We’re not the retiring type! More and more women regard their 60s as the prime of life. No wonder, argues EMMA SOAMES, they’re so determined to keep the jobs they love
0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, March 8, 2010
Byline: by Emma Soames
THE customer liaison at Miami Airport couldn’t have been more helpful. ‘Yes ma’am, how can I help?’ she beamed when she saw the look of bewilderment on my face. ‘It’s Concourse E that you’re after. Let me show you, I’m going that way.’
Bleary-eyed from a long flight, I followed her, relieved to have stumbled across such a friendly member of staff.
But what impressed me even more than her helpful manner, the bright and breezy uniform and the easy-to-spot name badge (she was called Didi), was her age.
Didi was clearly in her late 60s and proud of it. In fact, bar the immigration official who looked about 22, the entire airport seemed to be manned by a staff of friendly, efficient silver 70-somethings.
Right now this may seem unusual, but the older employee is here to stay, so we’d better get used to it.
The landscape of work across the Western world is ageing. Improvements in healthcare and diet mean that living until, and beyond, 90 will be commonplace.
So, within 20 years, the bulk of the workforce in the developed world will be over 50. The UK can expect another million people of pension age by the year 2020 — and most of them will be women.
For most, it simply isn’t financially possible to stop work at 60 (amazingly until this year, the state pension age for women) and expect to live off savings and state payments for possibly 30 or 40 years.
The state pension entitlement for women — particularly for those who took National Insurance contribution breaks — will be pitifully small; if these women don’t earn, they will be forced into the miserable twilight world of pension benefits and state dependency.
The better off with private pensions, meanwhile, have been shocked to see how little their savings will provide when chopped up into monthly segments.
BUT the reasons that work continues to be so important to us are more than just financial. Those of us who have been working for most of our lives have no desire to stop. Our health is good; we are as engaged as ever and, frankly, we don’t like the idea of doing nothing.
We suspect — since we are all guilty of it in the past — that people who don’t work are not as valued as those who do, and retirement can bring social isolation. As many women make the biggest progress late in their careers (after our children have grown up), the last thing we want to do is to stop now.
A job provides us with a social life as well as a salary. Indeed, recent research from Saga shows that 3.6 million people who have retired would like to get back into part-time work.
Carol Lewis certainly has no regrets about devoting so much time to her career in her twilight years
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