Invisible women: what can we learn about ageing from the voices of women ageing solo? [Public lecture]

Policy attention to ‘successful’ ageing has yet to take account of the impact of the rise in non-traditional family relationships. The focus of this presentation is on Solo women - women who are ‘not-partnered’, without children and who are aged 50 years and over. Little is known about the life trajectories of Solo women as they move into later life and there is a paucity of research seeking to understand their experiences of ageing, support networks, social connectedness and personal relationships. I will be drawing on selected findings from a study which explored the dynamics and issues impacting Solo women in later life using a range of methods. These included a literature review; demographic analysis, an online survey and from in-depth narrative interview data from 31 women in England and Ireland. These findings captured a rich picture of Solo women’s own subjective perspectives about the links between their relationship status and wellbeing in later life.