How male pensioners benefit from the dividends of patriarchy?

New publication by Marion Repetti and Tabin, J-P. (2020), How male pensioners benefit from the dividends of patriarchy? Scientific debates and political solution (Switzerland, 1946-1995). Nouvelles Questions Féministes, 39(1): 82-97.

Abstract

Swiss Old Age and Survivors' Insurance Act was enacted in 1948. This new retirement period is the subject of much discussion in political and scientific circles about the consequences of the cessation of professional activity on men. By shedding light on how these debates have produced gender and age, we show in this paper that they reflect above all a desire to find ways for pensioners to maintain their masculinity despite the loss of their worker status. Our study focuses on debates that took place in Switzerland from 1948 to 1995. We analyse them in the light of Raewyn Connell’s work on masculinities and reveal their androcentric character. Focusing on the social position of men after retirement, these debates almost completely ignore the consequences of retirement on women who continue to perform reproductive labour, work that discourses promoting active ageing ignore. They also give little consideration to pensioners of lower classes whose ability to respond to the active aging model is more limited.