Dementia disproportionately affects women whether living with dementia or supporting someone living with dementia in aged care, a fact largely ignored in the final report of the Aged Care Royal Commission, an analysis by QUT health law researchers has found.
Analysis of the RC into Aged Care Quality and Safety Report finds heavily gendered aspects of dementia ignored
More women experience dementia, most care partners of people with dementia are women
Report failed to bring gender into dementia care policy, leaving women with dementia and women care partners socially and economically devalued in the Australian aged care system
Dr Kristina Chelberg, from QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, said the gendered experiences of women with dementia and the unpaid work of women care partners of people with dementia in aged care were overlooked in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s (ACRC) final report.
Dr Chelberg and Dr Linda Steele, from University of Technology Sydney, explored the representation of women, dementia and aged care in the ACRC that informed the ‘once-in-a-generation’ reforms contained in the new Aged Care Act, in an article published in the Journal of Aging Studies.