Elderly Women in Suburban Kolkata: An Exploration in Place Attachment as a Survival Strategy

Aging as a field of research developed rapidly in the last 60 years in response to a rapidly growing population of the older people, as well as due to newly emerging values in the society. In addition, there has been a shift towards heightened research interest about the experiences across the life course. In the 19th and early 20th Century, researchers mostly focused on the earlier years of life, i.e. childhood, youth, and early adult hood. However, as the population significantly grew older by the second half of 20th century, the purview of life course research expanded to the latter years.
The Indian elderly population being second largest in the world is the primary background condition for the politics of old age to work. Out of the total Indian population, elderly were 4.3 crores in 1981, 5.5 crores in 1991, 7.6 crores in 2001, more than 9 crore in 2007, and estimably will cross over 13crores mark in another 20 years. By any standards, the decadal percent growth in elderly population, which is double the rate of general population growth, is nightmarish for any policy-decision maker. It is but natural that the resources and efforts necessary would be stupendous for empowering these elderly. Another way of looking at this picture will be by calculating the burden constituted by the elderly, known as old dependency ratio that can be obtained by dividing the percentage of population in the age group of 60 plus by that in the age group of 15-59, and by multiplying the quotient by 100. Calculated in this way, we can see on every person in the productive age group (15-59), in 1981 there were 12 dependent elderly people, 15 in 1991 and estimated to be doubled in another two decades.
In today’s human society, age-based prejudices and discrimination are firmly embedded. Therefore, the word like ‘elderly’ has in itself acquired a negative connotation. For practical purposes, we define elderly as those people who have crossed a given life span, 65 years in developed countries and 60 years in developing countries like India. Growing old being a gradual process, such definition will always remain presumptuous and arbitrary. Elderly survivors of today, unlike all other generations throughout the remainder of the recorded human history, are those whose lived experience embraces massive scientific, technological, and social changes that occurred in the last century. But unfortunately for them improvement in the quality of life has not been proportional to the increases in quantity of life. Unlike up to the mid-life, satisfaction of an elderly depends on the presence of a spouse, children, social support, income, good physical and emotional health, adequate housing and transportation and independence. But we must remember that elderly are not a homogeneous category because of which their needs are also not uniform. The elderly are not only expected to adjust to the society but also to the crucial events in their life. First category of such events is related to the process of aging of the elderly. Second set of such events is related to the historical time when these individuals are growing old. Hence, the process of demographic transition, industrialization and development affect the status of the elderly. Often than not, in this process of adjustment elderly internalizes negative societal perceptions. These attitudes combined with frequent losses (e.g. job, spouse, status, home) lead the elderly to acquire debased self-image and deflated self-esteem. Moreover, the elderly because of increasing lack of control over their life constantly feel a lack of self-efficacy. Physically the elderly experience many stresses, crisis and losses, in addition to their need to cope with a devalued status. For example, they, unlike other segments of population, need more intervention even in minor physical matters, which may otherwise escalate into a major concern.
The study of social lives of the elderly covers a large area, ranging from interpersonal relationships, living arrangement, to retirement, to intergenerational equity, health, care giving, death, bereavement, and the politics of age. Due to the wide scope of this field, it is informed by multidisciplinary researches. It helps us to understand the diverse dimensions of what it is to be an elderly in our contemporary society. After all, several factors in our society contribute to the worsening relative position of the elderly.
While studying aging, we must look into the perspectives and discourses that the elderly have towards their daily experiences. This approach focuses on ordinary experience of the elderly in their daily living, how they manage successes and face failures, and the manner in which they reconstruct their past and redefine their future in relation to present lived experiences. This process comprises the meanings that are based on how the elderly themselves interpret and discern about what is like to ‘become old’ and ‘being old’ in today’s world. The aging experience, therefore, includes the thoughts, feelings and actions of the elderly. As we know mundane life centers around the meanings that, we make of various situations. Elderly do it on their own terms, as they interpersonally construct their social world depending on pleasurable or pernicious experiences of daily life.
II
This paper aims at understanding the problems that elderly women face in present times, explain Place Attachment as a theoretical concept, and examine if and how Place Attachment acts as a survival strategy for elderly women in suburban Kolkata, west Bengal, India. This paper is based on a study conducted among Elderly (60+ years of age) Women located in suburban Kolkata, in places like Birati, New Barrackpore, Rajarhat and Berechampa (all within District of 24-Parganas North, West Bengal). For drawing the Sample, because of the limited nature of the work, snowball non-probability sampling method was adopted. 45 elderly women were interviewed in their home setting, with a semi-structured Interview Schedule, mostly consisting of open-ended questions. Repeat interviews, of focused and brief in nature were necessary, number of times, to gather additional information, clarify contrary responses, and re-ascertain key observations and sometimes to simply cross-check a claim. For the purpose of this study the sample was drawn consciously among those women whose duration of residence of every at a particular place was not less than 30 years, their children/next generation lived away from them for various reasons/compulsions, and if they had wanted, they could have relocated themselves either of their own or with their children. The mean age of the sample was 69.5 years. Fifty-eight per cent of the sample had completed 12 years or more of formal education. Sixty-nine percent of their spouses were not employed. The average annual family income was 119,200.
III
Briefly the changes in the social milieu affecting the elderly women are:
First, at individual level the elderly experience biophysical decline that includes their loss of physical strength and functioning, reproductive capacity and become prone to attacks of various diseases.
Second, at the psychological level the elderly at the prime of their maturity suddenly confront the inevitable shrinkage in their goals of life and diminishing self-esteem.
Third, sociologically, we know as a person progresses through the life, an individual has to perform diverse roles. They experience greater incidence of responsibility, their network of relationship gets wider, and thus, authority and decision taking power of the elderly is at its peak. This process takes an abrupt reverse turn for an elderly who after a ‘cutoff’ age has to endure a decline in his/her position, and fails to adjust to such a change.
Besides, we have to consider the impact that the changing society has on the elderly. Human history has gone through epochal changes giving rise to conditions, which are even difficult to adjust for those humans, who have brought such changes. One such change was transformation of the economy from predominantly agricultural to industrialized form with all its far-reaching ramifications in the socio-cultural sphere, popularly labeled as industrialization.
Majority of the elderly in the developing world face material poverty. Poverty related disadvantages are compounded further for the elderly due to their inadequate social, political and economic participation. This marginalizes the elderly from the mainstream society, which in effect perpetuates their social exclusion. Poverty resulting in poor housing facility, ill health, and insecurity bring about social inferiority, isolation and vulnerability for the elderly, thus making their infirmities more insurmountable.
With age, role performance of men and women become more diverse. In their dissimilar ways, though they responsibly perform important roles for their own families and communities, yet often the responsibilities undertaken by elderly women are not recognized and are undervalued. The needs for patronage also are gender specific for the elderly largely. However, due to our lack of knowledge and appreciation, society treats the elderly as an undifferentiated mass, thus gender specific requirements of the elderly remain unattained. Throughout the life course, as men and women experience the impact of social and economic structures differently, it is but natural that at the later years of life they will remain differentially placed in the society. Similarly, marriage experiences differ vastly for men and women. Motherhood and household chores extract much from the lives of women. Early age of marriage increases the density of widowhood among elderly women.
Countering poverty also has a gender dimension, in the sense that systems of social welfare and insurance in most cases do not provide for women the full benefits due to absence in their records of continuous paid employment. Again, women most likely do not own property and other assets, which they can use at the time of necessity. In developing countries, the scenario of the elderly women is further complicated due to the fact that they lack access to educational opportunities that restrict their avenues in the labor market. The unpaid and unorganized labor given by elderly women in household economies accord them no guarantee about their future material security. Gender specific variation in health issue of the elderly is also seen. Poor nutrition, endemic communicable diseases, arduous and dangerous working conditions and violence are common in the lived experience of the elderly in the developing world. However, due to the discriminatory nutritional practices, women experience greater disadvantage. Added to this women face problems related to reproductive health unique to their lot.
Mass migration of people is the highest common denominator in human civilization from mid 20th century that spans not only from the villages to the cities or between regions within a country but also across the international borders. It is not only witnessed due to economic reasons but also caused by political victimization, human disasters and natural calamities that result in displacement. In reality, many factors of such migration actually have negative impact on the lives of the elderly, including both, who are migrating and those who remain behind.
The politics of age in the developing world make elderly vulnerable in emergencies like human disasters (Bhopal tragedy, Gujrat riots) or natural calamities (Gujrat earthquake). As a whole, though the community suffers under the impact of such disasters, the elderly suffer the most, as politics of age leave little support system available for them. Thus, their capacity to respond and take care of themselves under such situation is seriously compromised. Due to the destitution of the families and communities, isolated elderly are left with no one to turn to but to fend for themselves. During such disasters, even the capacity of the community is seriously compromised due to want of food, medical, material and human resources, which they could otherwise have had. Prejudice and discrimination can take effect in subtle ways against the elderly, under such emergencies, because the priority structure of the organizational mechanism in our society often segregates them. Politics of age actually neglects the knowledge of traditional coping strategies and alternative technical know-how’s of the elderly. The elderly play an integrative role with their sense of history and identity of the community. In emergencies, such role can preserve a community from disintegrating as well as can lead to their regeneration. The politics of age instead of portraying elderly as givers, more likely show them as takers, of support.
Similarly another condition that places the Indian elderly in a relative position of weakness is that out of their total population, substantially higher number of them live in rural India. Like all other Indians, elderly in rural areas are less privileged than their urban counterparts. The incidence of age in rural India is caused by higher fertility rate, as well as due to rural to urban migration. The urban population in India has a substantial proportion of rural immigrants. More often than not the migrant adults, some times out of compulsion and many a times out of sheer bias leave their aged parents in their rural homes. We also witness mostly among the lower class people, the retired elderly return to their rural home communities from urban areas.
Marital status of the aged is another factor that weakens the position of the elderly within the greater society. Loss of married partners has different impact on men and women. On one hand, men suffer from loneliness and lack of support that they found readily available all their life. On the other hand, women are distressed by the inevitable destitution that they have to experience because of their perennial economic dependence on their male partners.
Illiteracy and lack of education are major hurdles that allow the society to marginalize the elderly in India. It will be frivolous to separately discuss about the educational background of the Indian elderly, when we know the educational background of the general population itself is far from satisfactory. In India, in the last couple of decades proactive steps have been taken to raise the educational level of the population. But the elderly of today, who have been brought up prior to these efforts never had these opportunities; therefore they lag very far behind the general population in case of educational attainments. In this fast changing world, low educational attainment actually breeds vulnerability among the elderly as they are supposed to respond to these changes and for that, they must be ready to assume new roles and responsibilities.
In India, there is a general lack of understanding regarding the unique nature of health problems that an elderly has. Whereas the younger population suffers most from infectious diseases, the elderly suffer more from chronic ailments like problems of joints, cough, respiratory problems, blood pressure, heart diseases, urinary problems, piles and diabetes. This is the reason why our medical facilities do not have elder friendly provisions. Neither do we have sufficient number of trained personnel to take care of our elderly.
Social adjustment of the elderly in India largely is dependent on their economic condition that can be gauged by their employment status or their income. Elderly not only are forced to survive with no income or diminished income, but also retirement from regular employment, which was a source of identity for them for a long period, has damaging impact on the personality of the elderly. Suddenly they are expected to do away with their identity and social status through which they used to relate themselves with the society. Economic reforms in last one decade have brought qualitative changes in the Indian economic scene, affecting the economic role of the aged remarkably. A major area of concern is rate of work participation in the formal sector of the elderly. Comparatively India being in the early stage of structural adjustment in the economy, we still see a relatively higher work participation rate among the elderly. However, progressively there will be further erosion in the work participation rates of the elderly as already evident in urban India where the economy is relatively more organized than the rural areas. Again, the elderly who still have employment are mostly engaged in the informal sector, which is relatively less remunerative in nature. So in foreseeable future, predictably the elderly in India will remain in financial quagmire.
Changing Indian economic scenario has affected the institution of family by diminishing its capacity to take care of its elders. Economic compulsions force the young adults to pursue career independently that also frees them from the economic authority of the elders. Migration and establishment of separate household by the young adults, not only constricts the family circle of their elderly, on whom they could depend, but also compel them to fall back upon their own limited personal resources. The pattern of family in India, that we witness today, is either nucleated that off shoots to simple lineal joint family for sometime, which again reverses back to nuclear stage. In this emergent pattern of families, the elderly, living with their married children in the urban areas, face difficulty in adjusting to the interpersonal family ties. Also, changed lifestyle not only restricts the number of caregivers available for the elderly within the family, but even then it cannot be taken for granted that it will be possible for these members to take care of them.
As India urbanizes another aspect of concern that comes to the fore is the adjustment of the elderly to the urban lifestyle. Due to the shortage of living space, type of housing, lack of public amenities like foot paths, parks etc., the elderly are constantly reminded of their age, infirmities and limitations. Like all urban dwellers, the aged are consumed with the fear of violence and crime, more so because of the physical infirmities and traumatic consequences. Overall, these factors severely compromise the quality of life of the elderly in urban areas.
IV
Counter Strategy: Place Attachment
Place attachment refers to the emotional connection formed by an individual to a physical location due to the meaning given to the site as a function of its role as a setting for experience. Ranges of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and behavior as well as feelings are evoked through attachment to place. Thus, place attachment involves an elaborate interplay of emotion, cognition, and behavior in reference to place. (James J. Ponzetti, Jr, 2004) In an integrative model, Place Attachment is composed of three essential constructs: construct focused on identity or the sense of who one is in the world; Construct based on interdependence or the way in which the individual is integrated within the social environment; Construct by geographic behaviors, represented the physical space or world of the person. In conceptualizing the role of space and place we must remember that place often have a distinct culture that is based on strong community ties, long history, and ethnic or cultural connections; it offers meanings for self, others, and environment; and, it provides security in light of age-related changes, protecting the elderly women against deleterious adjustments due to later life.

V
The findings of this study show that desire to age in a place or in other words, reasons why elderly women choose to remain in a particular place are:
1. Familiarity with the physical environment: progressive sensory decrements shirking their physiological competence is countered thus
2. Remaining a part of the social fabric of the community drawing support and assistance from other community residents
3. Living in a place for long give the elderly women a sense of place in a present as well as an historical sense.
4. Similar to the findings of Norris-Baker and Scheidt (1994), it was found that our sample instead of relocating with the next generation of family members continue to inhabit the same place of residence, because of attachment to home, attachment to community, legacy of home place, and attachment to the land.
5. The vast majority were satisfied with their residence (95%), neighborhood (88%), and community (90%).
6. The lived experiences they shared were mostly (79%) related to incidents/anecdotes that signify attachment to family and friends, attachment to the land, and attachment to history.
7. Events/Functions/Ceremonies provided the elderly women for congregation that came as a close second (72%) in terms of attachment to place.
8. Shared history and past landscape rooted more than 64% elderly women further to their place of residence.


The above findings exhibit continually that place of residence works as a security envelope for the elderly women from the deep rooted insecurities that are generated by the far reaching changes in the social-economic-cultural milieu. Social credit derived from continued living in a particular place bolster their confidence enabling them to face the infirmities and loneliness that comes with age.
The biggest problem in today’s society is our unwillingness to confront explicitly the role of ourselves in the society, thus we do not articulate moral commitment. Through this act of omission, in case of the elderly women, we have created hegemonic ideas and corrupting ideologies that have labeled them as a vulnerable set of people who are burdensome for the society. On the contrary, the elderly themselves are devising enabling situations to fight out such labels.

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