Masters of their own time? Working carers’ visions of retirement

Abstract

Retirement is often seen as a period dedicated to the enjoyment of one's own leisure interests after many years of gainful employment. On the other hand, retired people are expected to remain productive by continuing to work, volunteering or by being involved in various caring tasks. When do Finnish working carers plan to retire and how do they envisage the weight of their care commitments related to other activities once they have left full-time work? The 19 female interviewees were born in 1953 or earlier, and they helped their parent(s). They were working full-time or part-time or were semi-retired at the time of the interview. The interviewees were selected from a larger sample of working carers. The future prospects of the interviewees are given in terms of their different visions of retirement activities, and principles of qualitative analysis are applied. Some interviewees indicated that helping their parent(s) would be an essential part of their personal retirement activities, and some of them had chosen or were considering part-time retirement in order to have more time for their parents. However, the interviewees often also stressed that they wanted to have time to pursue their own personal work and leisure interests after leaving full-time employment. Persons approaching their own retirement want to be 'productive' but they also want to ensure that they retain a certain amount of individually defined 'personal-time'. Leaving gainful employment does not necessarily mean leaving 'productive roles' as citizens. However, pensioners' contributions as carers are socially and personally meaningful only if the pensioners' different valuations regarding the future are respected.

Differences in social participation of older adults across European welfare regimes: Fourteen years of SHARE data collection

“…First, several authors noted that active ageing presents ageing through activities as the only way to age well, without reflecting on the consequences of this approach (Hasmanová Marhánková, 2013;Holstein and Minkler, 2003;Leinonen, 2011;Mendes, 2013;Timonen, 2016). Timonen (2016) argues that some older people cannot, and some do not want to participate in these activities; both should be legitimate options.…”

“…Timonen (2016) argues that some older people cannot, and some do not want to participate in these activities; both should be legitimate options. Other authors write about active ageing as a strongly normative discourse of self-discipline (Hasmanová Marhánková, 2013;Leinonen, 2011) that is more a duty than a right, and this discourse can lead to the exclusion of the people who do not fulfil this duty (Mendes, 2013). As a result, those who cannot participate, such as older women, the poor and members of ethnic minorities, are marginalised even more than they would be without this social policy approach (Holstein and Minkler, 2003).…”

‘I just felt as though I had to drop something’: the implications of care for female working elder carers’ working lives

“…There has been a small amount of qualitative work examining the experiences of working elder carers in the UK, Sweden, Finland and Israel (Bernard and Phillips 2007; Elhd and Carlsson 2011; Katz et al . 2011; Leinonen 2011; Phillips 2000; Phillips, Bernard and Chittenden 2002); some of this research highlights the balancing or juggling that working elder carers must do, leaving themselves little personal or social time. It suggests that, for at least some working carers, their caring responsibilities have a negative impact upon their work roles, but this issue has not yet been investigated in depth.…”