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Original poster

Retirement age for ladies - why so upset? R2 debate

325 replies

AiryFairyUnicornRainbow · 06/12/2018 20:25

Listening to R2 today - a lot of ladies (who have picketed for equality all their lives, presumably) are now up in arms, that their retirement age has moved in line with mens

So before, women could retire at 60 and men 65 - but womens age was 60.

What exactly are pple upset about?

Have ladies been requesting equality since the dawn of time?

Why do you feel hard done by, when my Generation (your sons and daughters) will have to work long past your retirement age?

I have a relative, who is completely up in arms about this, but has only worked probably 15 years in her working life - as was the done thing stayed at home with kids way beyond school age. No private pension, nothing. Yet is a massive womens libber.

These days, women are felt rushed back into work the minute they give birth, and are literally worked to death. SAHM's are frowned upon by the working mothers

OP posts:
Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 22:48

@nicslackey
Why didn’t he pay? Is that the governments fault?
It had to happen. The advantages that a lot of people in general have had in your generation are huge. Free university education , huge lift in house prices. not everyone got to partake in those advantages but life isn’t easy.

The general point in all of this is no one should rely on the government. We should all have our own nest eggs. Sometimes this isn’t possible, but that’s the shitty part of life.

I have been saving on the premise that there will be no stats pension when I reach 65. It’s called thinking about the future and not expecting it to all be ok.

Ryderryder · 07/12/2018 22:50

Hard to an when you are on JSA.

Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 22:51

That’s why I said life was and can be shit. It’s not easy for everyone. Trust me I wish it were.

Hofuckingho · 07/12/2018 22:55

There are many of you on this thread who are ignorant of the facts. 1950s women have been disadvantaged most of their lives and this is yet another disadvantage that’s been thrown at us.

Some of you younger women should be ashamed.

IsThereRoomAtTheInn · 07/12/2018 22:57

Agreed.

Surprised at it tbh.

IsThereRoomAtTheInn · 07/12/2018 22:59

I'm ten years younger and i know from family and friends there was a big difference in those 10 years, a sea change in how women's working and family lives panned out.

They have had the worst of both worlds.

Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 23:02

I would say being born in the 1950s in this country was about as good as you’re ever going to get.
Being in your 20s in the 70s, jobs and free education, social housing in abundance, ability to buy privately or to buy your council house.
If you worked, then most workplace pensions were amazing. Final salary.

Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 23:06

Imagine what it’s like for women now! If we are talking about low income ones.

Zero hours contract
Chance of no pension at all
No free education
No likelihood of social housing
Universal credit
Wages and inflation not matching
House prices unobtainable
No decent pension schemes
No decent work practices

You might think younger women have it all, but that’s simply not true. And if you think that misogyny and workplace discrimination doesn’t exist then you’re deluded.

I tell you, I would take 5 more years of getting to stats pension age to have all the other advantages that were on offer.

Antiopa12 · 07/12/2018 23:32

I am in the group being shafted by the change in state pension age.
Was I informed about it? DId I have the chance to prepare?
I spent the last 22 years caring 24/7 for my child who was profoundly disabled with high medical needs. At times I was so chronically sleep,deprived I just cannot remember whether I was informed or not. My focus was on keeping my child alive. Even if I had known what could I have done to prepare? I could not have put my boy into a nursing home

mydogisthebest · 07/12/2018 23:42

Travisandthemonkey, I was born in 1954 and I don't recognise the world you describe at all.

I don't know what areas had "social housing abundance" but it certainly was not the area I lived in.

Me and DH did buy a house but it was not easy to save the deposit (and I had a pretty well paid job). We moved in with almost nothing and almost straight away the mortgage rate went up and up and up and up so no chance of saving or being able to buy any furniture.

I worked from 17 until 62 (had to stop work because of ill health) most of it in a pretty good job but had NO work place pension. Neither did most of the people I know of a similar age to me

Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 23:49

You had no pension at all in a well paid job?

Do you still have a mortgage ? Has your house made a massive leap in profit?

Imagine being exactly as you are, but without a house, and the likelihood of no state pension in the future.

This isn’t a race to the bottom. But please can we remember that the likelihood that things are worse for you is not true.

Travisandthemonkey · 07/12/2018 23:50

Also, sorry to say this. But if you had a well paid job. Why the holy fuck didn’t you put into a private pension of your own accord????

I don’t have a work place pension I still put money away. Because I don’t presume I’ll have a state pension at any age.

IsThereRoomAtTheInn · 07/12/2018 23:54

There was not the equality in the social position or in the working lives of women that there was even for women born 10 years later.
Plenty of people have said the same on this thread.

StoneofDestiny · 08/12/2018 00:14

Travis - the age group being shafted were descriminated at school as the NC didn’t exist and lots of girls were directed to study ‘girls subjects’ like Domestic Science, Office Studies and Cookery. It was assumed these supportive skills was what they needed. Those same people entered the workplace before the Equal Opportunities Act and when it did come it took some years to filter through, but probably a generation more before attitudes to change. Yes, there was social housing in some areas, but not many graduated from it to
home ownership.
Regardless of all that - it was the suddenness of the pension change that was the injustice. My kids have fair warning to plan ahead and save for retirement and to take advantage of the financial schemes like ISA’s to help them do that.

nickiredcar · 08/12/2018 00:35

So many boomers like to say how hard they had it with saving for a deposit, paying the mortgage etc without realising how much easier they had it to today's youngsters. Which in a way is understandable as they aren't experiencing it now.

But lots could do with taking off their tinted specs.

echt · 08/12/2018 00:37

Where to start on thick as pigshit post, that embodies the worst of aq certain kind:

What exactly are people upset about?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/10/the-guardian-view-on-women-and-pensions-this-generation-deserves-better

www.bbc.com/news/business-37620400

Why do you feel hard done by, when my Generation (your sons and daughters) will have to work long past your retirement age

Oh look, a windmill. Not the point.

I have a relative, who is completely up in arms about this, but has only worked probably 15 years in her working life - as was the done thing stayed at home with kids way beyond school age. No private pension, nothing. Yet is a massive womens libber

This about a mass of women, not your rel.

These days, women are felt rushed back into work the minute they give birth, and are literally worked to death

Do you know anyone, outside Japan, who has been worked to death? Thought not.

SAHM's are frowned upon by the working mothers No they're not, unless you have stats to support this.

A simple Google would have answered all your questions.

And it's women, not ladies.

echt · 08/12/2018 00:38

But lots could do with taking off their tinted specs

What does that even mean?

WTFIsAGleepglorp · 08/12/2018 00:40

65?

I'm retiring at 67.

HildegardCrowe · 08/12/2018 00:42

Born 1957, aged 61. I've known for several years that I'd have to retire at 66. DWP have contacted me several times over the years to keep me informed. I have no problem with this whatsoever and wish my peers who are complaining about this would shut the fuck up. Talk about have your cake and eat it.

echt · 08/12/2018 00:49

Born 1957, aged 61. I've known for several years that I'd have to retire at 66. DWP have contacted me several times over the years to keep me informed. I have no problem with this whatsoever and wish my peers who are complaining about this would shut the fuck up. Talk about have your cake and eat it

  1. The numbers of women who didn't know, the speeding up the change that did not allow women to make up the money, the admission by minters that they fucked it up.
  2. You need to look up what having your cake and eating it means.
Travisandthemonkey · 08/12/2018 00:56

How does anyone know what will be the future for young peoples state pensions
The point is, we don’t presume it will be there for us.
It’s a fact that baby boomers are the generation who had the most in terms of financial opportunities and lifelong state help.
It will never be that good again. That’s an actual fact. Born by factual evidence.

HildegardCrowe · 08/12/2018 00:56

How come these women didn't know? Am I the only one who's been contacted multiple times over around 10 years to be notified about my retirement age? It's been done over a considerable amount of time and IMHO is totally fair. I stand by what I've said and feel truly embarrassed be in the same generation as these WASPI women.

Doubletrouble99 · 08/12/2018 00:56

I think that the people that are most affected by this are those who left school at 15 and got a job in a shop or a factory or at least predominately woman's work where you got much lower pay than the men, had little or no chance to advance and tended to stay in the same job for years then return to these same jobs after they had kids. They were never entitled to be part of the company pension scheme and would certainly never have a chance of buying their own house. The idea that social housing was in abundance is a complete myth. I moved around a lot in my job and all the places I lived in had less than a 2 + years waiting lists. In 1995 I knew that my state pension age would rise to 62 yrs and 8 mths. But it was more than a shock to find out 15 years later - when I was in my late 50s- that it was now moved to 65 then a year after that to 66! It was so demoralising I felt really depressed, it certainly affected my mental health substantially. So the idea that this shouldn't affect us and that we should just suck it up is just ridiculous.

HildegardCrowe · 08/12/2018 01:17

The fact that women have been historically underpaid/disadvantaged is irrelevant to this argument. I just can't relate to this sense of being treated unfairly at all and consider myself fortunate to know that a full pension is coming my way at 66 (5 years time). And I've worked every single year of my life since I graduated at 21 apart from 6 months maternity leave.

echt · 08/12/2018 01:53

minters Ministers :o