Women and the push and pull of work in old age: femininity and the entrepreneurial self

A consistent finding in scholarship concerning the representation of older women in the media is that they are mostly invisible, and – when represented – they are marginalised and stereotyped. However, in the past 5 years or so, new representations of ageing femininity have emerged in Western culture: as empowered, entrepreneurial and assertive. However, these images are at odds with the reality of many older women, who are among those hit hard by neo-liberal reforms, the financial crisis and the austerity measures that followed. This interdisciplinary research project explores the emergence of an 'entrepreneurial' femininity for old women in the UK, and how these are embodied, resisted, negotiated and/or subverted.