Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 220
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4422-1550-4 • Hardback • June 2012 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
978-0-8108-9598-0 • Paperback • November 2017 • $28.00 • (£21.95)
978-1-4422-1552-8 • eBook • June 2012 • $26.50 • (£19.95)
Elizabeth F. Fideler is research fellow at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. She lives in Framingham, MA.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Realities of Work and Aging in America
Chapter 3: Beyond Age Discrimination
Chapter 4: The Employment Situation for Adult Workers in the United States
Chapter 5: Over Sixty and On the Job
Chapter 6: Where Older Women Work
Chapter 7: Why Older Women Work
Chapter 8: Personal Challenges and Concerns
Chapter 9: And If There Is Time to Spare…
Chapter 10: Women Still at Work
Discussion Questions
Fideler tells the stories of older working women, backing them up with comparisons to national data and the latest research. Her stories are particularly compelling as they document the lives of a group of women who have been rejecting social norms all along the way, with working in retirement being the latest iteration. Hers is just the kind of groundbreaking work that spawns more theory and research for a new stage of life that is yet to be fully delineated.
— Jacquelyn B. James, director of research, Sloan Center on Aging & Work; research professor, Boston College
In exploring the phenomenon of older working women, Elizabeth Fideler weaves together substantive interviews and contemporary statistical data to create a very optimistic work. The strong, vibrant older women who shared their stories with Fideler are compelling examples of the benefits of staying on the job and 'off the shelf' in later life. Fideler’s evident empathy with her subjects allows her to unveil the 'personal truths' of their lives in an even-handed and comprehensive manner. While the high-powered women interviewed here are by no means typical, they provide wonderful examples of the importance of mentoring, persistence and positivity for women who have the opportunities to stay active and engaged in the workplace well beyond modern thresholds of old age.
— Susannah Ottaway, Carleton College
Elizabeth F. Fideler has provided an extraordinary study on older women who continue to work in the labor force of this nation. The case studies of these women are beautifully written and presented, as if the author is having a conversation with the subjects and the readers.
— Charles V. Willie, Charles William Eliot Professor Emeritus, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Thanks to Liz Fideler for profiling ‘our’ cohort—middle class women over 65 still at work. It’s good to know that the graying of female professionals is no barrier to continued employment. I enjoyed reading about the interesting women Fideler introduces and learning how they manage their lives in and out of work.
— Sharon Feiman-Nemser
This book challenges assumptions about why women work after the age of sixty, and thoughtfully explores how such women manage the boundaries between their professional and personal lives. Most importantly, the author’s research shows that women can have real agency in structuring long and productive careers, and can help institutions shape more responsive policies and environments for all older workers.
— Mary Deane Sorcinelli, University of Massachusetts Amherst
A book for every woman for whom traditional paradigms of work are falling away. Match the map in your head with those of different women depicted in the book and consider what's next for you.
— Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault, provost emerita, Portland State University
Engagingly written, Fideler's book illustrates a relatively new and largely positive trend among older women in the workforce. The women Fideler profiles—many of whom have seen doors open to them in the second half of their lives that were closed when they came of age—offer examples for all of the necessary qualities to remain productive, vital, creative and fulfilled in their work lives at later and later ages.
— Tatjana Meschede, Brandeis University
Fidler’s narrative is not the dry, ridged prose of a scientific article. It is, instead, lively, hopeful, and even emotional—she is speaking directly to women, particularly to us older women, sparking our confidence and encouraging us through the eyes of others.
— Monthly Labor Review