Understanding the Health & Wellbeing of Baby Boomer Women with Disabilities in Retirement

Sociological studies of women in retirement have grown in the last two decades but the topic remains comparatively under-studied as a field of sociological research (van den Hoonard 2015). Yet, the social significance of this issue is becoming apparent. As the baby boomer generation (born 1946-64) enter later life, unprecedented numbers of women are retiring. Members of this cohort are leaving the labour force in an era when the meanings of retirement are changing. Factors including increased life expectancy, improved health, and transformations in paid work have produced greater diversity in when, why, and how people exit the labour force (Blossfeld, Buchholz, & Kurz 2011). Many boomer women are disadvantaged in later life by their histories of discontinuous employment and care-giving (Duberley & Carmichael 2016). Consequently, opportunities to engage in “retirement” projects of their own choosing are unequal across this population (Birkett et al. 2017).

It is estimated that only 20 percent of boomer women will be “comfortable” in retirement (Ray Karpen 2017). One in three Australian boomer women will retire with no superannuation (WGEA 2020) and women over 55 are Australia’s fastest growing group experiencing first-time homelessness (ABS 2021). Where current research tends to focus on only one aspect of disadvantage (Sawyer & James 2018), this study will address this gap by examining the multiple, interlocking and cumulative disadvantages across women’s lives. Sociological research in this area is crucial due to persistent social scripts associating women with caregiving and men with breadwinning (James & Sawyer 2024) leading to the expectation that many boomer women will manage the care of ageing parents, spouses and grandchildren (Moen & Lam 2015). Gendered barriers to financial equity are socio-cultural, not simply economic.

Baby boomers are frequently maligned in the media through images of wealth and greed, which is far from the reality for many women of this generation. Due to career interruptions for family caregiving and part-time or casual employment, many baby boomer women retire with little or no retirement funds. Furthermore, women over 55 are the fastest-growing group experiencing first-time homelessness. Baby boomer women are of specific interest because they are the first generation of women to encounter retirement since its inclusion in government policy as an expected male life course transition in the early twentieth century. This project aims to understand the impact of earlier life events and experiences on the wellbeing of Canadian and Australian baby boomer women (born between 1946 and 1964) in retirement. In Canada, we are conducting life story interviews with retired baby boomer women with disabilities  to explore the opportunities and constraints that shape their wellbeing and experiences of disability post-retirement. We aim to understand the impact of earlier life events, including career interruptions for family caregiving and part-time work, on their retirement wellbeing as a woman with a disability throughout the life course. 

The study seeks to explore what “retirement” means to this generation of disabled women, countering prevalent media narratives and addressing critical issues such as limited retirement funds and housing insecurity. As the first generation of disabled women to encounter retirement since its formal inclusion in policy as a male life course transition, their experiences are of particular significance. The research will identify the opportunities, constraints, and key issues shaping disabled women’s retirement. This project’s findings will help us to understand the effects of disabled women’s earlier life circumstances on their retirement experiences and contribute to debates on how to better support disabled women in retirement and across the life course. 

Our collaborative research project will focus on health and wellbeing when ageing with a disability (acquired prior to retirement). Ageing is common across all age cohorts (that is, it is not only experienced by older people). In recognition of this, we will investigate what challenges and opportunities that women with disabilities encounter as they grow older. Our sociological approach to this phenomenon allows us to examine how ageing with a disability is influenced by socio-cultural arrangements and attitudes, rather than a reductionist or deficit model, which dominates existing research in this field and often reduces disability to being an individual ‘deficit’ and ‘tragedy’ that must be ‘overcome’. Our research program is particularly pertinent politically. Through our research, we will provide valuable insights on the health and wellbeing of women with disabilities as they age from a social perspective (in contrast to psychological, medical or clinical), which has the potential to influence policy and programs at local to national levels. In addition, our cross-national analysis (Canada and Australia) will provide important and novel knowledge on national similarities and differences that influence ageing with disability.