Saturday, July 5, 2014

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Older female employment rate set to overtake men

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 03:30 AM PDT

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A reflection of improving health and a response to the rising state pension age.

A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says women in their late 60s could have a higher employment rate than men of the same age by 2020.

Employment rates for women in their late 60s are currently at their highest level in 40 years due to both a rise in state pension age and increasing health levels.

The study examined the demographic and financial factors that will affect those aged over 65 in England up to 2022–23.

The study says 37 per cent of women aged 65–69 could be in work by 2022–23, up from 16 per cent in 2010–11 and 8 per cent in 2000.

The rise for men would be from 29 per cent to 33 per cent.

Katy Heald, a senior researcher at the IFS, said employment rates would continue to increase.

"This reflects improving health, as well as being a response to the rising state pension age.

"Of course while increasing earnings will boost the incomes of these women, longer working lives will not necessarily leave them better off in a broader sense," Heald said.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 435,000 women in work aged 65 and over between February and April, which is up 12 per cent on the same period last year.

The figure for men was 664,000, an 8 per cent increase.

The planned rise in the state pension age to 68 for both sexes is a key factor in the projected increases in the numbers of over-65s in work.

Considering the benefits of working longer, the IFS believes those in work are likely to be richer and less lonely, with the net incomes of 65–74 year olds likely to grow by 3 per cent each year until 2023.

The net incomes of the over 75s will grow at 1.6 per cent, according to IFS figures.

Improved health is a further benefit for women remaining in work.

The proportion of women with no substantial health problems could rise by more than 5 per cent and the proportion of people aged 65 to 74 who are healthy could increase from 39 per cent to 47 per cent, the IFS said.

A decrease in numbers of people living alone is also predicted.

The IFS suggests 38 per cent of people aged 85 and over will live in couples in 2022–23, an increase of 13 per cent from the figure in 2010–11.

"This is good news as people in couples are healthier, less lonely, and have higher incomes.

"Incomes of those aged 65 and over in general will also continue to rise, partly reflecting higher employment rates," said Andrew Hood, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the report.

Change the labels media give women

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 01:09 AM PDT

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Stop trivialising women’s achievements.

The vice-president of Facebook in Europe has hit out at the words the media use in their portrayal of successful women.

Speaking at a conference in London recently, Nicola Mendelsohn urged the media to change the language it uses to talk about women in business.

“When I got my post at Facebook it was all about how I was a mother-of-four who had ‘won’ the position, alongside pictures of my wedding.”

Mendelsohn said that the male executive hired at the same time came under no such scrutiny.

The media, she pointed out, often refer to successful women as 'supermums', or ‘wanting it all’, and trivialise their achievements, something that is less commonly done to men.

She also called for companies to offer more flexible working hours.

“I was never defined by my working hours, I was defined by what I produced.

“That is what we need and we need to be respectful of the best way people work. I think businesses have to think about the best way to retain talent.”

Mendelsohn added that other factors keeping women out of the boardroom were a lack of visible role models and a culture in which 'little girls are called bossy but boys never are.'