When Genders Collide While Caregiving

The two adult sisters were angry at their older brother, the protective sibling they'd admired and emulated since they were kids. "We've cut back on our work hours to take care of Mom," one sister complained to the other. "But Louis insists he's too important to his company to miss time from his job. He just assumes we'll continue caring for Mom, no matter how it affects us."

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The family's double standard rankled the sisters — with good reason: Their mother expected the daughters to drive, feed and cater to her, but praised her son as practically a hero for his weekly phone call.

Cultural norms have led us to expect that women and men will play differing roles in many family activities. Often this works out well: Agreed-upon divisions of labor help family members work more cooperatively and efficiently during parenting, household chores and other endeavors. But when divisions start to emerge along gender lines in caregiving families, they can embitter sisters, enrage brothers and encumber the caregiving plan.

Take the question of who becomes a caregiver: With 2 out of every 3 caregivers a female, family caregiving is still largely women's work. (The average caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who works at least part time and has been taking care of an aging parent for several years.) Although the percentage of male caregivers has slowly risen over the past 20 years, it still lags far behind.

Researchers in the caregiving field have turned up these other key gender disparities:

Women are more likely to commit to particularly arduous caregiving, including hands-on care that involves bathing and using the toilet. Men, on the whole, are less apt to get their hands dirty — and they feel less guilt about hiring help than women do.

Women and men often receive varying responses for providing the same level of care. Female caregivers are typically acknowledged as "just doing their duty," whereas men tend to be lauded for engaging in even minor care activities.

Women and men cope differently with the stress of being a caregiver. Women feel greater sadness and anxiety about caring for a failing loved one, and they are more likely to seek emotional support (by attending a caregiver support group, for example). Men go into "Logical Problem-Solver" mode, avoiding their emotions and spurning support groups.

In my practice (in which I provide psychotherapy to groups of adult siblings caring for aging parents), I've seen these gender differences play out in two common types of family conflict. As with Louis and his siblings, sisters complain that their brothers get off scot-free when it comes to caregiving responsibilities; and brothers complain that their sisters take over at the outset of caregiving, making them feel marginalized. In both scenarios, the regrettable (but avoidable!) end result is often damaged relations among sisters and brothers.