women are not only women, but they have a race, age, class, sexuality, schooling and a long list of etcetera.
The subjects of this study not only suffer discrimination or violence because they are women, they also suffer because their age. They suffer it separately and suffer it as a distinct subcategory. We cannot speak of a multiplication of the negative effects of the two interrelated categories; because this is not a pure science, but we can speak about an exacerbation of those negative effects. The people under study are: (a) women; (b) elderly; (c) Basque (or perceived as such) or foreign (in terms of what is considered foreign in Euskadi); (d) Basque speaker (born - literate or not -, new) or non-Basque speaker; (e) Widowed, married, divorced; or, unmarried (the gruesome Neskazahar category); (f) Pensioners; and, (g) Retired.
3 THE BASQUE EXPERIENCE
The Basque Institute of Statistics (EUSTAT, 2018) shows the tendency to population aging in the Basque Country, a phenomenon that is happening in the rest of Europe. Although the projection of Eustat figures for this year tells us that 1.20% of the population in Euskadi is 65 years old, the generational estimate of 10.5%, in an age range ranging from 63 to 71 years. The same graph shows us a normal parity between men and women of these age ranges between 52.6% to 52.3% of women compared to 47.7% to 47.4% of men. It is also important to point out that the disparity between men and women in population terms shoots up as we advance in the age indicators, where women older than 72 years represent more than 60% of their age group and represent a quarter of the population in the Basque Country. Simply in numerical terms is a relevant population.
The Basque is a very active society, in all senses. Political and social participation must be one of the highest in Spain and the Basque government usually responds to this participation in a positive manner. The Basque government has developed various strategies in support of vulnerable groups; among them those of women and those of elderly people; however, I have not been able to account for an institution that specifically works in favor of elderly women. This is perfectly natural. It is (almost) impossible to create institutions that account for the different groups that can be created depending on the categories that intersect them. In this sense, Spain must provide the means for the general institutions to accommodate the different social groups and these are inserted in the individual or the collective according to their needs.
In Euskadi, two of the largest institutions that intersect with the needs of the study group are Emakunde and Euskadi Lagunkoia.
3.1 Emakunde
Emakunde is the Basque Institute for Women, “[...] is an autonomous body of the Basque Government that designs, promotes, advises, coordinates and evaluates equality policies and sensitizes society in order to achieve real and effective equality of women and men in the Basque Autonomous Community.” (EMAKUNDE, 2014b)
Emakunde divides its work in 2 large areas: (i) work with the public administration; and, (ii) work with society. Both areas are very important for an autonomous body that has the obligation to improve the living conditions of such an important social group. Emakunde has a catalog of services that can be consulted online; but that can be summarized on: (i) sensitization; (ii) external training; (iii) aids and recognitions; (iv) collaboration; (v) coordination; (vi) advice; (vii) generation of knowledge; (viii) planning; (ix) evaluation; (x) legislation; (xi) complaints and suggestions; and, (xii) sanctions.
The work that Emakunde does is not an abstract work with women. It is a transversal work, which reaches people of all age, race, and gender groups. The importance of Emakunde lies in generating not a better society for women; but, a better society for all.
3.2 Euskadi Lagunkoia
Euskadi Lagunkoia is an initiative of the Department of Employment and Social Policies of the Basque Government; initiative, operated by the Matia Foundation. “[...] it aims to encourage the participation of the elderly and citizens in general to improve neighborhoods and environments in the municipalities of Euskadi so that we can continue to make our lives as we grow older.” (EUSKADI LAGUNKOIA, 2018a)
The Euskadi Lagunkoia model is based on the Friendly Environments Program for Aging and, in addition to the aforementioned general objective, has the following objectives:
• Use the potential that older people represent in the life of the towns and cities of Euskadi as generators of well-being;
• Create and promote community participation processes; • Create a Network of friendly initiatives in Euskadi; and,
• Facilitate the introduction of changes in the environments in order to improve the quality of life of their citizens. (EUSKADI LAGUNKOIA, 2018a)
For the fulfillment of the objectives pursued by the Euskadi Lagunkoia model, the entities must adopt the following measures:
• Transportation, so that everyone can move easily inside and outside our towns and cities.
• Housing, so that we can have housing adapted to our needs.
• Participation and social fabric, fostering mutual help among neighbors. • Respect and inclusion, working together all generations.
• Citizen participation and employment, promoting a sense of citizenship and a flexible employment to the needs of people.
• Communication and information, knowing all the opportunities offered by our towns and cities to have fun, collaborate, learn, enjoy ...
• Social and health services, knowing what resources we have available and how we can request them.
• Outdoor spaces and buildings, encouraging the use of public spaces (parks, gardens, sports centers, squares ...) contributing to their improvement and sharing our favorite places with others. (EUSKADI LAGUNKOIA, 2018a) Currently, the initiative has 54 municipalities, 5 friendly places, 374 friendly establishments and 11 legacies. This would be seen on the map of the Basque Autonomous Community.
Unfortunately, Oñati is not a municipality integrated to the initiative and only has 2 friendly establishments. But then. “What is a friendly town? The Euskadi Lagunkoia’s website defines it as “[…] an urban environment, inclusive and accessible, that encourages coexistence between people and the active aging of older people.” (EUSKADI LAGUNKOIA, 2018d)
The definition provided by Euskadi Lagunkoia presents a couple of problematic elements. The first difficulty is that it proposes active aging as the only alternative for aging. I had already talked about it when reviewing the work of Anna Freixas. Active aging is not the only alternative for aging. Much less is a binary relationship, where the other alternative is to live a sedentary life, but we have an area with an unimaginable range of colors in between these two alternatives.
The second inconveniency is that it seems like the initiative is only aimed at urban centers. This is extremely problematic for populations such as Oñati, where 96.18% of its territory is considered a not developable area. (EUSTAT-EUSKAL, 2014)
The press release of the Municipal Group of Basque Nationalist Party (PNV for its acronym in Spanish) of May 3, 2018 (OÑATIKO EAJ-PNVREN UDAL DALDEA, 2018) proposes the incorporation of the municipality to the Euskadi Lagunkoia initiative for the adaptation of the public policies of Oñati, which allow the development of public spaces for coexistence among people of all ages.
We are facing a new paradigm of society and intergenerational coexistence that needs to incorporate the concept of active aging and empower elderly people. From EAJ-PNV we firmly believe in that need and in the possibilities offered by this program to build our Oñati Lagunkoia, a friendly municipality for all, be they girls, boys, young people, adults and the elderly. (OÑATIKO EAJ-PNVREN UDAL DALDEA, 2018, p. 2)
The proposal of the municipal group of the PNV is fantastic, the only issue that has not considered is that public policies can not only be formal, but de facto. Oñati is a town in which constant modifications are made in the public space and even the private one to allow the accessibility and integration of the different age groups that live in Oñati.
4 THE ELDERLY WOMEN AND THEIR WORLD
Approaching the world of elderly women in a town like Oñati, being a middle-aged foreign man, seemed a complex issue. For this I designed a methodology that would allow me to prepare a report that reflects their reality and bespeak their needs and desires.
The object of study is analyzed using three methodologies. First, with the Emakunde and Eustat databases; the situation of elderly women in Oñati is analyzed in a statistical and quantitative manner. The information is not regularly available or is outdated. E.g. some Eustat data have publication date of 2014, which means that at least they were produced in 2013, phasing out the studied population in 5 years.
Noting the deficiencies of secondary statistical information, an observation was made of public activities organized by different groups of elderly people; among them the group of pensioners, Pake Leku, and Lagun Leku. Activities such as concentrations, field trips and informal meetings were observed among people belonging to the age group studied. The immersion in the Oñati’s culture and society has been fundamental for the success of the research, evidently 5 months are insufficient to denominate this an ethnographic study; so, the past experience (2 years) is fundamental for the knowledge of the culture and society of the town.
Finally, in order to provide a voice to the subject of the research, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were anonymous, and the narrative has been built to confuse the different stories, always having in mind the commitment of anonymity.
The anonymity was requested by the interviewees, who went to the interviews on a voluntary basis. Each interview lasted about 1.5 hours and the stenographic and audio materials were destroyed as soon as I finished the final version of this article.
To carry out the interviews, the protocol suggested in the Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation for those Responsible for its Treatment was followed (SPANISH AGENCY FOR DATA PROTECTION, CATALAN DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY & BASQUE DATA PROTECTION AGENCY, 2016), so that the interviewees were informed with opportunity and detail of the treatment, use and purpose of the data provided. Likewise, they were informed about their rights and how to exercise them in a clear and simple language.
4.1 Elderly women in numbers
It is an unquestionable fact that the population pyramid has been modified, the European population is aging at a dizzying pace. Population aging is occurring in two senses: (i) the population over 65 years of age is constantly growing; and, (ii) the population is reaching more advanced ages. This is reflected in the constant increase in life expectancy, particularly in the most developed countries.
In 1976 (oldest statistical data found in Eustat) the generation born in 1952 represented 1.40% of the population in Euskadi. People between 63 and 71 years old represented 5.6% and those over 72 years old 4.1%. In total, the elderly in Euskadi represented 9.7% of the population. The majority were women in the range of 63 to 71 years represented 56.7% and those over 72 years old reached 62.5%. (EUSTAT, 2017)
The beginning of the 21st century shows a very important change in the
configuration of the population pyramid, which more closely resembles a tree. In the year 2000, the generation born in 1952 represented 1.30% of the population in Euskadi. People between 63 and 71 years old already represented 9.9% and those over 72 years old 9.6%. In total, the elderly in Euskadi represented 19.5% of the population; that is, the population that has traditionally been conceived as older adults doubled in less than a quarter of a century. The women in the range of 63 to 71 years represented 52.9% and those over 72 reached the 62.7%. (EUSTAT, 2017)
Today, the studied population has reached 65 years and represent 1.20% of the population, which represents a sustained decrease of 0.10% in each of the scenarios analyzed; however, today people between 63 and 71 years represent 10.5% and those over 72 years 14.1%. In total, the elderly in Euskadi already represent a quarter of the population. Women in the range of 63 to 71 years represented 52.6% and those over
72 years old reached 60.3%. As we can see, the gap between men and women older than 63 has also narrowed. (EUSTAT, 2017)
Oñati’s population is of 11,344 people, according to Eustat data for 2017. Of the total number of inhabitants of the town, 2,554 are over 65, divided into 1,126 men and 1,428 women. (EUSTAT, 2017) This means that 22.5% of the current population of the municipality are in fact elderly people, of which more than half are women, who represent 12.5% of the total population of Oñati.
Since 2001, the total population of the municipality has increased by 7.3% while the elderly population has increased by 30.1%. (EUSTAT, 2017) This disparity is shown in the following graph:
2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Total Population 10.565 10.611 10.624 10.658 10.809 10.951 11.121 11.202 11.344 >= 65 Total 1.963 2.053 2.087 2.115 2.163 2.260 2.366 2.434 2.554 Men 851 889 886 898 925 958 1.020 1.056 1.126 Women 1.112 1.164 1.201 1.217 1.238 1.302 1.346 1.378 1.428
Table 1. Population growth in Oñati from 2001 to 2017 (Eustat, 2017a)
Eustat has published its population projections for 2028, projection in which people who are now 65 will have 75 and will continue with the sustained decrease of 0.10% to represent 1.10% of the total population of Euskadi within 10 years. On the other hand, the population of 63 to 71 years old will represent 12.4% of the population and those over 72 years old (where our study group is located at that time) will represent 17.1%, with which together they reach the impressive percentage of 29.5 of the population of the Autonomous Community, which is very close to representing a third of the population. Within the group of 63 to 71 years, the percentage of women will remain unchanged, while in the group of those over 72 years it seems that the gap will be reduced. In spite of which, it will remain as the widest gap of age difference.
4.2 How do elderly women are seen?
During the time I developed the observation for the research, I attended a number of events, in which elderly women played a fundamental role. Beginning with the preparation and execution of the International Women’s Day gatherings. The women, especially the elderly women, summoned and organized the gathering that took place in the ducks’ park in the Olakua neighborhood. A group of about 10 women was responsible for placing banners in the public space, as well as a collection of objects that made the feminization of housework evident. This concentration had as its main demand the repudiation of violence against women and the recognition of older women in the movements that have allowed women to perceive a more egalitarian society (although there is still a long way to go). The concentration was
nourished by the presence of women and men of all ages, Basque, Spanish, American, Catholic and Muslim. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandparents returning from school with children also joined the rally. What this concentration reflects is the power of convocation and execution that the women of the generation we analyze have, women who at the end of the rally organized a meal for the elderly women and on the way to the meal commented that they belong to that generation that had to take the streets many times and feel proud to fight for their rights, but above of all the rights of others.
The demonstrations held every Monday demanding the Spanish government to increase pensions were also an opportunity to see the work done every day by women in this age group. I attended the first meeting that was held after receiving the letter from the Minister of Employment Fátima Báñez, informing them of the rise in the pension by 0.25%. This meeting served to verify that the women of this generation are not mere companions of social struggles (and I doubt they have never been), but an essential part of the movements that have changed and turned Euskadi into a more egalitarian and just society. Not only is it a question of numbers, it is true that there were the same number of men as women in that room; but, in the field of ideas, they were also the same. The opinion of women and men are heard and accepted in equal circumstances and their leadership has been essential for the development of the movement of pensioners and retirees.
In the weekly concentrations, around 200 people met, in similar percentages of men and women. Regularly the concentrations had two banners and at the time of the rallies a banner ended up being loaded exclusively by a group of women, although they were not always the same. Throughout the observation I noticed that the banner that was worn by women walked behind another one that was always in charge of men. When commenting on this situation with the women in charge of the banner, they denied the existence of a banner of men and one of women, it was a question that they consider casual. It called my attention that all of them prefer that another person carries the banner and only carry it when nobody else is willing to do it, again and again we see them empowering themselves through being for others. On countless occasions, the women who participated in the rallies, the amamak attended with their grandchildren, passing the purchase; that is to say, for them political participation is not something dissociated from everyday life, they are people accustomed to being multitaskers and that is reflected in all their life decisions.
These women do much more for the political and cultural life of the people than to organize and participate in rallies. It is common to see the grandmothers taking care of the grandchildren, buying groceries, taking relatives and acquaintances to the ambulatory or to the hospital. Many of the older women continue, alone, engaged in housework. Three scenarios were those that they faced in their youth: (a) dedicate exclusively to housework; (b) partially dedicate to housework (which does not mean that they spent less time or effort, but that they had to work outside the
old age they face the need to continue dedicating time to the home, while the couple (when they have one) continues to make use of his time for himself.
In the various festivities held in Oñati you can see older women in the committees that organize them, they can be seen distributing food, drink, directing and actively participating in the cultural life of the town. The participation of older women in these types of activities as well as providing a service to the community serves as an example to younger generations of women, an example that breaks with stereotypes, an example that shows them that they can be who they want, when they want and can change with the same ease.
At the level of social participation, they are involved in care and accompaniment activities. Many recently retired women attend the asylum to visit elderly people, usually their relatives. Two initiatives attracted my attention during the research, similar initiatives, that nevertheless “have nothing to do” as described by their users. On the one hand, the Pake leku association with a building that has dance classrooms, hairdressing salon, bar, widow’s room, choir, bingo, theater and travel agency. It has an enviable location, thanks to the family that donated the property of San Juan Kalea, just behind the San Miguel church in the center of town. Pake leku, over the years has become a cultural and social reference for seniors in Oñati. In this association I have been able to interact with some of the women who voluntarily provide help and agree that for them, their social and cultural participation serves to give to others, but also as a way to face retirement and that change of life which involves leaving the habits acquired during a work life.
At the other side of the town, a new initiative emerged, arising from the capacity to be for others of a group of women and men of the generation born in the middle of the last century. Lagun leku is an initiative that seeks to solve various social issues related to people of the fourth age who live in the neighborhoods of Olabarrieta, Olakua, San Lorentzo and Ugarkalde. According to the data of Eustat (2017b) in these neighborhoods a quarter of the population of the town concentrates with 2,486 inhabitants, without specifying in the statistics the age groups of this population. Being the second most populated area of the municipality, a space was needed for those elderly people who cannot attend the activities carried out by Pake Leku, at least not on a daily basis. The Lagun leku initiative develops countless activities that bring the elderly closer to the traditions of the past, such as the elaboration of the San Juan bouquets, excursions to the Sanctuary of Arantzazu on the day of the Virgin or elaboration of chocolate on the day of San Blas, but also bring new activities such as Yoga classes, Bingo and talks with various groups. Located in the Eltzia building in Ugarkalde, its location is ideal for people with reduced mobility who want to spend time with friends from the neighborhood. The founders of Lagun Leku say that the idea came after seeing the elderly spend their evenings in the pews of the bus stops, they thought about creating a place where they could approach to fight loneliness, have fun and even warm up during the winter. The new place offers coffee, chocolate and infusions, but soon a bar will be opened that, although independent from Lagun leku’s place, will provide more variety of food and drinks to those who
attend the activities of the Association. The men and women who participate in this association provide an invaluable service, often contributing their own money with the sole intention of helping. This association has been the inspiration for this research, because it is the men, but above all the women who make up the best example of there are many ways of coping with the age and retirement. The diversity of objectives and ways of living enrich the contributions of Lagun Leku and make the life of all those who find them on their way better.
4.3 How do elderly women see themselves?
The third part of the methodology used involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a number of local women, whose age was around what is known as the third age. The result of the interviews has been revealing, from the beginning to the conclusions presented here. To carry out the interviews, an open call was issued through Lagun Leku and Pake Leku so that all the women interested in participating in the study could approach the informative talks organized in both places.
A first finding is that almost all the women who participated in the interviews asked their identities to be kept in the most absolute anonymity, which is complex in such a small population, were the total population of elderly women is of 1,428 people and this is a town where most of its inhabitants know each other. Another important finding was generated by the women who decided not to participate in the study, since most of them think that they have not had an interesting life, a life that is worth telling. That thought was repeated even in some of the women interviewed, who at the end of the interview found that they have had lives not only interesting, but exciting and that can inspire many other women.
Derived from the methodological difficulty involved in maintaining the anonymity of the participants in the study, names, ages, professions, or particular activities that could make any of them identifiable are not mentioned.
If we imagine all the people interviewed as one person, it would turn out to be a very interesting person, with different interests, to which one should ask how many hours the day has. The valuable thing about this experience is that the same question can be asked to thousands of women throughout the Basque Country. The woman who participated in the study sometimes supports the activities of Lagun Leku, sometimes Pake Leku, sometimes both. Helps older and younger relatives, taking care of the elderly and offspring. I am talking about a woman who takes patients to the hospital even when they are not from her family, who visits the nursing home because she recognizes the destructive power of loneliness and seeks to extend the lives of her elders. She is a woman who cooks tortillas, pintxos and gathers clothes and food to send money and goods to the neediest in countries that demand help and refugee camps. She is a woman who, although a little older, is still interested in political activity and supports causes such as Gure Esku Dago or movements for the
rapprochement of political prisoners. She is a woman who spends more time helping others than herself, because, according to her social work, has an incredible return, it always gives you back more than you provide. She helps, because she grew up knowing that you cannot wait for the government to solve everything.
She is a woman who came from abroad, was born in Oñati with foreign parents or her parents were born also in Oñati. Scenarios that completely change her perception of life as a woman.
She belongs to a fighter generation by nature. She is a woman who in her youth made social, labor, and political activism part of her life. She participated in the creation of clandestine unions and grew up in the Franco’s regime, which was hard for the Spanish, but even harder for national identities as the Basque, where women had a much worse time than men. When she was 13, 14 or 15 years old she started working in the bar, restaurant, dining room, factory, school, beauty salon, cleaning houses, supermarket, farmhouse or business and with what she earned her brothers’ education was paid. In the company, she preferred the union struggles to be promoted, because she understood that collective rights are her own rights. She fought against maleness and the category system, which caused women to earn less than men. And even so, she knows that the generation before hers did not had the same opportunities and they should feel privileged, but there is still a long way to go, a path that has progressed, but it seems that at a very slow pace. She belongs to a generation where people faced jail for helping students, activists or social actors, regardless of whether they were involved in illicit activities.
She fought and eliminated the queen of the Oñati festivals, even if she was branded as ugly (often by other women), just for wanting to be valued for something more than her physical appearance. She tells me that men received scholarships for their children and bonuses for every child they had, while women did not, even when they were single mothers. The man who earned less received more than the woman who earned the most. We speak of a woman who suffered abuses of which she was conscious decades later, but who also suffered in silence, thinking that she was wrong, abuses that occurred at home, work and even the public space, ranging from asking her to attend her factory work in skirt or dress until touching of which she could speak little unless she had a certain degree of power in the organization where they were produced. It cannot be forgotten that this woman has decided to marry or not and to live as a couple, use contraceptive methods or not for the first time in history.
She, who decided not to stop working after getting married despite the fact that leaving work was an accepted pattern to promote the submission and loss of autonomy of women, but we also talk about a woman who stopped working, because she believed that the law prohibited to continue working married and it took the dowry, she found the empowerment in house, or in its youth or in the retirement, that assures that the work of taking care of the house is very important and can be equal or more gratifying that to go out to work. That same woman who was fired on the grounds that in her family they already had two salaries or was attacked in
the street for stealing jobs from the men of the town, she went back to work when the children got older and they no longer needed her. She is a woman who pushed for an education in Basque, the first women to take their children to the Ikastola or to go to the Euskaltegi to learn Basque or literate in that language. We are speaking about the same person who left school after high school and who years later left her children (almost always paying, although sometimes they were lucky enough to have the mother to take care of them) to look for a better future in the factories, bars, restaurants or where she could get better working conditions.
We speak about a woman who is concerned about the loss of values among young people, but she is also afraid to tell her out-of-body or paranormal experiences for fear of lack of understanding and that she is sure that plurality will end differences. She is a woman who wants to teach new things to the elderly, but she also wants to continue learning. She knows that submission was learned at home, that women have been sexist; she assumes that they have been guilty. She acknowledges that man should look at the woman as a person, for men they are almost objects, that woman has the right to live in freedom and that freedom is linked to the autonomy that in a greater or lesser degree has been given by the salary, not to depend economically on a couple has been fundamental for this woman of around 65 years. This woman grows up in a village with “work for women” (chocolate, umbrellas, toothpick) and that genderification of employment has awakened her from the workplace to gender awareness. She, who had a childhood marked by intrafamily violence, but who managed to prevent history from repeating itself when forming a family.
The woman we talk about has retired with 65 years or accepting a pre-retirement agreement that reduced her pension, although she could also have retired due to a disability. Retirement has caught her by surprise, sometimes she is happy and lives this change to her fullest, but in others she felt isolated and guilty for not contributing to the family economy as she used to.
Nowadays, that woman on retirement age is not perceived by the youngest in her proper dimension. In addition to her assistance contribution (which should be translated in economic terms as an indirect contribution to social services) she buys in Oñati, because she is absolutely committed to avoid the shops in town to close. She knows that buying out or on the internet is much cheaper and provides more options to the consumer but prefers to maintain the commercial life of the town. She contributes indirectly to the family economy by preparing meals to take or by receiving sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren and granddaughters. Sometimes that same woman will take care of them all week, in others it will be a tacit agreement of care in exceptional cases, but in all cases, they know that they are not to educate or raise grandchildren and help with pleasure, even if this means sacrificing their time and autonomy, as always, in favor of others.
I have seen that woman in the pensioners’ concentrations struggling to get a decent pension, but also being in solidarity with those who earn less than her. She knows that it is difficult for things to change and also believes that people do not go
to meetings for convenience or because they believe it is unfair that people who did not pay enough to earn the same as those who did.
She has taken active retirement as a conscious decision, participates in recreational activities, does yoga, goes to the garden or the mountain, collects perretxikos, paints, embroiders, plays theater, dances, nothing. Or take the day off, watch the TV, go shopping, walk with friends. That same woman now dares to be -yes, in 2018- the first woman to represent an apostle at the Corpus festivities, but she, along with many others, achieved female participation in this type of events, having to fight even for feminine roles.
This woman has an advice for young people and wishes for the elderly. For young people, she advices to be more supportive to each other, to go out and seek to improve their working conditions, because as the world moves, they will not have pensions to fight for. She asks that political parties make people, not parties; that is, that they understand the needs of all. For the future, she wants economic, psychological and social support for people who have just finished their working life, need to feel useful and remain active. A larger residence is needed, the waiting lists are very long. It needs to rethink and reform the model of the sheltered floors, because they propitiate two adverse phenomena for aging: (i) loneliness; and, (ii) the uprooting, forcing the elderly to abandon their belongings and move to a strange place, or worse, to another town, where the uprooting and the feeling that one is going to die far from the motherland can be unbearable.
5 REMARKING CONCLUSIONS
Feminism offers the right tools for the study of various social phenomena. In particular, intersectionality, as a methodological tool that emerged from the studies of black feminism. By means of the study of the diverse circumstances that affect the women object of this study, it is understood that not only are they women that reach the age of retirement, but they go through a series of circumstances that explain their motivations and the course that has taken their lifetime. Circumstances such as the early age at which they had to start their working life or studies cut short by that circumstance partly explain the pensions they receive today.
The world in which they grew explains how they intersected the system of classification of jobs, the genderization of different trades and professions; the different levels of Basque-speaking and educational, combined with the dictatorship, provoking a generation that fought like few to improve their own and strange living conditions.
These women, daughters of the second half of the 20th century, have known how to face dictatorships and revolutions, have embraced feminism and technological development. Even retired, they take language and computer courses. They do yoga, go to the mountain, participate in races, swim, dance, sing and do theater. They
