Why was the state pension age lower for women?

[pinksocks3]

I can't find a simple answer to this question. Why was the pension age 60 for women and 65 for men until recently?

Was it because women were seen as weaker and unable to work after 60?

It's crazy to have both women and mens pension age at 66. Again an ambiguous misogynistic policy created by government to save money but with many useful idiots claiming it's fair. In reality you are making it more difficult for women to look after grandkids, putting more pressure on the childcare and the mothers.

Er no, its because women mostly raise children and dont have as many working years as men

In my homeland women with more than 3 children who have been sahm can retire at 55. Its to do with working years as raising children can elave a gap in women unlike men who dont usually stay at home to raise kids and dont need leave during pregnancies etc

Its the foolish feminists who dont see they have been used- thabks to them women are exoected to be full time workers and mothers. Dosent work like that you are on or another, if you go to work someone else will raise the child and mother will spend a token amount of time with the child. Being a mother and raising her own children is now a option for only a few whos partner earns enough to support a family

In this day and age can't granddads look after their grandchildren too?

My granny was born in the early 20th century. She went to school until she was 14 or 15 then went to work. After she married she didn't go out to work, but she did work from home. My mum was born in the mid 40s, went to school and college and worked in education full time up to retirement apart from a gap of around 4 years when we were little because of the cost of available childcare at the time. She did do some part time work in that period. She went on to do a degree whilst working. She was typical of her generation.

There's lots of evidence that children are better socialised in childcare rather than at home. They are not disadvantaged. Their parents still raise them, home life is different from nursery/childminder's and school.

So that women could look after their retired husband who had been working hard bless him, also care for grandchildren/great grandchildren and grandchildren care for elderly parents.

Where is that evidence? Its quite opposite, children who have been separated from their parents early on have been found to have more anxiety issues later on in life.

Parents can not raise them if they spend more time with a stranger caregiver and being just one of the babies-toddlers/kids out of many.

You do know parents can go see grandparents,go to baby groups,swimming,playgrounds, horse riding etc- do you think children at home at behind a lock and a curfew? They are open to do anything all day every day,unlike the forced socialization in a nursery or a school and to be forced to be stuck in one room for the majority of the day with people who they might not even get along with,aka bullies.

“As these resources indicate, the short- and long-term effects on the child's mental and physical well-being are often devastating. These effects include severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and toxic stress (reviewed separately in Part V below). Separation can also result in delays in cognitive development.”

You know the common problem of children being hysterical about being separated from their mum or dad when they get dropped off? Its not normal.

I agree that children are better off in the nursery. But having a grandmother who can take them it's not only extremely convenient but also hugely financially rewarding. Let me remind you that childcare is practically unaffordable if you work on minimum wage.

All these things you can do with a child that is at home sound great but I was a sahm and there weren’t the other children to do these things with. Riding schools don’t open on any random day for any random amount of time /unless I spose you have lodsa money to throw at it-like wise playparks are empty ime

@Bingsbongs you only have to Google it to find lots of studies and evidence. Where I do agree with you is that there will be some children for whom it isn't beneficial.

Why tf should a grandmother (again it's the women) who has already spent her working life working and bringing up her own kids have to look after her grandchildren?

Nurseries don't keep kids in one room all day. Your comment about bullies sounds as though you or someone you know has had an unhappy experience. Doesn't mean everyone has though.

And as parents move round the country for work Grandma is not always nearby.

Women were encouraged back into the home after the II World War to leave the jobs for men. So no ability to earn a pension for there.

I have read articles and watched documnetaries from different countries,dr.
sears books-
for that reason he even recommends going back to basics, cosleeping and if possible brestfeeding produced hormones for baby that help their brain development etc.

not one article ever has said separating child from mother is beneficial,as their parent equals safety and content for them.

bullying- i havent been bullied but there are many children who are and every year a few commit suicide because of whats going on at school. I havent heard of any children committing suicide over spending time with the family.

I never said grandmother should raise the children- i have 5 children at home (csa are home ed,no nurseries either)- we go see grandma and granddad at their house, its few mins walk from ours, help them out at the allottment, take them shopping with us so they dont have to carry heavy back,our door is always open to them to visit us,if we are at home as we aim to get out whenever weather allows. We have never left children overnight at their grandparents or unsupervised by either parent at their house, agree with you there- raising children is a parents job

Perhaps its different in your area but in my local nurseries,preschool and primary school they have one room for each,occasionally they are let out to play and then herded back in again.

Not like they can go to the beach, soft play, swimming, museums,cycling,library, literally any place they wish to go or even stay at home-do crafts or stay in bed and watch a movie with mum/dad.

INHO it should have stayed lower for anyone who entered the workforce prior the the sex discrimination Act / Equal pay act. In fact I think until females born after that.

There were certain subjects my school (girls school) did not teach that has impacted on my working life.

bullying- i havent been bullied but there are many children who are and every year a few commit suicide because of whats going on at school. I havent heard of any children committing suicide over spending time with the family.

Cripes - homes are not some hallowed ground - sexual abuse most often carried out by someone close to the victim - I suspect the stats shows a family member the greatest risk but don't want to research that on my home pc

I think a lot of people have forgotten just how it was for women.

My aunt (now 80) worked for the GPO as a telephone operator (in the days when the calls had to be connected by plugging in a wire). She had to leave work when she married- only unmarried women could continue working. This was normal in many jobs.

My grandmother was a parlor maid - of course no married woman in service! She married young and had 7 children in just over 10 years. (No contraception and what she called an "inconsiderate " husband. ) She was widowed during the war.

My DM, divorced in the early 60's, was refused a store card by John Lewis in the early 70's because her husband or eldest male relative wasn't there to sign for it. She also found it impossible to go back to work until I started school because of the absence of childcare. When she did start work, I went to a childminder, until I was old enough to get myself home to wait til she got back (from age 7).

When we bought our first house, 1978) only his income was taken into account, as "women leave work to have children ".
At my first job interviews after graduating I was asked how my husband would cope with my career.

Oh yes, the shoes! DH told me how tidy and neat he was. Shoes all polished every week. He'd done a stint in the Army. MIL said he was such a neat and tidy husband. Everything just so. She was the messy one!

I forgot to mention before that he also did all the decorating and car maintenance as well. He liked to be busy.

Yes, I read Jill Tweedie's (journalist and feminist born 1936) autobiography and she said how she had a pretty good job, but had to ask her father to be guarantor so she could get a place to live. Treated like some irresponsible girl.

Yep! My grandma always worked – she was a bus conductress, she did market research – 4 kids, her husband worked full time too.

My Granny was a single mother in the 50s due to leaving an abusive husband. There were no benefits then without really going cap in hand and even if there were she wouldn't have claimed them through pride. She did not allow her 3 kids to get free school meals either as there was enough stigma without adding to it. She did not receive any maintenance at all. My mam remembers there sometimes not being enough food but family or even the neighbours would never see them hungry. Everyone helped each other in those days.

Instead she worked in one of the only jobs in which women were paid equally to men, on the buses. She also ran a pub at the same time. The children were largely brought up with the help of family thankfully but were expected to do a lot of housework as she simply wasn't there to do it.

By her mid 50s she was literally knackered. Years of hardship and physical work had taken it's toll on her. She claimed her pension at 60 and I remember her living in poverty. Well she would have done if her children and son in law hadn't taken on some of her bills. She died a few years after claiming her pension. There's no way she would have been able to work til her mid 60s.

My mam doesn't remember any women who didn't work in the 50s. They all mucked together to help with childcare. There wouldn't have been food on the table if they hadn't.

Your poor Granny! That's so sad.

Ah she still had her small pleasures like bingo when the children left home. She absolutely adored us grandchildren too. There would be 8 of us at a time in her little council house and we all behaved.

She said we may not have money but now we have peace (after she kicked him out). I just wish she hadn't been so hard up.