Ukraine’s Structural Pension Reforms and Women’s Ageing Experiences

This academic paper will present a qualitative study of ageing experience of Ukrainian women, in the context of structural pension reform. Before analyzing both schemes, this work will establish a theoretical and contextual base. Readers are familiarized with theoretical concepts of gender, ageing and vulnerability, and provided with a literature review. Two sections, concerning Ukraine’s pension system and gender circumstances, will contextualize the empirical analysis. The latter will employ data from life history interviews to demonstrate and analyze heterogeneity of post-pension ageing experiences. Literature already indicates that gender plays a significant role in determining ageing experiences, through interaction between personal factors and cumulative disadvantages. Such preliminary evidence prompted firsthand research with Ukrainian women. Full analysis of life history interviews led to the conclusion that ageing experiences of Ukrainian women are strongly connected to their capabilities – the latter were used to adopt and adapt the new circumstances to continue living the same way.