Older women volunteers: Exploring individual, family and social factors that influence their work

Canadian statistics demonstrate that many older women remain productive in their later years (Statistics Canada, 1999). Links are made between their labour and the sociological conditions outlined by socialist feminist theory regarding women, family and labour.; Findings from analysis of Statistics Canada data on unpaid work illustrate that time spent in volunteer work was influenced by health status, but not by age group, marital status or income group. The reverse was found with care work: time spent doing care work was influenced by age group, marital status and income group, but not by health status. The number of women involved in care work was also influenced by the same three variables of age, marital status and income. The number of women involved in volunteer work was not significantly influenced by age group, marital status, income group or health status. Using an ANCOVA analysis, 35% of the variability in time spent on care work was predicted by using the variables: age, marital status, income and health status (p = 0.04).; Interviews were performed with ten women currently doing volunteer and other unpaid work. Several themes emerged from the interviews: "the gendered division of labour in family and society", "resources needed to do volunteer work (income, health and transportation autonomy)", "family and grandchildren", "church work", "continuity", "social connections", "personal satisfaction", "replacement", and "keeping busy...but not too busy". The application of a materialist feminist theory and of continuity theory to older women's labour appears to be a unique contribution to literature in the areas of older women and volunteerism.