Age as a Factor Defining Older Womens Experience of Labour Market Participation by Sian Moore - Article Example

A critical review of research study, No matter what I did I would still end in the same position: Age as a factor defining older women’s experience of labour market participation by Sian Moore Name Professor Institution Course Date Introduction This research seeks to explore more about age, as a factor influencing the labour market experience of older women. Race, gender and class are all linked to age discrimination. Intersectionality has been an apparatus for the exploration of the interaction among social divisions over the course of life (Moore, 2009). The research has enabled analysis of the opinions of workers on the changing nature of work and how age can be built in terms of merits and demerits within specific sectors and occupations that are influenced by gender and race. The paper also seeks to provide suitable solutions to help reduce age discrimination among the aged. Analysis of the Research Methods The research was based on thirty three interviews with women aged over fifty in three UK labour markets; London, Conventry and Oxford. Two groups were targeted in London; one where there were racially mixed older women and the other, a group of Indian women working in the non-interactive centre in West London. In Conventry, the respondents included a group mainly consisting of Afro-Caribbean women working in the manufacturing industry and the public sector (Keese, 2006). In Oxford, the women interviewed were from the publishing industry and were white. Of the women working, majority had full-time vocations. The research was, therefore, not necessarily based on women over fifty, and thus the research findings cannot be generalized. The qualitative nature of the research, however, lends itself to exploring the interaction of different social divisions. Results Age is historically, culturally and socially specific. Although ageing can only occur at the site of the body, embodiment necessarily brings with it some social experiences of ageing. In contemporary industrialized societies, work is crucial to the chronology of the course of life. There seems to be sufficient ground to treat age discrimination as a separate form of oppression. In a survey of about one thousand employees of all ages, men were as likely to report challenges related to age as the women; in any case, both reported similar issues at work. Women were likely to face the disadvantage of being neither too young nor too old which suggested that in these age brackets, being female acted as an intensifier of age prejudice. Intersectionality provides both theoretical and methodological approaches to capture the dynamic interrelationships between social divisions (race, gender and class and in some cases, age). Intersectionality may hinder the linkages to the capitalist economy, which are crucial to the comprehension of class. The continual reconstruction of capitalist relations involves the renegotiation of gender and race relations with implications for age. The decline of manufacturing led to the withdrawal of older male workers from the labour market and expansion of the service sector founded on a female workforce, a result found from a study based in the UK (Kotowska, Stachura & Strezelecki, 2008). The changing nature of work has had effects on age and gender. In context of permanent change in organizations and their cultures, loyalty has been increasingly devalued. The postmodern theory allows the transcendence of a modern chronology of age. It emphasizes that identity is fluid, and at the same time, has increased the importance of image; proving that appearance would present a real barrier for older women. On the study of post-redundancy recruitment experiences of flight attendants in Australia, how capitalist accumulation is increasingly linked to service quality and brand identity are exposed. The nature of interactive services is changing in such a way that older workers, especially women, are excluded. A researcher called Weller says that differentiation by age is imposed upon occupational divisions by gender (Keese, 2006). The importance of age is especially evident in interactive service occupations that majorly rely on ascribed, leave alone technical skills, which employ large proportions of women. Such a situation reflects the study of work and gender in London, and how economic trends are embedded and embodied in a workplace. In merchant banking, for example, work is constructed in such a way that combines certain versions of masculinity with youth and class. In the context of consumer culture, an integral characteristic of a late capitalist society, there is an increased centralisation of the body at work, while women may lack the qualities that are valued in a workplace. Two scientists explore the commoditization of worker aesthetic attributes and capabilities in hospitality and retail and how employers seek to create congruence between the appearances of an employee the corporate image. It shows that there is a risk for discrimination based on appearance, and by implication, age. Bourdiueu’s concept of cultural capital to explain how working class women may only have feminine cultural capital to trade in the labour market and this can b defined in terms of appearance or caring. Labour and power against such capital may decrease or increase with age. The discursive process that constructs older female workers is described as the flexible female. In this model, older women are seen as more successful and benefited in the labour market, when compared to older men. Success in this case is however questionable as it is dependent on the idea that older women are prepared to withstand poorer working conditions, lower status jobs and lower rates. Despite the post-structural and post-modern critiques placing emphasis on the social identities being fluid and multiple, the testimonies of the older women that have been presented demand better consideration of the social structures that have constituted their lived experiences. The rates of participation from women, especially the mature aged have shown an improvement (Taylor, 2008). The improvements represent the cohort of a social change, many decades in the making. Younger women who increasingly joined and remained attached to the labour market in the past have been ageing into the mature age bracket over the last few decades. In Australia, the mature-age bracket of men saw a downward trend in the rate of participation. Women will mostly seek to work in less demanding jobs, in terms of time especially, compared to men. Women are, therefore, pushed into part-time jobs so that the lower hours under which women work may not be their idea. Based on research, women who are fifty-five and above mostly prefer working in full-time jobs. It is still unclear, though, if the full-time jobs are unavailable or the fact that family commitments may prevent their participation in such jobs. A notable number of women retire before qualifying for ordinary pensions through various pathways into retirement caused by social transfer programmes such as invalidity, early retirement schemes and unemployment, which causes implicit taxes. Implicit taxes largely affect the market participation for older workers, on the side of both males and females. Recommendations An international comparison reveals that both men and women have experienced more rapid increases to participation rates. The rates, however, lag in about eleven countries including New Zealand and Sweden. The fiscal challenges of an ageing population can be solved in a number of ways including investing in productivity and capital for the smaller workforce, an active population policy, greater retirement savings and reducing benefits for the old, which will enable them to work longer. Institutional barriers to participation by the mature-aged resulting from issues that arise from tax and retirement benefits income systems are amendable to policy intervention. Changing system parameters would also be of assistance (Vettori, 2010). The reason behind many older women participating in the labour force, despite there being lower wages for elder people is that they have to work. Women who are more educated, however, continue working until older ages. Even as education and income become contributing factors towards work, some older women merely work just because they prefer to. More recent cohorts of women have gone through a stronger lifetime in their job attachment. Programmes that provide work incentives would probably be more successful with older women if they provided better work situations, rather than putting more emphasis on financial incentive (Anxo, Ethel & Schippers, 2007). In conclusion, workers may retire voluntarily if they have the ability to, which means that they can wait until they reach an age or situation in which they can eventually start drawing benefits. Bibliography Sargeant, M. (2011). Age Discrmination: Ageism in Employment and Service Provisison. Farnham, Gower. Kotowska, I. E., Stachura, J., & Strezelecki, P., (2008). Equality of Retirement benefits Rceived by Men and Women in Selected European Countries: Childbearing and Future Benefits. Brussels, ENEPRI. Anxo, D., Erhel, C., & Schippers, J., J., (2007). Labour Market Transitions and Time Adjustment Over the Life Course. Amsterdam, Dutch University Press. Keese, M., (2006). Live Longer, Work Longer. T Source OECD. Paris. Moore, S. (2009). No matter what I did I would still end in the same position: Age as a factor defining older women’s experience of labour market participation. Work, Employment & Society. 23 (4), 655-671 Rafal, C. & John, P. Mature-age Labour Force Participation: Trends, Barriers, Incentives, and Future Potential. Accessed from http://www.cepar.edu.au/media/97250/participation_briefing_paper_final_with_logo.pdf- Elizabeth, T., H. (2002). The Labour Force Participation of Older Women: Retired? Working? Both? of Older Women: Retired? Working? Both?-Accessed from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/09/art4full.pdf- OECD (2002). Participation of Women and Older Workers. - Policies to Increase Labour Force Participation of Women and Older Workers. Accessed from http://www.oecd.org/social/labour/31743892.pdf- Taylor, P. (2008). Ageing Labour Forces, Promises and Prospects. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. Vettori, S., (2010). Ageing Populations and Changing Lbour Markets Social and Economic Impacts of the Demographic Time Bomb. Farnham, England, Gower Pub. Read More