Is it unusual for someone in their late thirties to have only ever worked part time?

[FullAndHollow]

Just idly wondering really.

A friend of mine in her late thirties has worked for most of her adult life but due to circumstances only ever part time.

I was just thinking I don't think I know anyone else our age who has never worked full time and wondering how common it is.

As far removed from hippyish as you can imagine.

My school friends, those I was closest to, were hard working, ambitious girls. We had some flirtations between 15 and 18 but were focused on our futures. It was the exception for girls of my age to marry the first boy they met - even for those who stayed local and didn't go to uni.

Lots of them won’t be statistically speaking. I work in a field involving manual labour average age of death would be 78 for a woman versus 85 for a professional.

Its not that I don't believe you but the exception is not the rule and in the 70s the mainstream expectation for a female was to settle down and have children.

Like I said though we were all young and dumb once and fell in love, I'm not saying it was the dark ages and no one had choices but it's not as black and white as that. Falling in love with an asshole when you're that young and then being stuck with them for decades because in that era it was so much harder to leave, you can see how that's a grey area.

I know several Jehovahs Witness families. All the adults work part time so that they can spend at least one day a week out doing their religious duties.

This has made me think, and even though I'm almost 50, I've actually only worked full-time for 10 years in total, the rest of the time has been mat leave/sick leave/part time and compressed hours (so full time work but over 4 days).
1 year into what I hope is an 11 year stint at full time work to help build up pension!

I agree the mainstream expectation for women in the 70s was for them to settle down and have children but certainly not before the age of 20 or even 25. Most of my friends and acquaintances married in their late 20s/early 30s. I don't know a single parent of my mother's generation who would have been happy about their daughters marrying before 20. And few of my grandmother's.

You may have been young and dumb once. I was never dumb and find that a very insulting term when directed towards women generally. In much the same way that my grandfather, my father, my husband and my son are not assholes. Your bar must be incredibly low.

My mother married my father when she was 23 in March 1960 in an Empire Line gown. I was born 4 months later. They divorced in 1972 and were both divorced again by 1978. So no, I don't think the late 60s/70s were a grey area. My mother took my father to the cleaners in the early 70s and got all of the house and maintenance.

Dumb was meant as in naive although I don't want to argue over semantics I'm sure we can all agree we were naive at 15-18, there's a reason you can't drink until 21 in America after all.

I'm not saying every man is an asshole either, my other half certainly isn't and my bar is not low.

You agree the mainstream expectation for women in that era was to settle down and get married so it shouldn't be too hard to have some understanding for a lady who settled down with someone who turned out to be an abusive asshole and found herself stuck with him for decades.

As I said the exception is not the rule and your friendship circle sounds quite hippyish for the time period (for want of a better word). If they were holding off marriage until their late twenties/early thirties.

From Google
"In 1970, the average age of mothers having their first baby in England and Wales was 23 years old. The average age of mothers for all births in 1973 was 26.4 years. Since then, the average age has generally increased, with the standardised mean age reaching 30.7 years in 2019 and 2020."

My mother and all her sisters settled down before they were twenty and their friends all settled down before 25.

@Frateletheboss I 'm just loving being described as a hippy. I was the archetypal Sloane Ranger in the 80s, worked in the City, vote Tory, etc. Had my first baby in 1994 aged 34-1/2. I had one puff of a joint in 1979!

Most women I know work part time due to childcare etc, working class area

"Sloane ranger" was an interesting Google.
I love it!