Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work
Women of the baby-boom generation are the first generation of women to present an old age-retirement trajectory similar to the traditional male model. Using a narrative approach, we collected 20 life stories from older women, mostly retired, all born in Canada. We present five patterns that influenc...
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Association d'Economie Politique
2021-06-01
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Series: | Interventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale |
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Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/14065 |
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doaj-2594163334b64958bf606b8e2cb847d12021-07-08T16:42:10ZengAssociation d'Economie PolitiqueInterventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale0715-35701710-73772021-06-016610.4000/interventionseconomiques.14065Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to WorkIsabelle MarchandDiane-Gabrielle TremblayWomen of the baby-boom generation are the first generation of women to present an old age-retirement trajectory similar to the traditional male model. Using a narrative approach, we collected 20 life stories from older women, mostly retired, all born in Canada. We present five patterns that influenced respondents’ decisions to end their career or, inversely, postpone the moment of retirement: 1) “Choosing myself” to fully take advantage of the retirement years; 2) Rational retirement: the deliberate choice to stop paid employment and mourn one’s career; 3) The break: obligation to retire; 4) Retirement as an extension of the retirement of a spouse-breadwinner, and 5) Postponing retirement. Our analysis reveals that patterns vary, depending on socio-economic contexts and state of health, relationship to work, spouse’s retirement status, care work, and the desire for freedom. They also reflect life-long social roles associated with care work, remunerated work, housework, and civic commitments. The Aging-retirement trajectory depends on women’s collective and individual histories and the impact of gender on other intersecting social relations.http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/14065retirementbaby-boomgenerationolder womenwomenlifecourse |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Isabelle Marchand Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay |
spellingShingle |
Isabelle Marchand Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work Interventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale retirement baby-boom generation older women women lifecourse |
author_facet |
Isabelle Marchand Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay |
author_sort |
Isabelle Marchand |
title |
Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work |
title_short |
Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work |
title_full |
Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work |
title_fullStr |
Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work |
title_full_unstemmed |
Choosing to Retire? A Study of Women’s Patterns for Retiring or Continuing to Work |
title_sort |
choosing to retire? a study of women’s patterns for retiring or continuing to work |
publisher |
Association d'Economie Politique |
series |
Interventions Économiques pour une Alternative Sociale |
issn |
0715-3570 1710-7377 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
Women of the baby-boom generation are the first generation of women to present an old age-retirement trajectory similar to the traditional male model. Using a narrative approach, we collected 20 life stories from older women, mostly retired, all born in Canada. We present five patterns that influenced respondents’ decisions to end their career or, inversely, postpone the moment of retirement: 1) “Choosing myself” to fully take advantage of the retirement years; 2) Rational retirement: the deliberate choice to stop paid employment and mourn one’s career; 3) The break: obligation to retire; 4) Retirement as an extension of the retirement of a spouse-breadwinner, and 5) Postponing retirement. Our analysis reveals that patterns vary, depending on socio-economic contexts and state of health, relationship to work, spouse’s retirement status, care work, and the desire for freedom. They also reflect life-long social roles associated with care work, remunerated work, housework, and civic commitments. The Aging-retirement trajectory depends on women’s collective and individual histories and the impact of gender on other intersecting social relations. |
topic |
retirement baby-boom generation older women women lifecourse |
url |
http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/14065 |
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