“Sexism and ageism cannot be allowed to hold older women back any longer, as more and more of them stay on in the workforce. We need to do a lot more than we do now to support older workers.
“Today’s figures highlight the growing importance of older women in the workforce. The number of women working in their 50s and 60s has risen by 75% in the last 20 years (2.7 million in 1999 to 4.8 million today), and the average age of retirement for women is now just a year below that of men.
“Rising State Pension age for women is a key part of this, as is the growing number of women working throughout their lives. But even though women are becoming more important in the workplace, we don’t always feel supported at work, and we often end up with far smaller pension pots than men.
“Whether it’s support to manage caring responsibilities, access to short-term health adjustments to mitigate any challenging symptoms of the menopause, or a signal from the top that ageist and sexist comments won’t be tolerated, there is much employers can do to make the workplace better for older women. We should all be able to look forward to secure and fulfilling work at every stage of our lives.”
