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Creating New Female Pathways to Retirement
Written by Nancy Conroy, PRP

What used to be
There was a time not that long ago when women either remained at home raising a family or got a job outside the home to supplement family income. Men were the major breadwinners and tended to call the shots, especially on economic issues. That may explain why Statistics Canada reported as late as 1990, that when Canadian couples retired, they did so together. Behind these statistics was the reality that when a man decided that his career was over, he also decided that his wife's was, too. This may explain, in part, why the second highest divorce rate in Canada has been in the age range 65 to 84!

What we see now
We now we see a very different picture emerging. Many women still devote a great deal of energy to raising a family, but some of these women and most of those who do not have a family, have launched themselves into the world of work by choice. Modern women have careers. They have discovered that work outside the home brings with it many benefits, including the discovery of expanded dimensions to their identity, as well as economic and financial independence. It is hard to believe that not that many years ago there were women who didn't know how to write a cheque.

Couples are not retiring together any more. When I ask participants in my seminars about this issue, the majority says they are going to retire at different times. Usually the men are going to retire first, whereas the women want to continue to pursue their careers. The men often say they are going to take over home maintenance in retirement. I should note that many of the women express doubt that their spouses will actually take over the role of homemaker!

In an interesting 1995 study conducted by the National Center for Women and Retirement Research at Southhampton University in Long Island, the researchers found that baby boom women in mid-life were excited about their careers and work; the men, on the other hand were keen to reduce their work-related roles. This difference, the researchers suggested, may be related to the fact that in mid life, baby boom women are placing increased importance on their own professional and personal development, whereas men are shifting their priorities to family and relationships.

The Holding Pattern Strategy
Many women with careers and a family are choosing to place careers on hold during their primary care-giving years. This strategy usually involves time off but also involves avoiding promotions, positions with too much responsibility or travel, and positions where long hours would be required. By the time these women reach their mid to late forties and early fifties, their careers start to really take off and retirement is the last thing on their minds.

Self-employment Strategy
Other women choose to move out of formal organizations in order to gain greater control over their hours and conditions of work. Certainly a significant proportion of the growth in small business relates to this strategy, with women emerging as the driving force behind this growth. Statistics Canada reports that between 1991 and 1996 the number of women working for themselves increased 62%, whereas for men it was only 29%. Self-employment makes it possible for women to continue to develop themselves in career terms, while also providing a strong presence in the home.

This strategy has also been adopted by women who have reached senior levels in their careers. In 1995, Fortune magazine published a story about how executive women are bailing out of the corporate world in order to gain more control over their careers and their lives. Some choose to go into business for themselves while others opt for less demanding careers that permit them to regain balance in their lives.

Telework Strategy
The growth of tele-work has provided working women with greater control over their hours of work and has made it possible for them to combine working with being at home. By continuing to work for the same employer, they are able to maintain income and benefits, and also retain the option of returning to the workplace at a later date.

Part time Work Strategy
Other women are choosing to work, but on a part time basis, so that they can spend a major part of their day devoted to family and their home. The growth in part time work, fueled to some extent by the economic recession in the late 80's and early 90's, does provide women who want to balance work and family with the opportunity to do so.

Women's Pathways to Retirement
Entering the world of paid work has provided women with new and exciting opportunities to discover their full potential and to gain greater knowledge about how the world works outside the home. These new and different career strategies are contributing to a very different concept of and pathway to retirement. They are creating a blurring of women's life stages. Where career stops and retirement starts has become a pretty fuzzy line.

In some respects, women may have stronger feelings about their careers than men do. In their book, Transitions: A Woman's Guide to a Successful Retirement, Diana Cort-Van Arsdale and her sister, Phyllis Newman, suggest it is especially important for women to understand what work means to them, before they leave it behind. Not that long ago, if you asked a woman who she was, she would define herself in relation to home and family. Entering the world of work in a serious way has provided women with far greater scope to develop and expand who they are. It's true that many women can still proudly claim to be homemakers and mothers and wives, but they can also say they are stockbrokers or managers or computer whizzes or doctors.

How much does work contribute to your sense of identity?
Whatever career pathway you have chosen, understanding how work affects how you see yourself will be an important consideration when you eventually decide that you want to move out of the world of work and into the world of retirement.