exploring women's retirement: continuity, context and career transition

Exploring Women’s Retirement: Continuity,Context and Career Transition

Joanne Duberley,* Fiona Carmichael and Isabelle Szmigin

This paper reports on an exploratory study examining women’s views about and experiences ofretirement. It has long been recognized that women’s careers often follow a different path thanmen’s due to the differential impact of family and domestic responsibilities and their relativeunderrepresentation at higher levels of organizations. However, many studies of retirement haveimplicitly assumed a conventional male career as the norm, where retirement is seen as markinga neat ending to continuous employment. This paper aims to present a richer understandingof women’s retirement, utilizing contextual national data and qualitative analysis. The paperbegins with a brief summary of literature looking at women’s career development. We thenexplore the concept of retirement and consider current literature with regard to women’s retire-ment. Following a brief discussion of our research approach, we provide some national contextusing quantitative data. We then discuss the qualitative findings, examining the areas of conti-nuity and change that women experienced in retirement and exploring the factors that they feltenabled and constrained them.

Keywords: retirement, career, transition

Introduction

This paper reports on an exploratory study examining women’s views about, and experiences of,retirement. It has long been recognized that women’s careers often follow a different path than

men’s due to the differential impact of family and domestic responsibilities and their relative under-representation at higher levels in organizations. Thus women are more likely to work flexibly and toexperience breaks in employment (Loretto et al., 2009). In addition, findings from women’s develop-mental psychology suggest a distinctive relational emphasis in women’s careers (Gilligan, 1982;Miller, 1976; O’Neil and Bilimoria, 2005). However, many studies of retirement have implicitlyassumed a conventional male career as the norm (Mavin, 2001), where retirement is seen as markinga neat ending to continuous employment (Szinovacz, 2003; Szinovacz et al., 2008).

More recent career literature, however, suggests that modern careers, for both men and women,are increasingly characterized by discontinuity and non-linearity. Tams and Arthur (2010) arguethat individuals can no longer rely on stable employment within large organizations. They need toreduce their dependence on any single organization and, in turn, strengthen their personal respon-sibility for learning and adaptability (DeFillippi and Arthur, 1996; Hall, 1996). These wider socialchanges are also associated with individuals crafting careers in ways more aligned with theirpersonal values and relational commitments outside of work (Mirvis and Hall, 1994). Thus it isargued that individuals have become more active agents in shaping their own careers (Sargent andDomberger, 2007).

Address for correspondence: *Joanne Duberley, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; e-mail:[email protected]

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Gender, Work and Organization. Vol. 21 No. 1 January 2014doi:10.1111/gwao.12013

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Concomitantly, recent research in the field of gerontology (e.g., Elder and Johnson, 2003; Kim andMoen, 2002; O’Rand, 1996; Settersten, 2003; Szinovacz, 2003) recognizes the contextual embeddednessof retirement. Here, the importance of considering the interdependence between different aspects ofpeople’s lives is emphasized; the historical, cultural and social context of life experiences in additionto particular attributes, current and past statuses, in order to understand how people manage thetransition to retirement. Most such studies have taken a primarily quantitative approach (Price, 2000),which we would suggest limits the development of understanding of how individuals make sense ofand enact retirement.

This paper aims to present a richer understanding of women’s retirement, utilizing both quanti-tative and qualitative data. First a broad contextual exploration of women’s experience of retirementwas conducted using data from successive waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Thiswas followed by a qualitative study, involving semi-structured interviews with 28 women who wereeither approaching statutory retirement age or had passed it. The paper explores existing assumptionsabout the nature of women’s careers, their retirement and the complexity of this life transition. Weaim to illustrate some of the similarities and differences in women’s expectations and experiences ofretirement and gain an understanding of the factors that they feel impact their subjective wellbeing.The paper begins with a brief summary of the literature looking at women’s career development. Wethen explore the concept of retirement and consider current literature with regard to women’sretirement. Following a brief discussion of our research approach, we provide some national contextusing the BHPS data. We then discuss the qualitative findings, examining the areas of continuity andchange that women experienced in retirement and exploring the factors that they felt enabled andconstrained them.

The concept of retirement refers to a number of different phenomena. According to Szinovacz(2003), it can be seen as an institution, process and experience. As an institution, it concerns socialstructures that regulate the withdrawal of older people from the labour market; as a process, retire-ment concerns decisions and patterns of labour force withdrawal; and as experience, retirement refersto the multitude of life changes brought about by that withdrawal (Szinovacz, 2003, p. 6). Clearly thesethree aspects of retirement are interlinked and closely tied to other social structures and aspects ofindividuals’ lives. Whilst our concern is to explore women’s experiences of retirement, following thework of Savickas (2002), we recognize the need for an embedded approach towards understanding anindividual’s career and therefore take cognizance of these other aspects of retirement. Thus, in orderto understand the experience of retirement, it seems important first to understand the literature onwomen’s career development, as the ways in which they retire must surely relate to the ways in whichthey have worked.

Understanding women’s careers and retirement

Women’s position in the labour market and the profound differences between men’s and women’sexperiences of paid work has been commented on extensively in the literature (see, for example,Cockburn, 2009; Crompton, 2001; Rees, 1992; Rubery, 2008; Yerkes, 2010); however, it has been arguedthat older women’s experiences of working and retirement have been given relatively little attention(Armstrong-Stassen and Cameron, 2005). Thus, policy pronouncements on the need to work longerand to delay retirement typically depict their target as the ‘de-gendered and individualised adultworker’ (Loretto and Vickerstaff, 2011, p. 75). It is beyond the scope of this paper to compare men’sand women’s experiences, as our qualitative research has focused only on women; however, it hasbeen argued that the majority of the traditional literature on careers has taken a conventional maleexperience as the norm. Emerging literature suggests that the nature of careers is different for womenwho often bear the weight of responsibility for caring within a family, tend to adopt a relationalapproach (Loretto and Vickerstaff, 2011) and often experience a more fragmented approach towardstheir careers as a result (Mavin, 2001).

Much of the debate in recent times concerning women’s career choices has focused on the work ofCatherine Hakim (2000, 2003, 2007). Hakim suggested that women’s position in the labour market

72 GENDER, WORK AND ORGANIZATION

Volume 21 Number 1 January 2014 © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

could be explained by their preferences and choices made in support of those preferences. Accordingto Hakim, women can be categorized into three different groups: ‘self-made’ or ‘work centred’women who are committed to the labour market and invest in their own human capital to enablethem to prosper; ‘grateful slaves’ or less controversially ‘home-centred’ women who are committedto what Hakim calls a ‘marriage career’ and are therefore less committed to the external labourmarket, often happy to take lower paid and lower level jobs in order to maintain their prime focus onthe home; and finally, the third and largest category, ‘adaptive’ women who move between paid workand domestic responsibilities throughout their lives, combining work and family life without givinga fixed priority to either.

Hakim has been criticized for her over-voluntaristic approach (see, for example, Broadbridge,2010; Crompton and Harris, 1998; McRae, 2003; Walters, 2005), her lack of concern for the structuralconstraints women face in enacting their careers and the role of social values in influencing women’sperceptions of the choices available to them — a criticism which could perhaps be levelled at muchcareer theory where a psychological perspective has tended to prevail (Duberley et al., 2006).However, Hakim’s work provides a useful starting point to critically consider what choice womenfeel they have in their retirement and how this relates to their experiences of work — an issue we willexplore in our findings.

Early career theory has been criticized for taking an implicit white male model of career andassuming its universal application (Calasanti, 1993). Early models of career development includecareer stage theories (Schein, 1978; Super, 1957, 1990), which divide career development from birthto death into particular stages or phases. Super, perhaps the most famous career developmenttheorist, identified five key stages of career development with the final stage (over 65 years) rep-resenting a period of disengagement where, Super argues, individuals adjust to declining energyand organize a new life structure where paid work is not central. Similarly Levinson et al. (1978)identify what they call ‘the seasons of life’ to reflect the various ages that people go through andsuggest a decreasing interest in paid work in the later stages of life. These career stage modelshave been criticized for assuming that career issues necessarily relate only to age. Underpinningthese models is a traditional male career model where linearity or staged progression isassumed (Sargent and Domberger, 2007), with retirement seen as a ‘cliff-edge’ (Vickerstaff, 2007)experience.

Others have argued for specific models of female career development, recognizing their differencefrom men (e.g., Gallos, 1989) and the more complex and fragmented nature of their careers (O’Neiland Bilimoria, 2005; O’Neil et al., 2008). For authors such as Parry and Taylor (2007), Pettinger et al.(2005) and Barnes and Parry (2003), this requires a more inclusive conceptualization of work toinclude caring and unpaid voluntary and community work. Powell and Mainiero (1992, p. 215)recognized that women’s careers and home lives are inextricably intertwined and conceptualize themany interconnected issues that impact upon women’s careers as ‘cross currents in the river of time’.Mainiero and Sullivan (2005) developed a Kaleidoscope Career Model to reflect the differences inwomen’s career development, arguing that women tend towards three orientations in their careers:authenticity, balance and challenge. Each of these parameters take on different levels of importancedepending on what is happening in a woman’s life at any particular moment and women will shifttheir career patterns by rotating different aspects of their lives to produce different pictures. Mainieroand Sullivan argued that although this is not totally deterministic, women at earlier stages of theircareer are likely to focus on challenge, whereas mid-career women are more likely to emphasizebalance, and women who are in their later careers, authenticity.

O’Neil and Bilimoria’s (2005) three-stage model more clearly relates career orientation to age.Stage 1 (24–35) is preoccupied by idealistic achievement, where women base their career choices ontheir desire for career satisfaction, achievement, success, and to positively impact others. Stage 2(36–45) focuses on pragmatic endurance, when women have to deal with managing family and workcommitments. They operate pragmatism in production mode, doing what it takes to get it done.Finally, stage 3 (46–60) is one of re-inventive contribution. According to O’Neil and Bilimoria (2005,p. 184), the women in this phase are focused on contributing to their organizations, families and

EXPLORING WOMEN’S RETIREMENT 73

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Volume 21 Number 1 January 2014

communities. Careers enable learning and offer opportunities to make a difference to others. Successfor these women is about recognition, respect and living integrated lives.

Finally, Pringle and McCulloch Dixon (2003) developed a heuristic model of women’s careersconsisting of four facets: explore, focus, rebalance and revive, each of which are interspersed byperiods of reassessment. They resist the temptation to link these processes with age, arguing insteadthat they are linked to dominant life activities. They do note, however, that some life activities suchas childbearing and retirement are associated with age, whereas others such as paid work, study,travel and caring responsibilities can occur at any point in a woman’s life. Pringle and McCullochDixon argue that the transition from one facet to another is gradual; a process of evolution rather thanabrupt change, and a woman may remain in one facet or spend her life moving among them. Theyacknowledge the difficulty of trying to paint a unitary picture of women’s careers when in reality theyare ‘characterised by diverse experiences in many social roles that are interdependent and fluid’(Pringle and McCulloch Dixon, 2003, p. 297).

The literature suggests that instead of neat progression from education, through work to retire-ment, women have more discontinuous and fragmented work histories than men (Mavin, 2001).There are a number of reasons put forward for this, including the differential impact of family anddomestic responsibilities (Barnes and Parry, 2003; McNair, 2006; O’Neil and Bilimoria, 2005), arelational emphasis in women’s career development (Gilligan, 1982; Loretto and Vickerstaff, 2011),the lack of female role models at senior levels in organizations (Ely, 1995) and discrimination (Mavin,2001). Thus, there is no single pattern of career development for women. As O’Neil et al. (2008, p. 731)comment, ‘women’s career patterns are more likely to reflect a range of paths and patterns then men’scareers .. . characterised as snakes (Richardson, 2009) or zigzags (Gersick and Kram, 2002)’; they go onto recognize the high degree of heterogeneity that exists in women’s careers. However, with theexception of Pringle and McCulloch Dixon (2003), the majority of career models seem to assume thatcareers stop at retirement age and that women, like men, will experience a sharp divide betweenwork and non-work as they transition into retirement.

It has been suggested that there is also a tendency to view women’s retirement relative tonormative understandings already established for men (Wong and Hardy, 2009). However, as dis-cussed earlier, it is clear that career progression for women is often very different from that of men.Therefore, writers such as Price (2000) argue that rather than viewing retirement as a unitary event,it could be seen as one of the many discontinuities women face in their lives and that it shouldtherefore be regarded as a transition that takes place ‘in the context of multiple family responsibilitiesand past professional changes’ (Price, 2000, p. 96). A number of studies have highlighted a variety ofpull and push factors that influence women’s retirement decisions (see, for example, Armstrong-Stassen, 2008; Arthur, 2003; Barnes et al., 2004; Duncan and Loretto, 2004; Loretto et al., 2005;Vickerstaff et al., 2004). These factors include: personal health (Arber, 2004; Arber and Cooper, 1999),family and caring responsibilities (Price, 2003; Wong and Hardy, 2009; Loretto and Vickerstaff, 2011),financial issues (Kim and Moen, 2002; O’Rand, 1996; Patrickson and Ranzijn, 2004; Perkins, 2003;Price, 2000; Smeaton and McKay, 2003), employment policies and discrimination (Armstrong-Stassen,2008; Patrickson and Hartmann, 1996; Patrickson and Ranzijn, 2004; Soidre, 2005) and institutionalfactors (Loretto and White, 2006; McNair, 2006) that inhibit or enable choice with regard to work andretirement activity. Taken together, these studies suggest a wide variety of experience, although somecommon themes emerge.

For example, it has been suggested that in developed countries women are more likely than mento work in old age (Kinsella and Velkoff, 2001), partially because many women have entered theworkforce later or have had gaps in employment that mean they do not have sufficient capital to stopworking (Perkins, 2003; Smeaton and McKay, 2003; Wong and Hardy, 2009). In addition, as womenare more likely than men to undertake voluntary and domestic work, it is argued that ‘the particularmix of paid and unpaid work shifts constantly throughout the lifetime whether the woman isofficially retired or not’ (Onyx and Benton, 1996, p. 19). However, Wong and Earl (2009) argue that ourunderstanding of women’s retirement remains limited and that a holistic research approach isrequired for us to gain a more complete understanding of women’s experiences in retirement. This is



what we aim to achieve in this paper through an exploration of similarities and differences inwomen’s expectations and experiences of retirement in order to gain an understanding of the factorsthat they feel impact their subjective wellbeing.

Methodology

This research utilizes both qualitative and quantitative data. Stage one involves summary analysis ofthe BHPS in order to provide some national context on patterns of employment and retirement by ageand gender. The BHPS is an annual survey consisting of a nationally representative sample initiallycomposed of about 5,500 households recruited in 1991. Extension samples have since been added andthe BHPS currently covers around 10,000 households across the UK. The data set was derived bypooling the first 17 waves of the BHPS (1991–2007). The sample contains 88,548 observations forpeople aged 50 and over and 153,740 observations for people under 50. Basic statistical analysis wasundertaken to report on differences between employment status, income, health and wellbeing ofmen and women in different age groups at the national level. The second stage involved interviewing28 women and exploring their experiences or thoughts about retirement, the activities they under-take, those that they would like to undertake and what they perceive as enabling or constraining intheir lives. A mixed and emergent sampling strategy, incorporating both purposive and snowballapproaches, was used to access this group. Our aim was to maximize variety according to both ageand work experience. As shown in Table 1, the age range of the sample was from 51 to 78. It included9 people who no longer undertook any form of paid employment, 13 who had retired from their mainjob but continued to work in a part-time capacity and 6 who were fully employed. Interviewees eitherheld or had held a variety of careers, including 13 managers/professionals, 8 administrative orlower-level staff and 7 people who had a mixture of jobs including self employment. Finally 21 of theinterviewees had children.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews lasting between 1.5 and 2 hours were conducted in inter-viewees’ homes. The aim of the interviews was to enable individuals to tell the story of their workinglives and experiences or perception of retirement — to develop their personal narrative (Cochran,1990). While fixed boundaries were not set on the topics that could be explored, we asked theinterviewees to reflect back on their work lives and the transition to retirement, explain the reasonsbehind their decision to retire or not, highlight key issues and challenges that retirement posed andproject forward to future plans and aspirations. A flexible interview prompt sheet was used and allinterviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to address issues of credibility and confirmability(Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

Data analysis was on-going throughout the project. Initially the authors each took three transcriptsand coded them, then compared codes, agreed on which codes seemed to best reflect the data beforeanalysing another two scripts and comparing again. This iterative process led to the emergence of acoding template for analysis of the data into inductively generated categories (King, 2004). The NVivoqualitative data analysis package was utilized to help with this process.

Findings Part 1: The context: Summary statistics from the British HouseholdPanel Survey

Table 2 reports means and sample percentages by gender and age group for participation in paidemployment and unpaid work (voluntary work, family care, informal care of an adult), unemploy-ment, retirement status, labour income and non-labour income (from pensions, benefits, transfer andinvestment) a measure of subjective wellbeing, incidence of ill-health and participation in physicalactivity. The (negative) measure of subjective wellbeing is from the General Health Questionnaire (thescale is from 0 to 36 with higher numbers indicating lower subjective wellbeing).

For all age groups, participation in paid employment is higher for men who are also more likely tobe recorded as unemployed. Up to age 64, females are more likely than men to be in part-time



Tab

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hing

Teac

her

fitne

ssin

stru

ctor

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na55

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king

full-

tim

eSi

ngle

,2da

ught

ers

Hai

rdre

sser

,inc

lud

ing

owni

ngow

nbu

sine

ss.W

orke

don

kibb

utz

and

inTe

lAvi

vas

hair

dre

sser

and

late

rm

obile

hair

dre

ssin

g.Th

enG

CSE

san

dU

nive

rsit

yaf

ter

child

ren.

Then

yout

han

dco

mm

unit

yw

orke

r(3

part

tim

ejo

bsbe

caus

ed

iffic

ult

toge

tfu

llti

me)

.The

nd

rugs

wor

ker

for

NH

S

Dru

gsof

ficer

Mae

ve69

Ret

ired

Mar

ried

,1so

nD

escr

ibed

wor

king

for

pin

mon

ey.G

ave

upw

hen

son

born

,the

nhe

lped

her

sist

erin

pub.

Star

ted

clea

ning

whe

nso

n7.

Gav

eup

wor

kw

hen

husb

and

reti

red

arou

nd55

Vari

ous

low

-ski

lljo

bs

Glo

ria

64R

etir

ed,b

utd

oing

som

epa

rt-t

ime

wor

kM

arri

ed,2

child

ren

Lef

tco

unci

lwhe

ngo

tm

arri

edse

cond

tim

ean

dha

dch

ildre

n,bu

td

idpa

rt-t

ime

cler

ical

wor

kaf

ter

18m

onth

sfo

r10

year

s.Th

enw

ent

back

toed

ucat

ion,

deg

ree,

PhD

Seni

orac

adem

ic



Tab

le1:

Con

tinu

ed

Nam

eA

geR

etir

edM

arri

ed/

div

orce

d/

wid

owed

/si

ngle

Car

eer

brea

ksL

ast

job

Jean

ette

55W

orki

ngfu

ll-ti

me

Mar

ried

,2ch

ildre

nW

orki

ngat

18in

fath

er’s

firm

,Uni

vers

ity

at21

,but

left

afte

r3

mon

ths.

Had

child

ren

did

not

wor

kfu

ll-ti

me

(wor

ked

part

-tim

ein

pub)

then

retu

rned

toun

iver

sity

inm

id-2

0s.D

idec

onom

ics

then

law

byd

ista

nce

lear

ning

.Wor

ked

asso

licit

or,m

ade

redu

ndan

ton

ce

Solic

itor

wit

hlo

cal

auth

orit

y

Meg

an56

Sem

i-re

tire

dPa

rtne

r,2

child

ren

Teac

her

for

20ye

ars,

then

spec

ialn

eed

san

dbe

cam

ed

irec

tor

ofco

mpa

nyte

achi

ngsp

ecia

lnee

ds.

Lef

tco

mpa

ny(r

etir

ed)

inw

hich

had

shar

eto

help

look

afte

rfa

ther

and

gran

dch

ild

Dir

ecto

rof

com

pany

spec

ializ

ing

ined

ucat

ion

ofsp

ecia

lnee

ds

child

ren

Els

peth

56R

etir

edat

51be

caus

eof

ill-h

ealth

Sing

leL

eft

scho

olat

17,w

orke

din

publ

ishi

ng,a

ndd

idfu

ll-ti

me

deg

ree

(in

30s)

.Loo

ked

afte

rm

umw

hile

wor

king

and

beca

use

ofth

isw

ent

tow

ork

4da

ysa

wee

k.Th

engo

td

epre

ssed

and

took

earl

yre

tire

men

t

NH

Sad

min

istr

ator

Gra

ce66

Ret

ired

Mar

ried

,2ch

ildre

nA

t15

wen

tto

offic

e,br

eak

of3

mon

ths

then

toga

rage

.B

reak

for

son

and

daug

hter

.Whe

nda

ught

erat

scho

ol,

back

tow

ork

for

5ye

ars,

then

gave

upto

spen

dti

me

wit

hm

um.T

hen

larg

ely

volu

ntar

yw

ork

Supp

orti

ngpe

ople

wit

hle

arni

ngd

isab

iliti

es

Kat

e51

Wor

kspa

rt-t

ime

Mar

ried

,2ch

ildre

nM

oved

wit

hhu

sban

d,co

uld

not

teac

hFr

ench

atse

cond

ary

scho

olso

taug

htpr

imar

ysc

hool

.Sta

rted

job

shar

ing

whe

nha

dso

n.H

ada

year

off

due

tosi

ckne

ss

Teac

her

Car

ol64

Ret

ired

Wid

owed

,2ch

ildre

nL

eft

scho

ol,b

egan

totr

ain

asso

cial

wor

ker,

left

afte

ron

eye

ar,p

erso

nnel

wor

k.G

otm

arri

edan

dha

d5

year

sno

tw

orki

ng.D

idd

egre

ein

pers

onne

lman

agem

ent

inth

isti

me.

Wen

tto

NH

Sas

pers

onne

loffi

cer.

Lef

tw

hen

husb

and

mad

ere

dund

ant

and

ran

shop

.Wai

tres

sed

for

5m

onth

sbe

fore

empl

oym

ent

agen

cy

Vari

ety

ofjo

bsin

clud

ing

aye

arin

Spai

nte

achi

ngE

nglis

h,pe

rson

nel,

heal

thse

rvic

e,H

IVed

ucat

ion

Sara

61Se

mi-

reti

red

:wor

ks3

days

per

wee

kL

ives

wit

hpa

rtne

r,2

child

ren

Lef

tsc

hool

at18

wit

hA

leve

ls.H

asha

d26

jobs

inca

reer

!Wor

ked

inL

ocal

Aut

hori

ties

and

univ

ersi

ties

.W

ent

part

tim

eaf

ter

havi

ngch

ildre

nbu

tre

turn

edto

full-

tim

eaf

terw

ard

s.A

lso

did

volu

ntar

yw

ork:

chai

rof

gove

rnor

sof

scho

ol,r

uns

ach

arit

y,w

orks

for

inte

rnat

iona

lstu

den

tor

gani

zati

on

Seni

orm

anag

er



Rac

hel

68Se

mi-

reti

red

:wor

ks1

day

per

wee

kM

arri

ed,4

child

ren

Lef

tsc

hool

at15

,wor

ked

inac

coun

ts,a

ssem

bly

wor

k,pa

ckin

g.W

ent

part

-tim

eas

clea

ner

afte

rha

ving

4ch

ildre

n,th

enw

orke

dni

ghts

asca

rer,

then

succ

essi

onof

man

ualo

rcl

eani

ngjo

bs.H

adhe

art

atta

ckag

ed50

and

was

sent

for

retr

aini

ng—

got

job

asad

min

istr

ator

.Lef

tat

60

Vari

ous

man

ual/

clea

ning

jobs

Kar

en62

Rec

ently

reti

red

Mar

ried

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ildre

nL

eft

scho

olat

16,w

orke

din

offic

e.St

oppe

dw

ork

whe

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the

lped

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and

set

upbu

sine

ssan

dw

ork

asM

P.St

arte

dw

ork

asun

iver

sity

adm

inis

trat

orag

ed46

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min

istr

ator

Lin

da59

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ploy

edW

idow

,2so

nsL

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15,w

orke

din

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vels

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ped

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wen

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ime

whe

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ked

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riou

sad

voca

cypr

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tsan

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cam

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Ber

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men

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mpl

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ent.

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child

ren

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nce

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ried

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ll-ti

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ired

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61th

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turn

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ter

8m

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assi

nce

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ree

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ifica

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ked

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atio

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mat

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vech

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ned

tow

ork

and

did

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ain

soci

alw

ork

and

join

edco

unse

lling

and

care

erd

evel

opm

ent

unit

and

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ned

teac

hers

Seni

orm

anag

er

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issa

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dw

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and

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year

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cam

eco

ord

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orof

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omot

ion

proj

ects

Nur

se/

proj

ect

coor

din

ator



Tab

le2:

Cha

ract

eris

tics

ofB

HP

Sre

spon

dent

sby

gend

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dag

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oup

Age

<50

Age

>50

Age

50–6

4A

ge65

–79

Age

>80

Fem

ale

Mal

eFe

mal

eM

ale

Fem

ale

Mal

eFe

mal

eM

ale

Fem

ale

Mal

e

%in

paid

empl

oym

ent

68.7

3**

81.2

026

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48.5

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94.

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hour

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omic

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09,p

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238,

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.,19

87).



employment, but over 65 men are more likely than women to be employed either full-time orpart-time. Retired males are also more likely to have a paid job than retired females. However, a smallminority of women continue to undertake paid work into relatively old age.

Among those younger than 65, women are more likely to be recorded as retired, reflecting in partthe lower statutory pension age of females for this cohort. However, among the over 65s, men aremore likely to be classified as retired. The relatively lower percentage of retired females in the 65 andover age group perhaps reflects the lower employment participation rates of younger women; beingretired implicitly suggests a transition from employment. This interpretation is supported by thehigher percentages of females in all age groups who are not classified as either employed, unem-ployed or retired. Women are more likely to be involved in activities such as informal care of an adultor disabled child, family care or voluntary work. The proportion of women involved in the latterpeaks between the ages of 50 and 65 at 23 per cent but 22 per cent of women between 65 and 79continue to supply unpaid voluntary labour as do 9 per cent of women in their eighties.

The lower labour income of females provides an indication of the gender earnings gap and the datashow that this persists into older age. Male non-labour income (from benefits, transfers, pensions andinvestment) is also higher than for women, except for those under 50 for whom the bulk of non-labour income derives from benefits and transfers.

The data indicate that for all age groups except the oldest (80 and over) women’s subjectivewellbeing is significantly lower than men’s. For both men and women, subjective wellbeing isgreatest for those between 65 and 79 but lowest for those in their 80s. This may be interpreted assuggesting that relatively early stages of retirement are a satisfying period for many people but thatthis feeling of wellbeing does not last. Women are more likely to report that their daily activities arelimited by ill-health. They are less likely than men to be recorded as long-term sick or disabled butthis is because this particular measure relates to economic activity rather than health per se. Theproportion of women limited by ill-health also rises with age (although the number of women, andmen, classified as long-term sick or disabled falls with age for the reasons noted). In contrast, for mostage groups, males are more likely to participate in physical activity (walking, swimming or playingsport) on a weekly basis. The exception is 50–64-year-old women who are more likely to participatein these activities than men of the same age.

To summarize, the data in Table 2 show that nationally, women of all ages are less likely to be infull-time paid employment than men. Instead, they are more likely to be involved in unpaid voluntarywork, informal care for someone who is sick, frail or disabled and/or family care. Women under 65are also more likely to be working part-time than men. These data confirm that, in general, women’sattachment to the formal labour market is looser than men’s. This pattern also appears to continuebeyond retirement and into relatively older age and may have longer term implications for wellbeing.The data indicate that women of all ages report lower subjective wellbeing than men. Part of theexplanation may be attributable to women’s lower employment participation rates and lower incomesince both were found to be related positively to subjective wellbeing. Women’s greater propensity toundertake informal care may also be implicated, as informal carers also report lower subjectivewellbeing. Ill-health is also, unsurprisingly, negatively associated with wellbeing, and women aremore likely to report that ill-health limits their daily activities. In contrast, participation in regularphysical activity is related positively to wellbeing but within most cohorts women are less likely thanmen to participate in regular physical activity. However, women in all age groups except the oldestare more likely than men to be involved in voluntary work, and interestingly participation involuntary work was found to be positively linked to wellbeing.

Findings Part 2: The qualitative experience of retirement

Given the findings discussed above, we should not be surprised that many participants had difficultyin deciding whether they were retired. For the six who continued to work full-time, it was clear thatthey had not yet retired, although there was some discussion about what they expected from



retirement over the next few years. For example Jeanette (local authority solicitor, age 55) com-mented, ‘well I can’t imagine not doing anything ... but I mean I might like being retired and not doing verymuch. I might find that I fill my days with things that aren’t work and don’t need to do anything else’. Megan(age 56), on the cusp of retirement as director of a special needs education company, commented ‘Ijust feel as if I am kind of like closing one bit of my life and opening a new bit and that’s quite exciting becauseit could contain anything.’ Others were not sure that retirement would happen to them. For example,Sarah (self-employed, age 58) made the point ‘I don’t think I ever will, honestly. There will always beprojects that I will be contributing to in some way’.

For those that had finished full-time work, the question ‘do you consider yourself to be retired?’was often met with uncertainty. For example, Gloria (retired academic, yoga teacher, age 64)responded ‘well I would say I’m retired from academic life but I wouldn’t say I’m retired because that sort ofhas connotations of just moving into yourself in some way.’ Regina (age 67) commented ‘so my firstretirement disappeared completely because I went right back into work, but working from home and that wasa very new experience. So this is a second retirement but again I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen ...I describe myself as retired, but I’m kind of up for anything still.’ There is clearly concern at adopting theidentity of being retired and the link that has with growing old and being ‘over the hill’ (Claire, retireduniversity manager, age 57). Rachel, for example, when asked if she considered herself as retiredreplied ‘do I feel old and decrepit and like that you mean?’ Similarly, Grace (retired, age 66) replied ‘No I’mnot that old!’ Elspeth (retired through ill-health, age 56) talked about how when she first retired shedid a course ‘well when I thought I was doing the course I thought I was a student and I was retired. So I feltbeing a student gave me another identity .. . but now I guess I’m just retired because I’m not a student but Iwould like to be a student again.’

There was concern amongst interviewees that being retired might mean doing nothing, and thedesire to avoid the feeling of ‘twiddling my thumbs’ (Kate, part-time teacher, age 51) was commonamongst them all. However, our analysis of the data revealed two different orientations to retirementin their discussions. The first group saw retirement very much in terms of continuity of roles, albeitthat time allocated to those roles had changed. The other group focused more on change, whether thatwas a change to different types of paid work or away from employment altogether.

Retirement as continuity

Seventeen of our interviewees characterized retirement in terms of continuity. Of those in profes-sional roles, eight continued to do consultancy or project work linked to their previous employment.For example, Melissa (semi-retired, age 66) did project work linked to public health and planned tocontinue doing this whether she was paid or not. Brenda (age 65) set up a company with her daughterwhen she retired from the Department for Employment and Skills, linked to her training role there,and although she considered herself semi-retired she still played an active role in the companysupporting her daughter .. . ‘So I have cut down a lot but I think we all recognize that as long as I am composmentis that I will always go on being an advisor and confidante for Amanda really and support the firm.’Similarly, Elizabeth (age 63) was involved in consultancy work, some paid and some done on avoluntary basis. Lena (age 78), who had been a history teacher, went to work at a local museumpart-time and volunteered at another. This continuity of roles seems to have been important to thedevelopment and maintenance of these women’s identity. It can also be for practical financial reasons.For example, Brenda (age 65) commented, ‘In a way I just think that if I stopped working I’d end upcampaigning. I’d end up seeing a gap and using all the same skills again and a bit of me says ‘why not continueto get paid for them.’

It was not only those from professional backgrounds who found continuity in retirement, nor didcontinuity necessarily imply paid employment. For three of our interviewees, their careers had beencharacterized by short-term low-paid jobs combined with domestic work, caring for their familiesand voluntary work. This pattern of activity seemed largely unchanged post retirement age. Indeed,some felt that their domestic work had increased, either through additional caring responsibilities orbecause they had more time available to undertake such jobs. Their experiences reflect common



conceptions of retirement as based on a masculine model of work as a full-time, paid endeavourwhich largely ignores the experiences of women (Calasanti, 1993). Some participants rejected thetraditional model of retirement as they continued to work just as hard as they had done previously.Grace (age 66), who had always been involved in voluntary work and caring, explained that althoughshe was officially retired, she continued to looking after her grandchildren and older people in thecommunity . . . ‘so I haven’t really retired have I?’ Maeve (age 69), who described herself as working forpin money prior to her official retirement similarly expressed ambivalence about the idea of beingretired . . . ‘Well I suppose I am. I am retired ain’t I? I just go and work .. . I mean these jobs aren’t paid oranything.’

Retirement as change

A significant minority of our sample (11) talked about retirement or the prospect of retirement as atime of change, of being liberated to do new things. For some, this related to leisure activities. Forexample, Claire (university manager, age 57) had decided that she would like to do an art degree, ‘Ithink I wanted a different challenge and painting’s very different .. . my new challenge.’ Others either had orplanned to continue working but in different fields. Louise (age 76) left the probation service andalthough she would have liked to return after retirement, she was told she was too old, so did a varietyof part-time roles and set up a business with her daughter. Jillian was retraining as a life coach inpreparation for retirement. Megan (age 56), left a stressful role as director of a company teachingchildren with special needs and was hoping to set up a cheese-making operation alongside lookingafter her grandchildren ... ‘It doesn’t feel as if you are winding down. It just feels as if you are taking aturning.’ Gloria (age 64) left her role as a senior academic and started a course to become a yogainstructor, planning to run yoga classes locally. She commented, ‘My head is full of being open topossibilities and I think the thing about retirement is that it connotes somebody that’s kind of given up onthings.’ Much of the discussion amongst a small group of those who saw retirement as a time forchange was focused around new challenges and opportunities. These tended to be women who hadhad very successful professional careers and considered themselves to be financially independent.

For others, retirement was conceptualized as change but not necessarily a welcome one. For onewoman (Elspeth, age 56), retirement was forced upon her through ill-health and her poor financialposition meant that she felt she had few options available to her. She cared for her mother until shedied and ‘scraped money together to try and get by’, so while she enjoyed having time to do crafts, shestruggled financially and felt unhappy in her situation. Karen (retired, age 62) explained that she wasfinding the transition very difficult as she and her husband had decided to do nothing and ‘takestock’ when they first retired. She found the lack of activity frustrating and was determined to startsome new interests and hobbies in the future. As we will discuss below, a number of intervieweesalso experienced change as they became more involved in caring for other relatives or grandchildren.Caring, particularly for elderly relatives, was often seen as time-consuming and precluded theirinvolvement with other activities.

Choice and constraint

So far we have discussed women whose routes through retirement emphasize either continuity orchange. Previous studies of women’s working lives (e.g., Crompton, 1987; Evetts, 2000; Loretto andVickerstaff, 2011) show that choice is not the only predictor of what happens to women’s careers. Ithas long been recognized that women often adopt relational perspective to their careers (Calasanti,1993; Mainiero and Sullivan, 2005). Some of our interviewees followed their husband or partner’sdecision concerning retirement, particularly those with lower qualification levels who occupied lessprofessional jobs. Grace, Maeve and Jenny all discussed how their own retirements had been largelydictated by their husband’s decision to finish paid employment. As Maeve explained, ‘when Royfinished work he wanted me to be there and it didn’t seem fair him having to wait around for me’ (Maeve,



retired, age 69). Other constraints on choice in retirement include physical health, which as men-tioned earlier, was a major constraint for one interviewee. Others also remarked that they could notdo all of the things they wanted (whether that be leisure or work) because of health issues or the needto care for somebody else with health problems. Of the 28 women we interviewed, 24 had beeninvolved in the care of other family members. For example, Stephanie (retired teacher, age 67) hadhoped to do voluntary work abroad ‘but I haven’t ever got round to it. My dad is 97 and my brother died3 years ago.. . . And I’ve also got my mother’s sister to look after and a cousin who had a hip replacement so Iwent to stay with her.’ Helping to care for grandchildren was also an expectation of the majority ofinterviewees, lending weight to Barnes and Parry’s (2003, p. 18) suggestion that ‘caring in retirementand caring as a significant influence on adaptation were distinctively feminised trajectories’. None ofthe women complained about this, and they did not class it as work, although Grace, who cared forher grandchildren 3 days a week, did comment that it prevented her from taking part in otheractivities.

Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest factors that differentiated the experiences of the women withinthis group was access to finance. Some women were confident that they had enough money, eitherthrough inheritances, pensions or property, and hence experienced retirement as a time of liberation.Claire, for example, explained how she had invested money after she had sold her business, whileteachers Stephanie, Lena and Kate all derived financial security from their pensions. For others, thesituation was much more precarious, particularly those who had suffered ill-health or who had reliedon their husband’s pensions but had divorced. Some interviewees, including Linda, Phyllis, Lorna,Kate, Corinne and Susie, continued to work or returned to work after retiring as they did not haveadequate pension provision. Often this was as a result of pensions being unavailable to them whenthey were working. Linda (part-time lecturer, age 62), for example, explained ‘when I first went intoindustry — and this sounds just so unbelievable now — women could not join the company pension schemetill 28 and that’s had a very adverse effect on my pension.’ Jeanette, who was a solicitor, also commentedthat until she was 40 she had worked in a private practice with no pension provision and didn’t feelwell enough off to take out a private pension. In line with research published elsewhere (Moen et al.,2000; Taylor and Doverspike, 2003; Vickerstaff et al., 2004), the majority of our interviewees admittedthat they had not given sufficient thought to planning for their retirement and if married they hadrelied on partners to organize finances. For most, this felt unproblematic, but if husbands became illor they divorced, these women were vulnerable and other studies have shown that the concentrationof poverty among women in later life is particularly marked amongst those who are widowed,divorced or suffer ill-health (Arber and Cooper, 1999; Ginn and Arber, 1996). Whilst our researchseems to add weight to the suggestion in the literature that women’s lack of understanding ofpensions (Vickerstaff et al., 2004) contributes to their constrained choices in retirement, we also agreewith writers such as Ward (2009) who argue that it cannot be assumed that giving more informationwould resolve this problem, as other more fundamental issues such as income and employmentposition are also at play.

Respondents who had children also recognized that the career breaks they took to be at home withtheir children had impacted negatively on their pension entitlements. This was felt more strongly bythose who could not rely on their husband’s pension. Others were disadvantaged by having hadhistorically low incomes. For example, Linda (part-time lecturer, age 62) explained ‘My pension’s beenquoted at £117 and that’s with 39 years’ stamps. That’s obviously not enough. Your savings are going to runout, especially if you’re means tested and so that’s going to go down because you’re paying full council tax outof savings.’ Thus, for some in our sample, any sense of liberation in retirement was tempered by theneed to earn enough money to get by, highlighting the issue that the financial impetus to workamongst older people should not be underestimated (Parry and Taylor, 2007).

Discussion

Our findings add weight to the growing literature which suggests that women in the UK have verydifferent experiences of retirement than men (Barnes and Parry, 2003; Loretto and Vickerstaff, 2011).



The national data from the BHPS shows that women are more likely to have worked part-time and tobe involved in unpaid voluntary work or informal care, and that they are likely to experience lowerlevels of subjective wellbeing in retirement. This illustrates the cumulative disadvantage accruing tosome women highlighted by writers such as O’Rand (1996) and Badarsi and Jenkins (2002). Womenseem less likely to categorize themselves as retired, perhaps because they do not perceive thiscategory as applicable unless they were previously employed full-time. Perhaps, also, the concept ofretirement is rather limited and does not adequately reflect the experiences of women, many of whomcontinue to work, often in an unpaid or informal capacity. Calasanti (1993, p. 144), bemoaning the lackof consideration of domestic labour in studies of retirement, argues that women

do not retire — certainly many retire in the ‘usual’ manner if we view them through the ideologicallens of white men’s experiences of labour force withdrawal. But if we start from the standpoint ofwomen’s experiences, new dimensions of the work/retirement nexus are revealed and it becomesapparent that these women do not retire.

From our qualitative data it was also possible to see ambivalence from women about being classed asretired. For some, this derived from the fact that they still did some paid (or unpaid) work; for othersit was a matter of identity. Retirement offered an unattractive identity of being old and ‘past it’ andinstead they sought alternative identities.

The qualitative analysis suggests that just as there is no single typical working pattern for women(Mavin, 2001), so there is no single typical pattern of retirement. Our findings show experiences ofretirement are more individualized and fragmented than commonly suggested in the literature. It hasbeen suggested that the growing presentation of old age in the popular press as a time of ‘opportu-nity, continued productivity, self-fulfilment and self-reliance’ (Laliberte Rudman, 2006, p. 183) can beseen as a neo-liberal individualist agenda (Rudman, 2002) which suggests a moral imperative toremain busy and active (Ekerdt, 1986). However, our findings suggest that in contrast to the idea ofolder age as ‘a prime site of the new agency, choice and reflexivity that contemporary society allows’(Vickerstaff and Cox, 2005, p. 79), many of these women’s choices were constrained. Whilst theboundary between work and retirement may be blurred, structural and cultural dimensions exerteda powerful influence on women’s experiences. Thus patriarchal family structures, the structuraldivision of paid employment and access to pension provision underpinned how women framed andresponded to retirement. As suggested by Evetts (2000), women responded to these cultural andstructural forces in diverse ways, depending upon the capital resources they had available to them.Hence, in our sample, better educated women who had developed their human capital appeared tohave more choice over how they enacted retirement, though other factors such as ill-health anddivorce also impacted on wellbeing.

One important aspect of structural constraint related to access to finance. The relationship betweenincome and wellbeing in later life has been well rehearsed (Allen, 2008; McKay, 2008) and ourqualitative data supported the view that women who had a higher income were more likely toexperience their retirement positively. Although many of our interviewees were professional women,those who had been employed in low-wage occupations, or who had little access to pension provisionexperienced marginalization and suffered lower levels of perceived wellbeing. There were also somewomen in our sample who either returned to work after retirement due to poverty (Perkins, 2003;Vickerstaff and Cox, 2005) or who could not afford to stop working completely. Thus, our researchhighlights the potentially precarious financial position of women in retirement (Rietzes and Mutran,2006). In addition, it was evident from our data that women often did not plan in detail theirretirement and often relied on their husbands to make financial decisions. Given the increaseddivorce rate and the fact that women live longer than men, it has been argued that this increases theirvulnerability in retirement (Wong and Hardy, 2009). This raises an important issue for career theory.As mentioned earlier, much of the traditional literature in career theory has emerged from a psycho-logical perspective and gives insufficient attention to the social-structural contextualization ofcareers. So, for example, while a minority of our respondents talked about finding authenticity and



challenge (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2005) or creative revival (O’Neil and Bilimoria, 2005) in theirretirement, either through continuing in their professional roles or changing them, the majorityseemed more concerned with such mundane issues as getting on with life, caring for their familiesand having sufficient income. We suggest that an improved understanding of careers and retirementwould be gained by greater interchange between traditional career theorists and those taking a moresociological perspective to understand the position of particular groups in the labour market.

What emerges most strongly from the interviews is the embedded nature of retirement experi-ences. Women’s experiences of retirement cannot be separated from their experiences of work (Parryand Taylor, 2007) and their family and other spheres. There is some literature that examines thecontextually embedded nature of careers and the recursive relationship between structure and agency(e.g., Al Ariss and Sywed, 2010; Duberley et al., 2006; Richardson, 2009). From this we can infer thatretirement experiences cannot be divorced from societal context. However, we argue that to under-stand women’s experiences of retirement, we need a model which systematically accounts for micro,meso and macro levels of analysis and the relationships between them. As Evetts (2000) argues, at amacro level, belief systems and cultural attitudes, alongside structural factors, will influence whenand how women retire. At a meso level, women’s experiences are clearly influenced by organizationaland family context. Organizational policies can push women into early retirement or can encourageflexible and continued working. For example, Armstrong-Stassen (2008) identified seven humanresource practices which were more likely to encourage older workers to remain in employment,most notably respect and recognition. Similarly, as discussed elsewhere (e.g., Mavin, 2001; Lorettoet al., 2009), families can make extensive demands on women. Finally at a micro level, individualwomen’s personalities, skills, etc., will influence the ways in which they frame the opportunities andchallenges they face in retirement. We are not arguing that women’s experiences of retirement aretotally determined by social structures; rather that their actions cannot be divorced from their contextand therefore any understanding of their retirement experiences needs to take account of both theircurrent context and their previous experiences of employment.

Conclusion

This is a small-scale exploratory study and although we provide some national level context, wecannot make generalizations on the basis of the qualitative findings. However, our research high-lights the complex and varied nature of retirement for women and this is mirrored to some extent inthe national data. Whilst some women experience retirement as a time of continuity, others find it atime of great change. It is clear that, as suggested by Barnes et al. (2002), older people contribute agreat deal to society through work — both paid and unpaid, learning activities, domestic work,caring, helping out friends and neighbours and leisure activity. Even with such a small sample, it waspossible to see huge variety in the combination of activities being undertaken. The national dataindicates that this is particularly true for women. However, whilst this diversity might indicatefragmentation and individualization of experience (Vickerstaff and Cox, 2005), some clear patternswere apparent with regard to issues such as retirement income.

The contribution of this paper has been to add insight into the variable experiences of retirementamongst women and, in particular, the intersection between change and continuity. It is clear that thenature of retirement is shifting (Maestas, 2010) and that traditional career models do not adequatelyreflect the complexity and variability of the retirement experience and the degree of control indi-viduals may or may not have over the process and activities they engage in. It has been argued thatas baby boomers approach retirement, this variability is likely to increase (Taylor and Doverspike,2003). As discussed above, our study highlights the need for a multi-level analysis of women’s (andmen’s) retirement experiences to examine this increasingly diverse picture.

We suggest that further developing the life course perspective, utilizing qualitative as well asquantitative techniques, will enable increased understanding of the interlinkage of different aspectsof women’s lives by drawing attention to four aspects: contextual embeddedness, interdependence of



life spheres, timing of life transitions, and trajectories and pathways (Szinovacz, 2003). Thus the waysin which women experience retirement depend to some extent on the circumstances under which thetransition occurs, including societal context. It also depends upon what is happening in other aspectsof their lives. Our findings support the view of women’s careers as relational. It appears that, just ascareer decisions are made in relation to the needs of others, so too are retirement decisions. Our datawas replete with examples of women continuing to work in order to support their children financiallyor helping to care for family members. Szinovacz also uses the notion of pathways and trajectories tohighlight the historical context of life experiences and the fact that experiences of retirement reflectlong-term and sequential processes over the life course (Szinovacz, 2003, p. 27). Again our data seemto support this, showing the impact of earlier career decisions upon how women experience retire-ment, adding weight to the cumulative disadvantage thesis (O’Rand, 1999). This suggests the need forfuture research to examine in more depth the linkage between women’s career histories and theirexperiences of retirement. Above all, our findings suggest the need for models of retirement, whichhelp to explain both the patterns and the variety of experience, by taking a holistic perspective whichconsiders the macro, meso and micro levels of analysis and takes account of history in understandingwomen’s situations.

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exploring women's retirement: continuity, context and career transition

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