Trent Centre for Aging and Society Welcomes International Guest for Seminar Series
Dr. Áine Ní Léime speaks about active aging and the workforce
As part of a research seminar series aimed at bringing together Trent faculty, visiting scholars, students and community members interested in aging studies research, the Trent Centre for Aging & Society (TCAS) recently welcomed Dr. Ní Léime to Trent’s campus. The Irish social gerontologist, was invited to share her research on active aging and extended working life policies, specifically the gendered aspects of secure and precarious positions in the United States.
Professor Ní Léime’s cross-national research project, “Gender, Older Workers and the Lifecourse,” analyzes and compares the experiences of Irish and U.S. older workers. Women, according to Prof. Ni Léime’s findings, are particularly vulnerable to the deprivations of poverty thanks to part-time, and increasingly precarious employment. Government policy and an alarmist public discourse makes the situation for older workers in the United States even more difficult as services and pensions are reduced, the age of retirement raised, and generations are pitted against one another for increasingly scarce resources.
Prof. Ni Léime suggests this competitive view of society prevents us from seeking out more compassionate answers to the complex questions raised by aging on the job. By documenting workers’ own experiences, Prof. Ni Léime seeks to understand exactly how such policies affect ordinary people in their daily lives.
“We were thrilled to see Dr. Ní Léime’s talk attract an audience of thoughtful, engaged people, including a Senior Policy Analyst at Canada Pension Plan,” said Dr. Mark Skinner, director of the TCAS. “Her visit also sparked a great conversation around what needs to be done to protect workers as they age and their bodies and abilities change, and how we safeguard a dignified retirement from the whims of the market.”
A Research Fellow at the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Dr. Ní Léime is currently working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for the first two years of a prestigious three year Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship from the European Union Framework Programme 7.