Dependency among Third World elderly: a need for new direction in the nineties

The current political economy of aging focuses largely on the conditions of old people in Western industrialized societies. Thus it ignores more than half of the world's elderly--those residing in Third World countries. In the first part of this article the author examines aging trends in developing countries, considering recent approaches to addressing the deteriorating economic and social conditions that shape the lives of the elderly in these countries. In the second part, a feminist perspective is used to assess the implications of these demographic trends and development strategies for women in Third World countries. It is argued that policies that place primary responsibility for care of the elderly within families are as unjust in Third World societies as they are in industrialized nations.