Documents Vlachantoni, Athina 2 results

"Background Previous research has highlighted the importance of accumulated life-course labour market status and the balancing of multiple roles for understanding inequalities in health in later life. This may be particularly important for women, who are increasingly required to balance work and family life in liberal welfare contexts, such as in Britain. Methods This study analyses retrospective life history data for 2160 women aged 64+ years (born 1909–1943) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, collected in 2006–2007 as part of an ongoing panel study. Optimal matching and cluster analyses are used to produce a taxonomy of women's life-course economic activity trajectories based on their experiences between ages 16 and 64?years. This classification is then used in logistic regression analysis to investigate associations with self-rated health in later life. Results A set of five trajectories emerge as the dominant patterns of women's economic activity over the life course for those cohorts of English women born prior to 1943: (1) full-time workers; (2) family carers; (3) full-time returners; (4) part-time returners; (5) atypical/inactive. Regression analyses show that women who experience defined periods of full-time work both before and after focusing on family life appear to have the most favourable later life health outcomes. Conclusions The findings are discussed with reference to the accumulation of social and economic resources over the life course and the balancing of multiple roles in work and family domains. In conclusion, the development of policies that facilitate women, if they wish, to successfully combine paid employment with family life could have a positive impact on their health in later life."

"Using data from several large-scale longitudinal surveys, this article investigates the relationship between the work histories and personal incomes (from both public and private sources) of older women in the UK, US and West Germany. By comparing three countries with different welfare regimes and pension systems, we seek to gain a better understanding of the interaction between the life course, pension system and women's incomes in later life. The association between older women's incomes and work histories is strongest in West Germany and weakest in the UK, where there is evidence of a ‘pensions poverty trap' and where only predominantly full-time employment is associated with significantly higher incomes in later life. Work history matters less for widows (in all three countries) and more for recent birth cohorts and more educated women (UK only). The article concludes with a brief discussion of the treatment of women under different pension regimes assessed by the criteria of adequacy, proportionality, vertical equity and horizontal equity. "