Rural women, ageing and retirement

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the implications of work and retirement for rural women in the context of ageing. It explores how rural women either as cultivators or as workers in off-farm rural employment navigate their future in terms of work and retirement in the context of changes in welfare systems, particularly in the area of pension policies. The chapter outlines the employment trends for older rural women and outcomes of such employment. Women’s participation in the rural economy is surprisingly similar across both the Global North and South. Rural employment for women includes farming, self-employment in trade and other enterprises providing goods and services, or wage work either in rural enterprises or agriculture. The chapter considers rural women workers in Ireland and the challenges affecting their work and retirement. It draws on experiences of women farmers and rural women workers. In Ireland, women’s employment in rural economic production has been traditionally invisible.