Gendered social participation in later-life ageing

This contribution, based on a critical review of international literature, examines active ageing from a gender perspective, exploring how life-course inequalities shape opportunities for social participation in later life. Social participation slows cognitive decline and supports subjective well-being, health, autonomy, and survival (Carr et al. 2015; Gottlieb and Gillespie 2008), offering older adults opportunities for learning, physical activity, and meaningful social engagement. Within this framework, we assume that gender disparities in participation are widespread across European contexts and generally disadvantage women, that these differences partly reflect unequal life-course trajectories in health and socioeconomic resources, and that gender gaps tend to be smaller in countries with higher levels of women’s political empowerment. Building on these assumptions, the research question asks how gender, in interaction with welfare regimes, shapes the forms, meanings and opportunities for social participation in later life. The aim is to synthesise recent evidence showing that participation in older age is a dynamic process shaped by biographical transitions, while emphasising the relevance of a gender-sensitive perspective capable of identifying both persistent asymmetries, and emerging patterns among baby-boomer women, who often display higher levels of education, work experience, and autonomy. Evidence also suggests that these transitions can generate differentiated risks for men’s and women’s social relationships (Cotterell, Buffel and Phillipson 2018). The contribution argues for the integration of gender analysis and welfare models to design active-ageing policies that reduce relational exclusion and acknowledge the diversity of later-life trajectories.