Elderly care and gender dynamics in a tibetan village in northwest china: Changes and challenges

This study explores how social transformations shape women’s opportunities to negotiate gender norms and relations, and how changing gender dynamics shape elderly care in rural Tibetan families in northwest China. Family care responsibilities among Tibetans have traditionally been primarily assigned to women. However, in recent years, Tibetan society has undergone rapid social transformations, including women’s increased access to education and participation in the labor market, which have important implications for traditional gender norms, family relations, and family care for die elderly. Based on household surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews, tills study found that women’s increasing access to education and economic status empowers them to negotiate gendered caring norms and roles. This also entails more elderly care from daughters to their natal parents. However, as unequal gender norms persist and most men are still not involved in caregiving roles, social changes increase women’s care burden and undermine the provision of elderly care.