Gender and Life Satisfaction in Retirement: An Assessment of the Male Model

This study seeks to extend the research on retirement in two ways. First, using a nationally representative sample, I attempt to clarify the relationship between gender and life satisfaction in retirement by explicitly considering how gender structures preretirement employment experiences. Second, I ask whether the "male model " of life satisfaction in retirement can be used to assess women's life satisfaction in retirement. It is hypothesized that employment structures, through their influence on sources of work satisfaction and world view, influence the sources of life satisfaction in retirement. While this hypothesis is generally supported, gender still appears to define a context for the variables of the male model beyond that encompassed by employment structures. The sources and implications of this gender influence for future social gerontological research, particularly in the area of retirement, are discussed. A CRUCIAL issue in the social sciences concerns the •** • extent to which theoretical insights derived from men's experiences can be generalized to women's. Attending to women's experiences has not only opened new areas of inquiry; it has also enhanced understanding of more tradi-tional research areas (Stacey and Thorne, 1985). The sociol-ogy of work and organizations, for example, has benefite