Female Excluded more than Male: Do Community Characteristics Matter?

Despite numerous studies on social exclusion which acknowledge gender disparity within the issue, very few are focused on widening the analysis into community-level factors. Considering the elderly as the most vulnerable age group, this study aims to investigate the role of community characteristics in explaining gender disparity in social exclusion amongst the elderly in Indonesia. Panel data from 2007 and information from the Indonesian Family Life Survey in 2014 are analyzed using ordered logistic regression with robust standard error adjustment. Results show that community leader characteristics including educational, age, and gender factors are statistically significant on affecting social exclusion amongst the elderly. Elderly who live in communities that are led by a leader who are aged 50 years or older and have an educational level of at least senior high school are less likely to be socially excluded. Those two variables are significant in all sample studies and sub samples of female elderly only. It indicates that social exclusion among female elderly are statistically more sensitive based on the changes of community leader than social exclusion among the males.

Automated summary

The study found that community leader characteristics have a significant impact on social exclusion among the elderly, especially for female elderly, suggesting that social exclusion among female elderly are more sensitive to changes in community leaders.