Behind Closed Doors: Older Couples and the Gendered Management of Household Money

Abstract

As couples survive longer and live together into older age they face many issues of financial management, including daily money management on reduced and/or reducing income, and paying for care or the additional costs of disability. Yet household money management is highly gendered, especially for older age groups. This has implications for the ability of women, particularly, to manage financial decisions in the face of their partner's illness, or widowhood, as well as for their autonomy and well-being. We analyse in depth qualitative data from forty-five older couples across the socio-economic spectrum to show that women have varying emotional responses to money management in coupledom: ‘accepters’ who accept financial inequality and dominance by their husbands, ‘resenters’ who recognise these inequalities but resent them, and ‘modifiers/resisters’ who retain financial independence and power within their relationships. It is only the latter group, who have long histories of financial control and management, who are well placed for financial management and decisions in later life. By recognising the implications of different types of couple relationship, policies can be better designed to assist those navigating money in later life.