Financial Autonomy and Gender Equality in Globalized World: A Study on Older Adult Population of India

We aim to analyse economic empowerment and gender equality among the older adult people in India using financial autonomy and gender inequality indices and compare different states of India for these indices across time and space. We used data from the 42nd and 52nd rounds of the National Sample Surveys for the present study. We propose two indicators namely the management of owned property and owned assets to evaluate financial autonomy. Gender inequality was estimated using the gender inequality index proposed by the UNDP. Financial autonomy has increased while the gender inequality index has decreased with time across most of the states of India. Living arrangements of the older adult population are changing. Old-aged people suffering from locomotor and cognitive disabilities are less likely to manage properties and assets. Promoting healthy aging by investing more in physical and mental health and encouraging gender equality can minimize the looming demographic crisis.