Gendered Dimensions of Elderly Care in the Digital Era

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 10. Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

India's growing aging population is dealing with complicated and sometimes conflicting effects of the country's accelerating digital transformation. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as an analytical framework, this study integrates national-level findings from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1 (2017–18) with qualitative narratives of older persons in Kolkata, the Indian city with the highest absolute elderly population. The study contrasts qualitative insights into digital technology use, social relationships, emotional well-being, and care methods with quantitative variables such as health status, living arrangements, life satisfaction, and elder abuse.

Findings reveal that digital interventions such as telemedicine, e-banking, and mobile communication assist satisfy basic physiological and safety needs, boosting access to healthcare and financial services. However, these technologies mainly fall short of meeting the social belonging and esteem needs of older persons, especially in metropolitan settings where digital engagement is gradually taking the place of in-person care. Even while just 5–6% of senior citizens live alone, many suffer social isolation, emotional neglect, and reduced family ties.

Gender appears as a significant factor of vulnerability in old age. Elderly women suffer a particularly severe position, entrenched in lifelong female illiteracy, economic reliance, and exclusion from formal employment and technology. Due to low literacy, limited digital abilities, and limited access to personal devices, older women who are widowed or single are disproportionately excluded from the digital world, increasing their reliance on others for basic services. While national figures show relatively good self-reported life satisfaction (46%) and low rates of clinical depression (≈5.7%), qualitative studies suggest underlying emotional pain among elderly women that is under-represented in aggregate statistics.

Framed by modernisation theory, activity theory, and the network society perspective, the study demonstrates how digitization both enhances autonomy and reinforces gendered and class-based disparities. The paper concludes by emphasising the need for gender-sensitive, human-centred policy responses, including community-based digital literacy programmes for elderly women, intergenerational support systems, and mental health outreach, to ensure that digital inclusion genuinely enhances the holistic well-being of India’s ageing population.

Author

• Sucharita Halder, University of Kalyani, Department of Sociology