Facing Limitations
Ageing in a New Country: Perspectives of Older Migrant Women in Australia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Leigh Wilson
Women who migrate to another country face a series of challenges. These include learning a new language and culture, raising families – often without support, dealing with reproductive and sexual health issues and ultimately ageing in place. Limited research has investigated the reproductive and sexual health issues in migrant women in Australia, although statistics indicate these women are at high risk of reproductive malignancies as they age. This study investigates the key concerns of older migrant women as they age, and the barriers and enablers to accessing treatment and healthcare for reproductive health. Women from a range of migrant backgrounds were invited to participate in this study. Participants were aged 55 years or older, and lived in NSW, Australia. Women were recruited through networks with ethnicity-based organisations, charities, and support groups. The study was approved by the local Human Research Ethics Committee. One hundred and twenty women were recruited and asked to discuss their key barriers to accessing reproductive and sexual healthcare. These included language barriers, poor access to a suitable health professional or GP, transportation difficulties, embarrassment and cost. Given the known high risk for gynaecological malignancy in older migrant women, these findings provide evidence to assist in the development of guidelines and policies that support this group who find it difficult to access healthcare. It is likely that globally, women who migrate to other countries could benefit from these findings.
Multi-trajectories of Workforce Participation and Health among US Men
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adrianne Frech, Sarah Damaske
Past scholarship documents a strong and positive relationship between workforce participation and health. Yet many "Baby-Boomer" men in the US do not have access to long-term stable work, instead experiencing accumulating time spent unemployed and/or out of the workforce during midlife. We use over thirty years of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth - 1979 cohort to investigate relationships between men's group-based multi-trajectories of workforce participation and health, examining workforce participation from ages 27-49, and health at ages 50 and 60. We include place-based measures evaluating the roles of the area unemployment rate, the state minimum wage, and state-level union density for these relationships. Our findings reveal whether increasing time spent unemployed (and seeking work) has different health consequences than time spent out of work (and not seeking work), and whether those who remain stably employed over time experience similar health to those who do not reach full employment until their late thirties and forties.
Employment of the Oldest Old in a Changing Cooperative Kibbutz
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ilana Mizrahi Naor
Work that does not end at a certain age but rather only due to illness is a fundamental principle of the kibbutz, allowing the continued employment of older adults in regular workplaces or special employment settings. The continuous living arrangements of these older adults are outstanding by western standards and they include multigenerational arrangements, social involvement, and receiving all services independent of their work. Nonetheless, recent changes in the kibbutzim are resulting in growing similarity of retirement patterns to those in general society. This lecture examines how kibbutz members aged 80+ present themselves, and their employment, in light of changes occurring within a single kibbutz as a case study. Life stories and observations were examined in two stages (Stage I: 20 participants, Stage II: 17 participants), where by Stage II (7 years later) a retirement age had been set, and employment tracks were distinguished by profitability. The study examines the centrality of the social context for understanding the oldest old in a setting that allows continued life conditions. The research findings in Stage I show that allowing continuity in various areas including employment provides older adults with resources that help them contend with age limitations. Employment identity was presented as continuing previous periods, where the sense of marginalized employment was revealed only “behind the scenes”. In Stage II, employment regulations not obligating work led some to retire, while those who continued working felt frustrated at the marginal role of their financial contribution and at their portrayal as old people.
