Older women workers and the European Union’s employment goals

This paper explores the employment figures for older women, aged 55-64 in the EU15. Current policies on “active aging” and the gender neutral approach to pension reform does not take into account the unpaid work of caregiving. Where older women are typically employed during these later years in the Nordic countries, a range of welfare state supports to assist them with caring for family members. In contexts where welfare state provision of care facilities is weak and caring activities are mainly performed by women, such as in the Mediterranean cluster and Portugal, women have the primary responsibility for the care provision for elderly and other family members, working longer raises new concerns in terms of employment opportunities and care provision. Moreover, current austerity reforms have a greater impact on women than on men in most countries, thus imposing a greater risk for women’s present and future economic situation.

Format: printed, 15 pages

Bibliographic Citation: Bould, Sally and Casaca, Sara Falcão (2012) “Older women workers and the European Union’s employment goals: bringing gender into the debate” exaequo, nº 26, pp: 27-42.