Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:33:32.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender, Age and Attitudes to Retirement in Mid-Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Jay Ginn  and
Sara Arber
Jay Ginn
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH.
Sara Arber
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

British research on exit from the labour market has been mainly concerned with men, but US research shows retirement for women is equally salient. Gender differences in attitudes to employment and reasons for early exit are relevant to employment and pension policy.

In this paper, we use data from the Social Change and Economic Life Initiative survey to examine gender differences in attitudes to employment among over 2,500 British women and men aged 40 to 59. A key concern was to discover whether the decline in mid-life women's employment through their fifties could be explained by a change in attitudes with age, or was more likely to be due to age-related barriers in the labour market.

Analysis shows that among mid-life people who were not employed, financial considerations were the predominant influence on men's job-seeking whereas for women psychosocial aspects of having a job were also important. Mid-life women showed no decline in their motivation towards employment with age, indicating that women's early exit cannot be explained by reduced desire for employment with age. However, there was evidence of perceived age barriers to employment or promotion which were likely to have affected behaviour and attitudes.

Keywords

Retirementgenderattitudesage discriminationemployment.
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 27 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassi, J. 1982. Comparing the Work Attitudes of Women and Men. Lexington Books, Lexington.Google Scholar
Allcock, D. 1993. Typecast. Unlocking Secretaries Potential Industrial Society, London.Google Scholar
Arber, S. and Ginn, J. 1991. Gender and Later Life: A Sociological Analysis of Resources and Constraints. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Arrowsmith, J. and McGoldrick, A. Ageism in the Labour Market: the Personnel Management Response. Paper presented to the British Society of Gerontology Annual Conference,September 1994,Royal Holloway College.Google Scholar
Bone, M., Gregory, J., Gill, B. and Lader, D. 1992. Retirement and Retirement Plans. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Casey, B. 1992. Paying for early retirement. Journal of Social Policy, 213, 303–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Confederation of British Industry. 1989 a. Discriminate on Ability. CBI, London.Google Scholar
Confederation of British Industry. 1989 b. Workforce 2000: an agenda for action. CBI, London.Google Scholar
Coulson-Thomas, C. 1989. Too Old at 40? British Institute of Management, London.Google Scholar
Coyle, A. 1984. Redundant Women. The Womens Press, London.Google Scholar
Department of Employment. 1994. Getting On: the benefits of an older workforce. Employment Department Group, London.Google Scholar
Department of Social Security. 1993. Equality in Slate Pension Ages. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Dex, S. 1988. Womens' Attitudes Towards Work. Macmillan, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dibden, J. and Hibbett, A. 1993. Older workers – an overview of recent research. Employment Gazette. June, 237–50. Employment Department, London.Google Scholar
Drury, E. 1993. Age Discrimination against Older Workers in the EC: a comparative analysis. Eurolink Age, Norbury.Google Scholar
Equal Opportunities Commission. 1989. Age Discrimination: Over the Hill at 45. Equal Opportunities Review no. 25, May/June.Google Scholar
Evandrou, M. and Falkingham, J. 1993. Social security and the life course, Developing sensitive policy alternatives. In Arber, S. and Evandrou, M. (eds), Ageing, Independence and the Life Course. Jessica Kingsley, London.Google Scholar
Fogarty, M. 1975. 40 to 60: How we waste the middle-aged. Bedford Square Press, London.Google Scholar
Gallie, D. and Vogler, C. 1990. Unemployment and Attitudes to Work. Working Paper no. 18. Nuffield College, Oxford.Google Scholar
Gallup, , 1991. Ageism: the problem of the 1990s. Brook Street Bureau, London.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1991. Gender, class and income inequalities in later life. British Journal of Sociology, 42, 3, 369–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1993. Pension penalties: the gendered division of occupational welfare. Work, Employment and Society, 7, 1, 47–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1994. Heading for Hardship: How the British pension system has failed women. In Baldwin, S. and Falkingham, J. (eds), Social Security and Social Change: New Challenges to the Beveridge Model. Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1995. Exploring mid-life women's employment. Sociology, 29, 1, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregg, P. 1994. Out for the count: a social scientist's analysis of unemployment statistics in the UK. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 157, 2, 253–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House of Commons Employment Committee. 1989. The Employment Patterns of the over-50s, Volume 1. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Institute of Personnel Management. 1993. Statement on Age and Employment (revised statement). IPM, London.Google Scholar
Itzin, C. and Phillipson, C. 1993. Age Barriers at Work: Maximising the Potential of Mature and Older Workers. Metropolitan Authorities Recruitment Agency, Solihull.Google Scholar
Johnson, P. 1989. The structured dependency of the elderly: a critical note. In Jefferys, M. (ed.), Growing Old in the Twentieth Century. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Johnson, P. 1993. Older workers and the British labour market: analysing longrun trends. In Snooks, G. (ed.) Historical Analysis in Economics. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Joshi, H. 1984. Womens' Participation in Paid Work: further analysis of the Women and Employment Survey. Department of Employment, London.Google Scholar
Jowell, R., Brook, L., Prior, G. and Taylor, B. 1992. British Social Attitudes, 9th Report. Dartmouth Publishing Company, Vermont, USA.Google Scholar
Kohli, M., Rein, M., Guillemard, A. and van Gunsteren, H., (eds). 1991. Time for Retirement. Comparative Studies of Early Exit from the Labour Force. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Laczko, F. and Phillipson, C. 1991. Changing Work and Retirement. Milton Keynes, Open University Press.Google Scholar
McGoldrick, A. and Arrowsmith, J. 1993. Recruitment advertising: discrimination on the basis of age. Employee Relations, 15, 5, 54–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalf, H. and Thomson, M. 1990. Older Workers: Employers' attitudes and practices. IMS Report no. 194. IMS, Brighton.Google Scholar
Moore, J., Tilson, B. and Whitting, G. 1994. An international overview of employment policies and practices towards older workers. Employment Department, London.Google Scholar
Nuccio, K. 1989. The double standard of aging and older women's employment. In Women as they age: challenge, opportunity and triumph. Haworth Press, USA.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. 1988–1990. General Household Surveys 1988–1990. [Computer Files held at Colchester: ESRC Data Archive].Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. 1989. General Household Survey 1986. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. 1990. General Household Survey 1988. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. 1993. 1991 Census. Report for Great Britain (Part 1). HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. 1982. Capitalism and the Construction of Old Age. Macmillan, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, M. 1988. Psychological health in relation to unemployment. In Gallie, D. et al. (eds), Employment in Britain. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Smeeding, T. 1993. Cross-national patterns of retirement and poverty among men and women in the mid-1980s: full stop or gradual withdrawal? In Atkinson, A. and Rein, M. (eds), Age, Work and Social Security, Macmillan, Basingstoke.Google Scholar
Social Change and Economic Life Initiative. 1992. Main Survey, 1986. [Computer files held at Colchester: ESRC Data Archive].Google Scholar
Sommers, T. 1974. The compounding impact of age and sex. Civil Rights Digest. 7, 1, 2–9.Google Scholar
Sontag, S. 1972. The double standard of ageing. Saturday Review of the Society. September 23, (1972).Google Scholar
SPSS Inc. 1990. SPSSx User's Guide. SPSS Inc, Chicago.Google Scholar
Szinovacz, M. (ed.). 1982. Women's Retirement: Policy Implications of Recent Research. Sage, Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Szinovacz, M., Ekerdt, D. and Vinick, B. (eds). 1992. Families and Retirement. Sage, Newbury Park, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, P. and Walker, A. 1991. Too Old at 50? Campaign for Work Research Report 32. Campaign for Work, London.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. and Walker, A. 1993. Employers and Older Workers. Employment Gazette, Autumn, 371–8. Employment Department, London.Google Scholar
Tillsley, C. 1990. The impact of age upon employment. Industrial Relations, 33, University of Warwick, Coventry.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1981. The structured dependency of the elderly: a creation of social policy in the twentieth century. Ageing and Society, 1, 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trinder, C., Hulme, G. and McCarthy, U. 1992. Employment: the role of work in the Third Age. The Carnegie UK Trust, London.Google Scholar
Trinder, C. 1992. Present and Future Patterns of Retirement. Public Finance Foundation, London.Google Scholar
Varlaam, C. and Bevan, S. 1987. Patterns of Retirement. Institute of Manpower Studies, Brighton.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1980. The social creation of poverty and dependency in old age. Journal of Social Policy, 9, 1, 49–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. 1981. Towards a political economy of old age. Ageing and Society, 1, 1, 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. 1985. Early retirement: release or refuge from the labour market? The Quarterly Journal of Social Affairs, 1, 3, 211–29.Google Scholar