The Likely Effects of Ageing on Women’s Involvement in the Paid Workforce

By Siobhan Austen and Margaret Giles

Women's employment is becoming increasingly important as Australia experiences demographic changes, in particular an ageing population.

Women may welcome this change as a means of providing additional financial, economic and personal security and independence. However, to ensure that increased involvement in paid work doesn't come at the cost, for example, of lower levels of fertility, there is a need for institutional support for both men and women as they attempt to combine increasing levels of paid work involvement with their roles in the family and community.

(Australian Bulletin of Labour. vol. 29, no. 3, September 2003)