KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

Ⅰ. Objective and necessity of research

Positive participation in social activities is a vital factor in maintaining a creative and vigorous life in old age. As a response to life in old age, the current trend is to attach more significance to voluntary activities. Volunteer services and social contribution activities can be regarded as a type of social participation that contributes to the society in pursuit of the common good. As meaningful volunteer work is all through one’s life, its necessity and meaning grows more serious in old age. It is known that the desire for volunteer service and social contribution is intensified in old age, and social participation and volunteer service in old age have positive influence on self-esteem and satisfaction in life. Such international organizations as WHO, UN, EU, etc., also, find social participation of the elderly through volunteer services to positively influence successful aging and recommend it. In this context, this research sought measures for the participation of the elderly in social activities, which include work, community activity, volunteer service, social contribution activities, etc.

 

Ⅱ. Characteristics of elderly women’s participation revealed in the implementation of policy and projects

As for important elements for successful aging and active life in old age, health, work, learning activity, and social participation activity, etc. are referred to. Relevant government ministries are expanding such social contribution projects, as well as volunteer service projects that utilize the knowledge and experiences of retired baby boomers. Looking into the current status of participation by gender in major projects offered by government ministries shows that though the rate of women’s participation in general, volunteer services is higher than that of men, their participation rate in such social contribution activities that utilize experiences and professional capability is lower than that of men. In addition, although women’s participation rate in job-related projects is higher, this can be explained by the fact that poor women with lower educational background make up a large portion of the aged population in Korea. This shows that the social characteristics of elderly women, including low education level, low income, career discontinuity, etc., are reflected in the volunteer services and social contribution activities of the aged as well.

 

Ⅲ. Current status of participation in social and voluntary activities

This research examined the current status of social and voluntary activities of the elderly. As a result of the investigation of male and female senior citizens aged 60-79, a total of 1,197 cases were used for the final analysis. For the experience in volunteer work, a total of 773 cases, comprising the cases from the survey of general public and the cases from additional survey of those with experience of volunteer work, were analyzed.

1. Current status of participation in social activities

- Currently, the kinds of activities that elderly people in our society engage in the most are hobbies, friendship, exercise, and religious activities. 14.3% of female and 16.4% of male respondents answered that they participate in volunteer services. In general, women showed rather lower level of participation in social activities than men. The rate of women’s participation in social activities is lower than that of men except for cases of the activities related to religion, culture, and arts.

- The rate of experience of those aged 55 or older (full years counted in, and hereafter the same applied to all the ages referred to) of participating in group activities, of which the purpose is other than friendship, is 36.5% (Women 37.3%, Men 35.6%). The rate of participation in religious organizations is the highest with 54.5%, followed by the rate of participation in organizations of senior citizens with 23.1%. The rate of the experience of playing the role of a leader or an executive in group activities is 38.0%, ― men shows 17.5% higher experience rate at 47.5% while that of women only at 30.0%.

- The rate of those aged 55 or older with experience of participating in community development and management is 12.7% (Women 10.1%, Men 15.7%). While the demand for the participation of senior citizens in the development, management, and decision-making of the community is high at 82.7%, those with the opinion that such opportunities are insufficient account for up to 69.8% of the respondents.

- As for the difficulties hampering the participation in social activities, time, health, information, cost, ability, old age, and family care were cited in that order. Women show higher rate of citing health, family care, ability, information as problems in their social activities. With regard to the most required policy for the participation in social activities of the aged, provision of information was mentioned most at 45.7%, followed by life-long education that supports social activities at 32.7%, opportunities for social participation that enables the utilization of experiences and professional capability at 30.8%, support of cost at 21.3%, expansion in the participation in community projects at 18.5%, fostering of gatherings at 17.0%, and grandchildren foster service at 8.4%, in that order.

 

2. Current status of participation in volunteer services and social contribution activities

- Of those aged 55 or older, the rate of those having the experience of voluntary or social contribution activities up to date is revealed to be 23.3% ― with the rate of men (25.3%) higher by 3.7% than that of women (21.6%). Of the total respondents, the rate of those who participated in volunteer services or social contribution activities in the past one year (Aug. 2014-July 2015) is 15.3% (Women 14.3%, Men 16.4%). The biggest motivation, of those aged 55 or older with the experience of volunteer work, for the participation in volunteer services was ‘to find the meaning of life and do something worthwhile’ (54.9% of the total, 57.1% for women, 52.8% for men). The intention to participate in volunteer services or social contribution activities in the future is high with 46.0% (women 42.2%, men 50.2%) ― a very high percentage considering the rate of participation in the past year.

- As to the type of volunteer services and social contribution activities those aged 55 or older engaged in, ‘housekeeping, cleaning, etc.’ was answered most by 47.3%, followed by ‘activities related to health care and welfare (37.8%)’. The results of having the respondents choose the field of activities they wished to participate in the future revealed that in the case of women, ‘activities related to health care and welfare (64.2%)’ is the most desired field of activity, followed by ‘housekeeping, cleaning, etc. (53.4%)’, ‘activities related to environment (35.8%),’ ‘cultural activities (22.4%),’ and ‘education activities (11.9%)’, in that order. The field of activities the greatest number of male respondents chose is ‘activities related to environment (53.2%)’, and the second most desired by male respondents is ‘activities related to health care and welfare (48.6%).’

- The effect on individual participants who participated in volunteer services or social contribution activities was extremely positive: 96.5% answered ‘to have spent time meaningfully’; 95.5% said ‘it was helpful for my physical and mental health'; 95.3% ‘I felt like I was a person who is necessary in the society’; 94.6% ‘it was helpful in maintaining and expanding relations with people'; 90.9% ‘I was able to utilize my capability and grow in the process', and 89.5% ‘It made me think that I have made a contribution to the community.’

- Asked about the difficulties in volunteer services and social contribution activities, 63.2% of respondents (72.5% among women, 54.9% among men) cited ‘such individual conditions as health, time, cost, etc.’ Women are found to have more difficulty than men in ‘such individual conditions as health, time, cost, etc. (17.6%)’ and in ‘lack of competence in knowledge, skill, etc.’

- With regard to what they feel most required for their volunteer services and social participation activities, 43.6% mentioned ‘provision of information and connection to activity opportunities’; 24.9% ‘participation in relevant organizations or meetings’; 21.1% ‘relevant education’; and 8.9% ‘reward’, 58.9% of the participants of voluntary services (63.0% of women, 55.0% of men) attended education related to voluntary and social contribution activities, and most of them, or 98.7% (98.3% of women, 99.1% of men), said ‘education was helpful,’ which shows the effect of education on voluntary and social contribution activities is really great.

- In general, respondents’ perception of voluntary and social contribution activities are very positive. However, 80.5% of them answered that ‘the opportunity to work that accompanies income, rather than voluntary and social contribution activities, is more important.’ This can be interpreted that they think voluntary activities have great meaning in old age, but what is more important is to work. Given that women show rather lower level than men in terms of perception, competence, current participation rate, and intention of future participation, measures to encourage positive activities of women are required.

 

Ⅳ. Policy suggestions

○ Strengthening the services supporting social activities of women in the early phase of old age in their 50s and 60s

○ Offering women-friendly and close-to-life type of information regarding activities of elderly people

○ Support of education and cost for the participation in social and voluntary activities

○ Social exchange programs that prevents the alienation of the aged including elderly women who live alone

○ Improvement of the perception of the elderly on social participation

○ Creation of a gender-sensitive environment in the community that encourages participation of senior citizens ○ Expansion of opportunities of professional volunteer services that utilize the talents of retired women

○ Fostering women leaders in the community activities of the aged

○ Support for female senior volunteers, social contribution organizations, and small groups

○ Promotion of women’s volunteer activities based on institutions

○ Diversification of the fields of women’s voluntary activities

○ Establishment of consistent reward policy and education for raising awareness of female senior citizens

○ Systemization of support services for the participants in volunteer service support institutions

○ Projects for supporting the connection and integration of learning, voluntary activities and work to foster a active life of female senior citizens