Home > All articles Future of Retirement Report, A Gender Perspective It has long been recognised that men and women not only behave differently, but also have different attitudes to life. The men and women surveyed in HSBC’s The Future of Retirement Report, A Gender Perspective revealed that they have different attitudes and expectations of old age and retirement, their communities and families and their health. The survey finds that men and women have different expectations and behaviours, but what is most striking is that when it comes to talking about ‘old age’, overall regional and country differences are of more significance than gender differences. There are indeed gender differences, but men and women within each country tend to think and act quite similarly. Interestingly, the difference between the genders in terms of behaviour and attitudes is greater in the transitional and developing counties of Asia, Latin America and Africa than in Europe and North America. When and why will I retire? The report focused on when people expected to retire, how many were forced to retire earlier than they wished, and why. Generally, across the regions men wanted to work on for longer than women, with the difference being greatest in Eurasia/Africa, and smallest in Europe. This is reversed in the US and Brazil, where more women want to work for as long as possible. The number of men and women citing disability as a reason for retirement generally varied. Almost without exception, a higher proportion of women stated this than men, with the US’s 70 year old men being the only male age group globally that was more likely than their female counterparts to have retired due to disability. How much and how often do I provide for my family and community? Across all regions women provide more practical support to family and friends, whilst surprisingly, men do far more voluntary work in the community. In Asia and Eurasia/Africa, more women receive financial support from family and friends, and more men provide financial support. In Europe, there is little difference between the genders whilst in the Americas provision varies with gender and age. What do I feel about my own health? In general, across all regions, women report slightly lower levels of good health. There are a few exceptions, for all ages in Canada and the US, and among women in their 70s in the UK, where women report slightly better levels of health. Alternatively, in Turkey women report considerably lower levels of health than men. In general, people assessed themselves as having good health, the most startling exception to this being in Russia where only 8% reported good or better health. HSBC interviewed 21,000 men and women aged between 40 and 79 in 21 mature and transitional countries and territories around the world. In transitional economies those surveyed were considered ‘trendsetters’; people who live mainly in towns and cities, and who work in manufacturing, the service sector and other modern areas of the economy. For the first time it has been possible to compare the experiences, expectations and fears of both men and women as they approach retirement and experience being retired. > Read the report     By K.S. Date 03-01-2008 Print this article | Send to a friend | React to this article