• Gender and ageing

Gender and ageing

HSBC interviewed 21,000 men and women aged between 40 and 79 in 21 mature and transitional countries and territories around the world. The men and women surveyed in this report revealed that they have different attitudes and expectations of old age and retirement, their communities and families and their health.

The report is divided into four geographic regions:

• Asia (China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,South Korea and Taiwan)
• Europe (Denmark, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and France)
• The Americas (USA, Canada, Mexico and Brazil
• Eurasia/Africa (Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Africa)

The report covers three broad questions which men and women answered differently, and main points drawn out by these questions include:

• when and why will I retire? Generally, across the regions men wanted to work on for longer than women, with the difference being greatest in Eurasia/Africa, and smallest in Europe. In the US and Brazil, more women want to work for as long as possible
• how much and how often do I provide for my family and community? Across all regions women provide more practical support to family and friends, whilst men do far more voluntary work in the community. In Asia and Eurasia/Africa, more women receive financial support from family and friends, and more men provide financial support. In Europe, there is little difference between
  the genders whilst in the Americas provision varies with gender and age
• what do I feel about my own health? In general, across all regions, women report slightly lower levels of good health.There are a few exceptions, for all ages in Canada and the US, and among women in their 70s in the UK, where women report slightly better levels of health. In general, people assessed themselves as having good health, the most startling exception to this being in Russia where only 8% reported good or better health
  

The survey finds that men and women have different expectations and behaviours, but what is most striking is that when it comes to talking about ‘old age’, overall regional and country differences are of more significance than gender differences. There are indeed gender differences, but men and women within each country tend to think and act quite similarly. The difference between the genders in terms of behaviour and attitudes is greater in the transitional and developing counties of Asia, Latin America and Africa than in Europe and North America.

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