[Pensions and adjustment to retirement of employed women]

The process of women's adjustment to retirement has been widely neglected by social scientists. Compared to men, women partly experience greater difficulty in adjusting to the retirement process, as the few studies on this subject have demonstrated. Results of a qualitative study are reported. The processes of early versus normal transition to retirement have been studied in former female employees of the German Federal Postal Administration. Despite similar life-styles and work biographies, different patterns of adjustment emerge due to health status and social experiences. These results stress the importance of a biographically based approach to the process of adjustment.