The sandwich generation: Older women balancing work and care

Balancing care responsibilities and work is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly for older women: a ‘sandwich generation’ is emerging, whose members are caught between providing care for both grandchildren and elderly parents, often while continuing to earn and pursue their career.

This report provides an overview of the trends in work and caregiving that are impacting on the lives of older women today. While focused on their position and experiences in the workplace, and the influence that the economic crisis has had on their lives, it also examines the inequalities that underlie the way that older women are – or rather, are not – represented in politics, business and the media.

Finally, we consider how more progressive policies on parental leave and flexible working, and innovative reciprocal time-banking schemes, could enable older women (and men) to balance a longer and a more fulfilling working life with better-supported caring responsibilities.