Women Confronting Retirement showcases the voices of thirty-eight women from a wide range of professions, ages, and life situations as they confront the need to redefine who they are when they leave the workplace. The women of the Baby Boom generation were the first to enter the professional world in large numbers, and the first such generational cohort to encounter the challenges of retirement. The contributors urge women to reach for different approaches to this major stage of life, to find new self-images, to balance meaningful work and creative play, and to reform public policies to support enhanced opportunities for retirement. Many of these women were involved in the key activist movements of the sixties and seventies, and their work has often been an extension of their social commitment. Defining themselves through their careers, they have confronted traditional models at every stage of their lives and are now confronting their own negative stereotypes about retirement.
The stories in this book compellingly chronicle the fears and hopes of women who have only begun to think about retirement, those who are in the process of retiring, some who have been retired for several years, and a few who have decided that retirement is not for them. Unlike traditional "how-to" books, Women Confronting Retirement makes clear that there are no right or wrong answers to the many questions this uncharted stage of life poses for women of the Baby Boom generation and those who follow. These women help us explore the next steps with the same courage they brought to every aspect of their lives before reaching retirement age.
