Much of this income is self-generated: there are much higher levels of female employment in the UK now than there were a decade ago — and employment levels for part-time work, in particular, have soared. Many of these jobs have been taken up by older groups. However, women's median income is still much lower than men's, across all age groups, and many older women are still reliant on the income of a husband or partner for their lifestyle and level of affluence.
The Government is trying to encourage greater participation in the workplace by women — particularly in those areas traditionally associated with male employment and where there are skills shortages. The pay gap between men and women's earnings is still unacceptably wide and a large factor is women's occupational segregation into low-skilled, low-paid professions — so-called `female' roles.
The difficulties for older women in employment are not easy to unravel. Various factors, such as older motherhood, an increased need to be carers for aging parents, and young people living at home for longer, all make it more difficult and complicated for women to remain consistently in work and to build up their own pension provision. Pension membership among women has also increased over the past decade — for part-time workers, however, membership is still inadequate.
Among women aged between 45 and 54, economic inactivity is still high — double that for men; the major reasons given for this among women are ill health but also the need to care for family and relatives. Key Note anticipates that, over the next decade, benefit reform will become a top agenda issue. The difficulties for people who want to work flexibly — for example, women carers, parents, and older people — will gain focus and lead to reforms, which will hopefully resolve the benefits/work conflicts and improve women's working and pension prospects.
Women's employment situation is, however, only one aspect of the overall picture of participation by older women in society. This report also highlights the fact that involvement in voluntary activities — either formal or informal volunteering — is actually increasing among older women (with a few exceptions). There is greater need for this as government care provision is becoming more targeted and more women are expected to care for elderly or sick relatives.
The role of grandparents has also become more significant over the past few decades. Older women and men are more involved in looking after grandchildren while their parents work than were previous generations. So, while many older women are still not fully active in the workplace, their role in their community is still significant. Many working, and indeed non-working, women are also increasing their amount of caring or voluntary involvement, creating demands on themselves that previous generations did not perhaps experience.
Marketing to women over the age of 45 is, therefore, a complicated issue — since again, there is no `one group' to be precisely targeted. This report suggests that positive role models — perhaps using icons aged over 50 — could be a strong strategy, even for the financial-services industry. As equity-release schemes develop and more women look to their homes to supplement their income in old age, the need to target these women in positive and non-patronising ways is likely to gain currency.
Within clothing retailing, for example, the use of older role models (most notably Twiggy by high-street retailer Marks and Spencer) has already proved highly successful. Unilever has also turned its attention to those aged over 45 — so-called `real women' — in its recent marketing of the Dove Pro Age range of skin, deodorant and haircare products. These trends are undoubtedly set to expand over the next decade as the current baby-boomer generation moves into retirement. The decade of the older woman — those aged over 50 and even over 60 — could soon be upon us.
