‘You feel a little bit invisible really’: A Thematic Analysis Exploring Self-Perceptions and Stereotypes Experienced by Working Women aged 60 and over with a focus in Lower Paid Roles

Edge, Clare; Bacci, Giulia

Abstract

Evidence suggests life stress accumulation over the life course disproportionately negatively impacts wellbeing, cognition and health in ageing women. Women across the life course across Europe have been shown to have more diverse and less regular employment histories than men and have been shown to face significant challenges as older women in navigating their work life balance. In the UK, women’s pension age has recently been harmonised, older women are more likely to extend their working life and are disproportionately affected by inequalities across the life course. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences and perceptions of older women's wellbeing in an opportunity sample of (n=19) of women aged 60 and over with a focus on those in lower paid and part time roles. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Themes identified across the dataset relating to self-perceptions were around the workplace identity as a woman over 60 years old: positive and negative drivers to age positive identity in work were experienced by women in the workplace including being seen as ‘invisible’, excluded by colleagues, or, not viewing themselves as ‘old’; and, positive self-beliefs related to the need to promote positive social norms around ageing as a woman, not seeing age as a barrier and challenging unhelpful stereotypes in the workplace.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 5, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 5, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2024
• Journal: Current Issues in Personality Psychology (CIPP)
• Electronic ISSN: 2353-561X
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp/192988