Respect Your Elders?

I’ve always thought that when people who are older than me said “I wish I could be your age again,” I serious thought to myself “whatever” it doesn’t matter to me their just talking crazy. But now, while researching for this blog I can’t see why anyone would want to grow up if this is the type of stuff I’m going to be in store for. This seems to be stress, discrimination, and considered to be in poverty.

Since 2001 many elderly women and men have been stressing about having to find employment because employers are now looking for younger graduate students with little to no experience, even when an elderly citizen could have 25 plus years working within that field. With technology today, it is hard to keep up with, and most elderly don’t even have a computer, but they do have the skills of knowledge and hands on experiences rather than sitting in a classroom with a computer. The elderly have had to build up from the bottom to the top, and personally I’d want someone who has had to physically do well to get to the stage that there rather than someone just coming in new. But that’s just me, and I certainly not an employer and they definitely are starting to think otherwise towards the elderly people. Some of these elderly people are even pressured to retire early, to give up their spot in the company so a new member can come in. Although some may think getting an early retirement should be considered a “blessing” but some people really love their jobs, why would they want to leave?

Back in the “olden days” women were considered the workers of the house, and men were the “bread winners” that would go out to work and bring home the money. Back then it wasn’t even acceptable for women to work in the work force, and it was their actual job to stay at home to bare child and take care of them. It was socially acceptable and a “norm” for women to stay at home, while their husbands would take care of all the finical problems. Households were ran this way for many years, and still are within these families that have grown old together. But has society stayed the same for while these families did? Of course not. Households today need two incomes to be finically stable while having children, paying bills, and having a house. While living in Canada the average income for a family is 85,600 dollars with two earners, with children. An elderly married couple makes on average 53,900 dollars in 2009. That’s a 30,000 dollars difference that a young family makes compared to an elderly couple, if they even make that. An elderly female earner makes on average 39,000 (which it is unlikely to have a female earner within the family) and on average an elderly male makes 43,500.  

   The elderly have made Canada apart of what it is today. If we can’t respect them enough to give them enough money for living after retirement, what are we saying? Because it certainly isn’t thank you. Although not all elderly people are in poverty, and some do retire and get to go on vacations every month, but not everyone is all that lucky. For the elderly people suffering, the government should try to help them with their basic needs of living. I feel that the elderly weren’t excepting for the cost of living to go up much more than what they had before, which is why women aren’t working and don’t have an education. They always did say... to respect your elders!

Jordyn

References

http://crr.bc.edu/briefs/why_did_poverty_drop_for_the_elderly.html

http://wordsscriber.hubpages.com/hub/elderly-jobless-and-unemployed-worker