“I need time to recuperate, I really understand that:” benefits and constraints faced by older women in formal volunteer roles

Older volunteers fulfill many social and cultural needs that strengthen social cohesion. Volunteering within an organization can provide adults new roles in later life, which can offer certain benefits. However, volunteering is unequally distributed in society, and older men and women do not play equal roles within organizations. Particularly, as compared to older men, older women perform more informal volunteering and are less likely to occupy managerial positions in formal volunteering. In this study, we draw on qualitative data on older people engaged in formal volunteering in French-speaking Switzerland to better understand how gender shapes volunteering in later life, paying particular attention to older female experiences of volunteering. We illustrate the gendered tensions between feeling responsible for carrying out informal volunteering while simultaneously searching for means of personal fulfillment and time to relax and rest. This study underlines the importance of better understanding the gendered constraints and opportunities that older women face in volunteering, as well as the implications for volunteer organizations and welfare policies in Switzerland and beyond.