ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper was to understand the meaning ofwork among the poor elderly women through the analyses of theirdaily life and welfare needs. Daily life and their attitudes wereinvestigated by the narrative data from three interview groups.Welfare needs were analyzed by need assessment research. Themajor finding of this study was that the meaning of work amongthe poor elderly women would be quite different from that of theelderly men or the upper/middle class elderly people. Theirboundary of work and leisure was very ambiguous in their dailyroutine. In addition, their daily life was constructed around thewelfare center for the elderly or senior house (Gyungro-dang).Self-esteem and the level of life satisfaction was very low. Theirattitudes on children's support for parent has really been changed.They are very generous and submissive to the young generation.Their primary welfare needs are still very basic, like lunch service,health care, and trivial work for the tiny income. Practicalimplication of the finding for the welfare program and welfarepolicy is that the welfare center for the elderly or senior house canbe utilized and activized not just as leisure space but as a kind ofworkplace for the poor elderly women because it is very importantin their daily life. This paper also raised the theoretical discussionon the meaning of work among the poor elderly women.