Skip to main content

Gender, age and flexible working in later life

Loretto, Wendy, Vickerstaff, Sarah (2015) Gender, age and flexible working in later life. Work, Employment and Society, 29 (2). pp. 233-249. ISSN 0950-0170. (doi:10.1177/0950017014545267) (KAR id:47625)

Abstract

In many countries economic and social concerns associated with ageing populations have focused attention onto flexible forms of working as key to encouraging people to work longer and delay retirement. This article argues that there has been a remarkable lack of attention paid to the role of gender in extending working lives and contends that this gap has arisen because of two, inter-related, oversights: little consideration of relationships between gender and flexible working beyond the child-caring phase of life; and the prevailing tendency to think of end of working life and retirement as gender-neutral or following a typical male trajectory. The findings of a qualitative study of people aged 50+ in the UK challenge some of the key assumptions underpinning the utility of flexible work in extending working lives, and provide insight into the ways in which working in later life is constructed and enacted differently for men and women.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0950017014545267
Uncontrolled keywords: age, flexible working, gender, later-life working, older workers, qualitative, retirement, work–life balance
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Lisa Towers
Date Deposited: 11 Mar 2015 13:26 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Apr 2021 14:02 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/47625 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.