Women’s economic activity trajectories over the life course: implications for the self-rated health of women aged 64+ in England

Abstract

Background Previous research has highlighted the
importance of accumulated life-course labour market
status and the balancing of multiple roles for
understanding inequalities in health in later life. This
may be particularly important for women, who are
increasingly required to balance work and family life in
liberal welfare contexts, such as in Britain.
Methods This study analyses retrospective life history
data for 2160 women aged 64+ years (born 1909–
1943) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing,
collected in 2006–2007 as part of an ongoing panel
study. Optimal matching and cluster analyses are used to
produce a taxonomy of women’s life-course economic
activity trajectories based on their experiences between
ages 16 and 64 years. This classification is then used in
logistic regression analysis to investigate associations
with self-rated health in later life.
Results A set of five trajectories emerge as the
dominant patterns of women’s economic activity over
the life course for those cohorts of English women born
prior to 1943: (1) full-time workers; (2) family carers; (3)
full-time returners; (4) part-time returners; (5) atypical/
inactive. Regression analyses show that women who
experience defined periods of full-time work both before
and after focusing on family life appear to have the most
favourable later life health outcomes.
Conclusions The findings are discussed with reference
to the accumulation of social and economic resources
over the life course and the balancing of multiple roles
in work and family domains. In conclusion, the
development of policies that facilitate women, if they
wish, to successfully combine paid employment with
family life could

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Maria Evandrou: orcid.org/0000-0002-2115-9358

ORCID for Jane Falkingham: orcid.org/0000-0002-7135-5875

ORCID for Athina Vlachantoni: orcid.org/0000-0003-1539-3057

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics