Older Women and the Australian Workplace: What Do They Want and What Do They Think of Their Jobs?
Speaker: Professor Philip Taylor, Federation Business School, Federation University Australia
Abstract: This presentation concerns older women’s experiences of work and the factors affecting their labour market engagement, drawing from findings of the Australian Research Council (ARC) funded ‘Retiring women’ study . Evidence from quantitative surveys of Australian older working women is used to challenge myths concerning their employment and to demonstrate the complexity of their engagement with the labour market. It is concluded that most women like their jobs, viewing their working environments as benign, but the findings also highlight the problematical nature of devising effective public policy and advocacy for ‘older workers’.