ABSTRACT
This essay explores the ways in which gender can and cannot be used as a tool for analysing the history of social welfare in Britain by focus on the experiences of older people. It explains the men and women who can experience different types of need and policy that evolves in response to their differing experiences and play different roles in policy making. The chapter deals with the pension age in Britain which is higher than campaigners of all classes and both sexes had wanted. It discusses the middle-aged women, who gave up their jobs to care for elderly relatives and unable to re-enter the labour market on the death of the relative are not qualified for a pension until age 70 of the insurance scheme. The chapter focuses on the female and a gender analysis with the conception of the welfare state as patriarchal to draw the attention in certain aspects of the experience and treatment of old people.
