Barriers and Facilitators to Older Women's Workplace Well-being: a qualitative analysis

Edge, Clare

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. There were a range of themes identified in respect of ageing women and the barriers and facilitators to well-being at work. Across the dataset there was a perception that the menopause and other women’s health issues across the life course e.g. musculoskeletal issues was under recognised in the workplace. Themes identified across the dataset related also related to self-perceptions and social norms about women e.g 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.

Citation

Edge, C. (2024, April). Barriers and Facilitators to Older Women's Workplace Well-being: a qualitative analysis. Presented at Sustainable HRM - an International Perspective, Warsaw, Poland and Online

• Presentation Conference Type: Speech
• Conference Name: Sustainable HRM - an International Perspective
• Conference Location: Warsaw, Poland and Online
• Start Date: Apr 23, 2024
• End Date: Apr 25, 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 7, 2024
• Keywords: ageing women wellbeing workplace
• Publisher URL: https://shrm.sgh.waw.pl/