The Long-Term Impact of a Spouse's Disability on Women's Work

This: you're in your later years, living in China, and your spouse becomes disabled. How does this affect your work life? A recent study found out some surprising facts. Researchers looked at data from 2011 to 2020 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. They used a clever method called "staggered difference-in-differences" to find out if a spouse's disability changes how people work. Guess what? It does, but not in the same way for everyone. Women, especially those with less education or certain cultural backgrounds, saw a big drop in their work, lasting over eight years.Men, on the other hand, didn't change much. Why? The study says it's because women take on more caregiving roles and their own health suffers. After a spouse's death, both men and women work less, with women often taking on grandchild care. So, what can we learn? Maybe we should think about how to help older women who are caring for disabled spouses. After all, they're doing a lot!