Nobody cares about me' : older women, caring and dementia

In an increasingly unequal and discriminatory society, in which ageism, sexism and racism have been exacerbated, older women face a precarious future. My task in this chapter is to make these women more visible, especially in the context of living with dementia. My aim is to not simply highlight the precarity of their lives, and to show that investing in care will generate significant social and economic benefits, but also to recognise what we have to learn from these women, who not only carry a great weight of care, under untenable conditions, but have been doing this work for decades, demonstrating astonishing dignity, courage and commitment. In this chapter I look at gender and care and the ways in which care is gendered, particularly care for those living with dementia, the economics of care, the centrality of care to all our lives and finally, what we can learn about care and caring from older women, particularly in the context of caring for and about those living with dementia.