Are Empowered Women Healthier in Their Later Life? Empirical Analysis Using Indonesian Longitudinal Data

Abstract

Although empowering women provides advantages for women and their children and family, the long-term advantage is yet to be deeply studied. By utilizing 14 years of longitudinal information, this study investigated the link between empowerment and later life well-being among women. Data from two later rounds of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS3 [2000] & IFLS5 [2014/2015]) were analyzed using logistic regression with robust standard error. Results showed that unempowered women were more likely to have trouble in activities of daily living (ADL) in older age. When the analysis was specified based on living locations, empowerment among women living on the island of Java had no statistical association with later life well-being. In contrast, empowerment among women living off the island of Java was highly significant in affecting ADL problems with double strength in magnitude as that of the general sample. This finding provided insight into the vital role that empowerment plays in older adults’ well-being, especially those living off the island of Java. Moreover, having a chronic disease is associated with having a higher likelihood of difficulties with ADL. Older adults who were involved in paid activities are found to perform better in ADL than older persons not working. Furthermore, having more family members impacts the likelihood of difficulties with women’s ADL.