The quantitative investigation of gender representation showed that in both the Japanese and Finnish newspapers, only a minor portion of the discussions approached the baby boomers from a gender perspective. A majority of the articles, 50 per cent in the Japanese data and 97.6 per cent in the Finnish data, represented the baby boomers in a non-gendered manner. However, when the intersection of gender and ageing was studied qualitatively, clear gender differences emerged in the Japanese newspaper discussions. The qualitative analysis of the Finnish media discussions, in contrast, did not reveal gender
differences, but rather a general indifference to gender dominated the newspaper discourse. This section considers why the Japanese media highlighted gender differences and the gendered characteristics of the baby boomers, and conversely, why the Finnish media did not draw attention to the gender of the baby boomers.
The fact that baby boom men and women in Japan have followed very different life-course paths in terms of both work and family roles is projected onto particular patterns in the media discussions. The Japanese newspapers constructed a typical image of male baby boomers at a turning point in their lives as follows. Upon retirement, men who have devoted themselves mostly to work and neglected domestic matters first face a loss of identity and a crisis in their marital and family relationships, which they then overcome by taking part in paid or unpaid work utilising expertise accumulated over many years, by restoring the marital relationship or by becoming actively involved in grandparenting. The point of emphasis in the media discourse is that by engaging in post-retirement pursuits, male baby boomers continue to have roles in society or find new places in family and local community settings.
Meanwhile, the media has chosen to focus on the latent competency of female boomers that they developed in the domestic and neighbourhood realm and identify its usability in a broader social context, such as undertaking paid work and taking part in community activities. The underlined issue here is that both women and society can benefit from utilising their potential competency:
women gain personal meaningfulness through such participation, whereas society obtains a tool for addressing the challenges of a labour force shortage and ageing population.
These gender-conscious narratives diversify the image of the Japanese baby boom generation that originated from highly masculine descriptions (Sakaiya 2005/1976; Sakaiya 2008/2005). They also contribute to enhancing an understanding that the retirement and ageing of the baby boomers, and more generally speaking, that the experiences of ageing are gendered.
Nevertheless, the gendered experiences articulated in the media involve more male perspectives than female viewpoints. This leads to the assumption that the post-retirement years represent a new phase in life for men, whereas a continuation of past and current lifestyles frames women’s narratives later in life. The newspapers take the different gendered life courses of men and women throughout the working age period, life courses that then shape later life differently for men and women, as historically given and never criticise such a narrative. Thus, gender differences in the media emerge from blindly accepting a gender-segregated model of boomer lives, without raising any questions about it. Even as the Japanese media posit such monolithic gender differences, the discussions in the articles remained largely indifferent to diversity and inequality among both men and women. Given that cumulative advantages and disadvantages over one’s life course increase the complexity of experiences in later life (Dannefer 2003), maintaining a gender-segregated model of the baby boomers may be problematic. It is of great interest how
Japanese newspapers will continue to portray baby boom men and women when advancing age cause dependency and the need for economic, physical and cognitive support.
The gender indifference identified in Finnish newspaper discussions cannot be simply ascribed to the data confined to editorials and comment articles. Discussions in the editorials tended to focus on the baby boomers as a population group rather than describing issues related to individual boomers as part of an effort to integrate various news articles and shape the essence of public opinion. However, this argument is not valid with respect to Japanese newspaper editorials, as some of them included a gender perspective or mentioned baby boom men and women respectively. Thus, the non-gendered nature of Finnish media discussions was not mainly due to the editorials themselves, but rather because of the culture-bound specifics of Finnish society. One reason for cultural influence can be found in how the Finnish media discussions depicted the transition from working life to retirement. In a similar manner as in the Japanese case, Finnish newspaper portrayals of ageing baby boomers reflected the typical life course of the boomers, but manifested in the opposite way. Irrespective of minor differences within and between genders, the normative life course of boomers from education to working life to retirement has shaped a similar route for both male and female baby boomers in Finland. Since men and women almost equally participate in the labour market, and since within this framework they have specific family roles, the Finnish media did not designate the gendered implications of retirement and ageing. Gender indifference thus derives from the way in which the media has chosen to take the standard Finnish life course for granted.
Another socio-cultural explanation for the indifference to gender is related to the images and social perceptions of ageing constructed by the Finnish media. As repeatedly described, the Finnish newspaper debates depicted the ageing of the population as a crisis and anticipated that the baby boomers would become a dependent population in the future. When the newspaper expressed concerns about the sustainability of social and health services and the pension scheme being threatened by the ageing of the baby boomers, differentiating between men and women is of little importance. Instead, the articles focused on the large population of ageing boomers as a problem. Thus, it can be argued that the tendency to comprehend the ageing baby boomers and older adults as a special and problematic population is the reason why gender is seldom discussed in the Finnish media. Gender indifference in portraying ageing baby boomers entails the risk of reinforcing the traditional tendency of gerontology to lack a gender perspective and to hinder discussions of heterogeneity in old age.
Emerging gender differences in Japan and gender indifference in Finland show contrasting characteristics. However, the media representations are constructed to fit the inherent and specific concerns of the respective societies.
While the Japanese media tends to turn a blind eye to emerging gender differences or to questioning a gender-segregated model of the boomer life
course, indifference to gender is the result of the Finnish media neglecting a gendered perspective when discussing retirement and ageing. The present study revealed how gender is incorporated differently in Japanese and Finnish societies.