The Impact of Mandatory Retirement Policy on Women

Have a little read: ... The Impact of Mandatory Retirement Policy on Women Over 40% of single Canadian women aged 50+, live in or near poverty both before and after retirement (Baldwin and Laliberte, 1999). Not only are they economically disadvantaged; they battle society's prevalent ageist and sexist attitudes. Consequently a significant percentage of the Canadian population is deprived of needed material resources and often the opportunity to acquire them. These disadvantages impacted Mary, when she was suddenly widowed at 54 years of age, she had always worked in the home and her husband's funeral expenses and estate taxes had depleted their savings. She became financially vulnerable within a month of her spouse's death. Mary had to immediately seek work to meet financial obligations and attained a job in October of 1992 with the accounting department of a local college. Her lack of experience resulted in her working for a minimal training wage. Relying on her good health and the low physical demands of the job, she anticipated working and contributing to a pension plan for at least 15 years to accumulate benefits to provide for her old age. 2. State what the policy was and how it affected the person(s) in question. The policy of Aurora College is Mandatory Retirement: In recognition of the need for a mandatory retirement age for Aurora College, the retirement age from employment at the College is the date of the employee's sixtieth (60th) birthday. The definitive affect this policy had on Mary was to remove her from a position of economic independence, social worth and production; to one of poverty, socially proscribed helplessness and personal misery. 3. In a brief analysis, state what you considered to be the "private trouble" and the "public problem." How did you distinguish between the two? Although Mary was a productive and valued member of the accounting department she was terminated from her job on her sixtieth birthday in compliance with the college's policy. She had only been with the college for six years and did not qualify for a retirement package. Mary would not qualify for the monthly federal Old Age Security Income of $425.95 until she turned 63. Although Mary had not earned a high wage and had no savings, the $10.50 an hour she made had covered her modest expenses and the mortgage on her family home would be discharged within eight years. Mary received her final pay cheque, plus the equivalent of two