A Life History Approach to Work and Leisure Experiences of Elderly Women
AUTHOR : 남순현
INFORMATION : page. 1~27 / 2015 Vol.22 No.2
ABSTRACT
In general, elderly women are likely to be socially excluded since they are older and at the same
time female. This paper attempted to explore the experiences of work and leisure of elderly women
who are out of work, in comparison to those of elderly men through the life history perspectives
across the lifespan development. Participants in the paper were five elderly women over 65 years old
who had work experiences after retirement. The data collected from initial questionnaires and four
sessions of in-depth interviews between the fall of 2013 and the winter of 2014 were transcribed
verbatim and analyzed by the narrative study of lives approach of Lieblish et al. The work life
course of elderly women can be divided by the career decision period, the entry to jobs period, the
career consolidating period, the golden or dark days in the working life, the retirement period, and
the work in later life period. On the other hand, the lifelong leisure cycles of elderly women can be
classified into the longing for leisure period, the family-centered leisure time, the challenge for leisure
period, the release from family relationships period, and leisure in later life period. The importance of
work and leisure experiences in the development of elderly women across the lifespan in their specific
ways of being happy aging was discussed.