Gender Roles and Employment Pathways of Older Women and Men in England

Bibliographic Data

ID3314128
AuthorsMariska Van Der Horst (0000-0002-5988-7318, University of Kent, corresponding author), David Lain (0000-0002-6799-202X, Newcastle University), Sarah Vickerstaff (0000-0003-2572-3582, University of Kent), Charlotte Clark (0000-0003-3031-4986, Queen Mary University of London), Ben Baumberg Geiger (0000-0003-0341-3532, University of Kent)
Year2017
Volume7
Issue4
Publication date2017-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSAGE Open (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2158-2440 • E-ISSN: 2158-2440
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2158244017742690
OpenAlexW2763641695
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited52

In the context of population aging, the U.K. government is encouraging people to work longer and delay retirement, and it is claimed that many people now make "gradual" transitions from full-time to part-time work to retirement. Part-time employment in older age may, however, be largely due to women working part-time before older age, as per a U.K. "modified male breadwinner" model. This article therefore separately examines the extent to which men and women make transitions into part-time work in older age, and whether such transitions are influenced by marital status. Following older men and women over a 10-year period using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this article presents sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Little evidence is found for people moving into part-time work in older age. Typically, women did not work at all or they worked part-time (with some remaining in part-time work and some retiring/exiting from this activity). Consistent with a "modified male breadwinner" logic, marriage was positively related to the likelihood of women belonging to typically "female employment pathway clusters," which mostly consist of part-time work or not being employed. Men were mostly working full-time regardless of marital status. Attempts to extend working lives among older women are therefore likely to be complicated by the influence of traditional gender roles on employment

Demographic economics · Economics · Geography · Life course approach · Logistic regression · Marital status · Multinomial logistic regression · Pension · Political science · Population · Retirement age · Sociology · Demography · Employment and Welfare Studies · Medicine · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges · Gerontology

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