Professional women's retirement adjustment: the experience of reestablishing order

Twenty-four interviews with 14 retired professional women were conducted and the results were presented as a four-stage process model [Price, C.A., 1998. Women and retirement: the unexplored transition. New York, Garland]. Because retirement adjustment for professional women has been a topic largely overlooked, the data pertaining to the women's adjustment experiences were reexamined in light of current literature and within the frameworks of identity theory and role theory. Retirement adjustment, for these women, was influenced by the following factors: (1) role expansion, (2) maintaining a sense of self, (3) reestablishing structure through time, and (4) community involvement. Results indicate that adjustment to retirement, for professional women, may be enhanced by utilizing work-related skills, maintaining active lifestyles, and nourishing individual self-concepts to counter the loss of former professional roles.     

Career Pathways into Retirement in the UK: Linking Older Women's Pasts to the Present

Understanding of how women's experiences in retirement are shaped by their pre‐retirement lives is limited. In this paper we utilize an innovative mix of measures to examine the link between career histories and expectations and experiences of retirement. Analysis of timeline data capturing the long working lives of a sample of older women identifies five different pathways into retirement. We explore these trajectories in detail to determine how they are shaped and their links to different outcomes in later life. The analysis shows how different career histories unfold and how they shape expectations and experiences of retirement. Long, professional career pathways leave women feeling enabled in retirement, women following more fragmented pathways are more constrained, and some trajectories, including pathways involving transitions into professional careers in later life, can leave older women financially and emotionally vulnerable in older age.     

Are baby boomer women redefining retirement?

As the baby boomers enter later life, unprecedented numbers of women are retiring. The first generation of women to encounter retirement since its institutionalisation as an expected male life course transition in the mid‐20th century, these women are leaving the labour force at a time when the meanings associated with “retirement” are changing. Longer life expectancy, improved health outcomes, and transformations in work driven by globalisation have produced greater diversity in when, why, and how people exit the labour force. Many boomer women are disadvantaged in later life by their histories of discontinuous employment and care‐giving. Consequently, we argue, opportunities to engage in “retirement” projects of their own choosing are unequal across this population. This essay reviews qualitative studies in sociology that examine boomer women's experiences of retirement and is organised in terms of the three main approaches that inform this under‐studied field: critical/feminist gerontology, identity theory, and life course approaches. Based on our review, we posit the need for socially inclusive research, beyond the prevailing emphasis on White, middle‐class professional women; more studies examining the impact of earlier life course transitions on women's later years; and attention to the effects of “successful ageing” discourses on women's lived experiences.     

Self-Defined Retirement Status and Engagement in Paid Work among Older Working-Age Women: Comparison between Childless Women and Mothers

Utilizing data from the 1992–1994 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this paper examines the question of whether three groups of older working-age women—childless women, mothers with at least one child at home or temporarily away at school, and mothers with all their children living away from home—were different or similar in their likelihood of retirement and their actual work status. The results show that the childless group and the child-not-at-home group were more likely than the child-at-home group to define themselves as retired, although the three groups were equally likely to engage in paid work activities. Both early childbearing history and ongoing parental financial obligations appear to influence women's willingness to assume a retiree versus a nonretiree status. The findings may reflect an emerging trend of retirement being a status symbol rather than a marker of complete cessation from the world of work.     

The dilemmas for black social work professionals: Therapeutic implications

This paper explores the nature of social work and therapeutic practive from the perspective of black practitioners in Britain today. Black practitioners carry their histories of hurt, loss and reunion, migration and racism with them, and this lends a particular meaning to the idea of 'therapeutic' for them. The writer articulates some of the complexities and tensions of black professional social work identity through a number of vignettes based on her own experience and biography. The paper was presented as a keynote address at the Therapeutic Social Work Today conference at the Tavistock Clinic in 2001.     

Narratives of identity among former professional footballers in the United Kingdom

This article considers the part that narrative plays in the processes of identity construction and reconstruction by focusing on the experience of one occupational group, professional footballers in the United Kingdom. From a narrative and life course perspective, it argues that players' occupational experience have shaped a particular kind of identity which can be problematic for later well-being. It draws on biographical interviews with former players and players' autobiographical accounts, to illustrate how they have coped with the challenge to find a new narrative identity following retirement from professional football.     

Women’s Household Preparation for Retirement at Young and Mid-Adulthood: Differences by Children and Marital Status

There are increasing concerns about whether Americans are saving enough for retirement. Recent research has called for improved understanding of the relationship between family structure and economic preparation for retirement at earlier stages of the life course. Using multiple years of the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, we examined how number of children and marital status were associated with women’s household retirement savings at young and mid-adulthood. Several household-level indicators of retirement preparation were considered: desire to save for retirement, retirement account ownership, eligibility to participate in a defined-contribution plan, participation in defined-contribution plans, and retirement account wealth. Results from regression analyses revealed variation in women’s household financial preparation for retirement at young and mid-adulthood by family context. Additional children were negatively associated with several measures of retirement preparation among single-female households but not for couple households. Overall, we found that low economic preparation for retirement is an additional economic disadvantage facing single mothers at young and mid-adulthood, with potentially long-term implications for their financial security. The results shed light on linkages between family structure and women’s economic status.     

Bridge employment and job stopping: evidence from the Harris/Commonwealth Fund Survey

This article analyzes a 1989 Louis Harris and Associates survey designed to elicit information on the employment histories and job-stopping behavior of men and women who then were approaching or had recently reached retirement age. The results indicate that retirement often occurs gradually and includes a substantial period of "bridge employment." Most bridge jobholders work full-time, by choice, and report high levels of job enjoyment. Occupational mobility occurring late in life typically involves upward movement, although the pattern of change is quite different when it takes place outside, rather than within, the longest job. The principal concern identified in this article is the limited ability of some groups of workers (nonwhites, females, the less educated, and those in poorly compensated occupations) to either retain longest jobs or to obtain acceptable bridge employment. Health problems also frequently lead to early departures from the labor force.     

LINGERING IDENTITIES IN RETIREMENT

Older workers were followed through their first two years of retirement in order to explore the lingering effects of preretirement identities on their retirement adjustment and self-esteem. Several interesting findings emerged. Preretirement identities and social background characteristics influenced initial retirement adjustment and later changes in retirement adjustment. In addition, lingering preretirement worker identity and emerging retirement adjustment influenced self-esteem two years into retirement. Further, while there were no overall gender differences, some individual identities and social background characteristics influenced retirement adjustment and self-esteem in a different manner for men and women.     

‘Allowed into a Man's World’ Meanings of Work–Life Balance: Perspectives of Women Civil Engineers as ‘Minority’ Workers in Construction

This article discusses how women working as civil engineers within the UK construction industry perceive work–life balance and considers strategies they use to achieve this. The findings are presented of a qualitative research project that explored the experiences of women in this role, focusing on the subcultural context of a profession that is dominated by the values of presenteeism and infinite availability. A feminist post‐structuralist framework is used to analyse how women negotiate their personal and professional time and the extent to which their other roles as carers and nurturers unsettle male work practices in this highly gendered profession. There are gradually increasing numbers of women in professional construction roles and their success appears to depend on being able to fit in to the dominant masculine culture of long working hours and the male pub gathering. Despite an increased presence, women's minority status in construction continues to challenge their professional identity and this is central to the conflict many face between the dual roles of corporate worker and private non‐work person.     

Undisciplined: Tracing Criminology's Growing Divergence From Sociology

Several influential sociologists have questioned the wisdom of criminology's departure from sociology. Omitted from these reflections are the rationale explaining the schism. The present work grants a historical account to fill that absence. Oral histories with 17 leading criminologists, 13 of whom trained as sociologists, have been collected and analyzed. Two domains are explored, professional/organizational and informal/intellectual. First, the departments evidence different hiring patterns, journal content preferences, and journal structures over the past half‐century. Second, there are contrasts regarding ideology; sociology trends leftward. Criminological research concentrates on a dependent variable; sociology links to a unifying orientation. There are concerns that the field's training and research may be too narrow and that the lure of influencing policy could undermine its opportunity to offer critical commentary. Criminology's focus on addressing crime as a practical concern serves some advantages. However, many respondents were conflicted over the loss of an abiding identity. If the field fails to confront its preference for multitheoretical, policy‐driven discussion, it risks being pruned or subsumed without a more fixed sense of identity.     

Social Work: A Profession in Search of Its Identity

Micro social work practice can be understood in the context of its historical professional traditions and dialectics as well as the environmental pressures and demands placed on the profession. In becoming a profession, social work relied heavily on principles drawn from medicine and science. Although these bodies of knowledge provided the profession certain credibility, their application may have clouded social work’s distinctive social purpose and professional identity. In its search for a distinctive function and identity, the profession of social work has struggled with numerous dialectics, as discussed in this article. These help us to better understand the profession’s search for its distinctive identity and status and the importance of including this content in social work education.     

Making It In and Making Out: Women in Professional Occupations in Britain and France

The relationship between gender, work and organization in professional occupations can be shown to vary according to different work environments and national contexts. The career patterns of women in chartered accountancy and law in Britain and France are explored in different types of organization in order to determine whether the societal structuring of these occupations is gendered and whether women fare better in small professional practices or large bureaucratic organizations. The findings are derived from a comparative study which combined macro-level data with in-depth qualitative analysis of work and family life histories of a small number of women professionals. While women in the two countries and two occupations were found to share many of the same problems in establishing and pursuing a career, the evidence suggests that women in France may have a marginal advantage over their British counterparts, not so much because they have access to more extensive statutory employment rights but rather because they are more often employed in small practices where they are able to use their independence and their control over working conditions and work-time arrangements to structure their careers according to their own requirements and interests.     

New voices in social work: an explorative study of female Turkish and Moroccan-Dutch professionals in social work in the Netherlands

In social work, the participation of Turkish and Moroccan-Dutch professionals, second and third generation migrant women from a Muslim background, is increasing. In this participative qualitative inquiry, new professionals were actively involved as co-researchers, doing research with peers from the same background. The question addressed is how these professionals deal with identity tensions and if they find positive sources of identification in social work. The new professionals claim a positive identity, connected to what they consider their strength and in particular their faith and ‘otherness’. At the same time, this increases their vulnerability, in a context in which Islam by some is considered a threat to society. The importance of a supportive professional social work identity is advocated.     

How Public Policy Increases the Vulnerability of Older Widows

The American retirement system has dramatically improved economic well-being over the last two decades. The once-perilous transition from work to retirement is no longer so, and this economic security continues long after retirement for most married couples But the transition from spouse to survivor remains economically perilous, especially for women. Ironically, current Social Security rules provide unequal benefits within families, and the fact that more women now work in the marketplace may make this problem worse in the future.     

Choices and life chances: feminism and the politics of generational change

The perception that young women are disengaged from feminist politics has provoked a great deal of tension between feminist generations. Recent feminist research into generational change has largely avoided this tension by focusing on the shifting meanings of feminism and the discrepancy between young women's reluctance to identify as “feminists” and their general acceptance of feminist attitudes toward gender issues. Nevertheless, in an era when gender equity goals seem to be if not slipping backwards then lacking urgency, young women are less likely to identify with a collective feminist politics than are older women. Underpinned by the findings of a major study of the attitudes toward work, family, and retirement of three generations of Australian women, this paper develops an approach that helps explain this reluctance. Drawing on the work of Karl Mannheim, the paper suggests that the cultural currents shaping the consciousness of different generations of women impact significantly on gender identity. The implications of this cultural shift are considered in the context of feminist politics and the contemporary “culture wars.”     

I Do … Want to Save: Marriage and Retirement Savings in Young Households

Increased policy and academic attention has been placed on promoting retirement savings early in the life course. This study investigates the extent to which retirement savings behavior among young persons, a population for which retirement savings is important but typically low, differs by marital status. We draw national survey data on young adult households (ages 22–35; N = 3,894) from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Results reveal considerable differences by marital status. Controlling for important characteristics, young adults who were married were more likely than all other groups (including cohabitors) to perceive retirement as an important savings goal and to have an individual retirement account. Married persons were more likely than their single counterparts to participate in a defined contribution pension plan. Single women fared particularly poorly on retirement savings outcomes. A range of possible theoretical links between marriage and retirement savings at young adulthood are discussed.     

Structural changes in the receiving country and future labor migration--the case of Kuwait

This article describes changes in the volume, age and sex composition, retention, productivity, types of occupation, and economic sector of the labor force in Kuwait. The focus is on the structural changes in the indigenous labor force. Data were obtained from censuses and labor force surveys during 1965-93. Policies after the 1990 invasion pertained primarily to security of public employment sector among natives. Over 98% of private sector employment is among non-Kuwaitis. Government programs support high fertility. Female illiteracy has declined, and the proportion of women with a higher education has increased. Natives comprised 20.4% of the total labor force in 1993. About 90% of native males work in the public sector. 45% of total male employment is in the production sector. Around 50% of non-Kuwaiti males have been employed in production work over the decades. Over 90% of Kuwaiti females in 1993 worked in professional or clerical work. Over 50% of total female labor force participation is in the service sector. Concentration in the public sector increased for Kuwaitis and declined for non-Kuwaitis. Labor force participation declined with increasing age. Retirement benefits encouraged early retirement. The private sector is experiencing the departure of long-term migrants and more rapid turnover of labor. Hours of work are longer in the private sector. Kuwait is still dependent on foreign workers in the production and service industries. It is likely that native male workers will replace foreign workers in professional work and administrative/clerical work. Policies that will assure future reliance on imported labor include the assurance of government jobs for Kuwaitis, retirement rules, and the profitability of the trade in labor.     

Teaching critical self-reflection through the lens of cultural humility: an assignment in a social work diversity course

Social workers engage with marginalized groups in society. However, many social workers are of privileged groups and have not personally experienced social exclusions. This study explored social work graduate students’ evaluation of an assignment designed to encourage critical self-reflection as part of a required diversity course. The assignment approaches diversity using a cultural humility lens, which seeks to remove historical, unidimensional approaches to teaching about diverse populations. Data were collected from 47 MSW students enrolled at an urban, Midwestern university in the United States. Thematic analyses of students’ critical self-reflections revealed positive experiences regarding the influence of personal histories, development of professional identity, and importance of cultural humility.