Study Of Women At Work And In Retirement

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30127, 10 May 1963, Page 2

Study Of Women At Work And In Retirement

What are the most important sources of satisfaction in the lives of working women?

Good health, financial security, religious faith, family ties, friends and congenial work are ranked foremost in a study by Dr. Mary Laurence, of the department of psychology, University of Toronto, Canada. These factors also form the basis of a happy retirement, she finds.

The survey was made possible by a study grant of more than £BOOO raised by the Soroptimist Federation of the Americas in its concern for the future of working women when they retire. It is based on information submitted by 383 working women in Toronto, aged from 25 to 60 and more.

The focus of the study is on business and professional women, the median age of respondents to questionnaires sent out falls in the 40 to 49 age group and they are mainly single women. The survey is based on 14 aspects of life: health, finances. family, housing, friends, hobbies, clubs, religion, church activities, work, recognition, post accomplishments. usefulness and leisure. These aspects are studied from the point of view of age. income and marital status.

There is a striking similarity in the degree to which subjects in the survey, regardless of age, endorse the 14 aspects of living as unsatisfying at present but as important to their satisfaction, the report says. The older the subjects, the more thev expect problems with health and with keeping constructively busy. In Retirement Concern about leisure time probably reflected their feeling that society had no clearly defined role tor its older citizens in which they could involve themselves usefully and consistently. It probably also reflected the quandary in which these women expected to find themselves when retirement removed the role which normally occupied their time — work.

It was possible to infer from such findings that a large number ot working women had no clearly detinea programme of activity planned for their retirement, Dr. Laurence says.

"The significant decrease with age in the expression ol concern about the degree of recognition from others and the level of past accomplishments represents quite a different pattern,” the survey says. Recognition The youngest age group (middle twenties), naturally enough, shows most interest in recognition and accomplishments. Their forecast of problems appears to be built on an anticipatory tear that their careers might not develop quickly enough to ensure recognition and pride in past accomplishments which they seem to equate with success and satisfaction. Older subjects give less consideration to such problems, either because events have proved their fears groundless or because other, more personally vital, areas of life have overshadowed them. .

doubts or indecisions about religion and its role in their lives. ‘This is seen by ’.he fact that fewer women mention religion as an area in which they expect problems in the next five years,” the report says.

When the subjects of the survey are divided by income. similarity rather than difference between groups is the dominant feature.

“Intangible social pressures seem to be the prime factors in shaping uniform attitudes. The only major difference is in the work area, one that has an obvious connexion with finances in that it is the source of economic security. Tfoe higher the reward from work, the more important work is judged to be.

"It should not be overlooked, of course, that higher reward usually entails more responsibility, challenge and opportunity for creativity and that these factors probably contributed also to the greater importance ascribed to work

by the highly paid subjects,” says the report. Single women expressed significantly a greater lack of satisfaction from family relationships than did married subjects studied. “It is not clear from the data whether this is dissatisfaction due to lack of family ties through death of parents land (or) lack of a husband | and children, or irritation with parent and sibling ties which are prolonged because i the individual has not ■married,” the report says. Past Accomplishment

Single women also express more dissatisfaction with the level of their past accomplishment. This may have its roots in a feeling of insufficient advancement in a job or a vague feeling that they have failed to achieve the basic female adult roles of wife and mother.

Both married and single women emphasise the importance of close. interpersonal relationships in a satisfying life —the family for married women, friendships for single women. The greater importance of church activities to single women than to married women indicates not only more time available to the single person but also that ohurcih groups are a source of friendships. Problems Expected

The survey shows that single women expect more problems with tfheir families, such as caring for aged parents without help from busbands or children of their own.

Single women are also more concerned about future health problems. Any illness or injury not only affects her health, but may cut off her income and place her in a position of needing care without having sufficient financial resources, the survey says. Dr. Laurence’s report on her study is entitled "Sources of Satisfaction in ’he Lives of Working Women.” It has been published in the American “Journal of Gerontology.”

With increasing age, the women appear to resolve