ABSTRACT
The financial impact of having been a carer during one's working life may also be felt most keenly on retirement, through the lack of opportunities for savings and retirement fund co-contributions. No longer regarded as the end of life, retirement can be considered as a next stage in which activities delayed by full-time work can be pursued and new life choices made. Whether retirees respond to their newfound unstructured time by continuing to engage in pre-retirement leisure activities or whether they begin new activity patterns has been the focus of interest for some researchers. Avital concluded that a country's expenditure on culture and recreation contributed significantly to women's participation in leisure activities and substantially reduced the gender leisure gap. Manning found that women's volunteering was characterised by caring tasks, while men were more likely to be engaged in leadership positions. Nesteruk and Price interviewed 40 retired women to examine attitudes and practices towards volunteering.
