As a young student I always found Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Men taken from his play As You Like It amusing, if not outright funny. I had a much simpler concept of life. The world was made up of young people eager to find their place in society, and older people who worked hard to put bread on the table.

I distinctly remember my parents and grandparents who, like many others, worked until they dropped. Women generally stayed at home and slaved at the stoves to prepare meals, knit and sew clothes for their husbands or children, and make cakes or crochet doilies that they sold to better-off neighbours to earn a few extra shillings for the family. I was not aware of the concept of retirement because the older people I knew kept going until they were sick and had to be cared for.

Then in the 1970s, an increasing number of women broke the mould and began professional lives. They are now hitting retirement age and many of them are struggling to cope with this daunting prospect.

I recently reviewed the results of a study carried out by the Skipton Building Society that explored certain aspects of retirement. Some findings were hardly surprising. “Men’s twilight years are among the best of their lives. Nearly half of men see retirement as a positive opportunity to pursue new hobbies and interests, and enjoy time pottering at home”.

What was more surprising was that 80 per cent of retired women “feel they have no purpose in life. With seemingly endless time on their hands, women are more likely to spend their later years worrying about health, and feeling frustrated at the need to watch every penny. They are more likely to feel lonely”.

As time goes by we struggle to cope with our mortality. We find it difficult to accept that we are dispensable. Some struggle with the transition from paid employment to endless domesticity. We miss the disciplined routine of work: waking up at the same time every morning; dressing smartly; coping with traffic jams on the way to work; checking e-mails and phone messages; socialising with colleagues; and complaining about our nasty bosses.

As one recently-retired woman told the Skipton researchers: “No matter how long you work with people, a sort of invisibility creeps in once you retire. You become someone that people ‘used to know’. I feel that I’m shrinking into obscurity and I don’t yet know what to do about it”.

80 per cent of retired women feel they have no purpose in life

Organisational psychologist George Madine says: “Men typically derive a significant amount of their self-esteem from their job role, whereas women typically thrive on the friendships and camaraderie, even if this is now changing as ever-increasing numbers of women are defining themselves by their professional status.”

Some older people do not go through this traumatic change. They take on the enviable role of full-time grandparents, enjoying the little pleasures of caring for their children’s kids. They help their sons and daughters cope with the financial and emotional struggles of bringing up a family, often with both parents working even when children are too young to care for themselves. I would not think twice before taking on this role if it ever came my way.

Those nearing retirement will do well to start thinking about how their life will be affected as time goes by and the routine that comes with employment disappears. Taking up an interesting hobby is often not enough.

A long retirement is a recent concept, which has developed as both men’s and women’s life expectancy has increased. What has been conspicuous is the lack of professional interest taken by business bosses, doctors, psycho-logists and social leaders to address the “sense of pain, whether due to isolation and feelings of uselessness or both”, that many newly-retired people suffer.

Ageism is endemic in our society. A friend of mine who is about as old as I am and who runs a very successful business recently shocked me when he said that he would never employ a 50-year-old to work in his business as “he would be nearing pensionable age quite soon”. When I challenged him to justify this statement in a context where he himself was still active well into his 60s, he could not manage a logical argument.

As time goes by, society has to come up with new concepts on retirement.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com