‘Welcome to the third life’ as we call it in flowery terms here in Germany when we talk about the agony of choice of activities during retirement. Are you always welcomed with this friendly greeting when your professional life or employed life, either planned or quite unexpectedly, comes to an end?

As many of us know from experience, frequently it is a painful end, an abrupt one which comes without warning, a threat often to our self-esteem.

The loss of a job which has often become oneís whole existence. And then suddenly nothing.

The feeling of not being needed any more.

The feeling of being superfluous.

Many women have experienced it. Of course it concerns men too. But above all women.

So there was a lot to talk about, when the subject was discussed at European level.

Scientific studies on the subject summarise the activities of older women during retirement in five points:

• the professional activities are continued when work ends

• caring for parents or other older people, mostly family members

• looking after children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren or other children belonging to the family in the broadest sense of the word

• volunteer work in associations and institutions

• hobbies.

We based the content of our conference on this, but also took the different experiences and motivations of activities during retirement in the East and West into consideration. We came to know Eastern European experiences in this field and included Western European know-how in the common discussion. So in this field we got a little closer to the common Europe of the future.

It was an exciting and demanding time - this meeting with more than 60 older women from ten different countries:

Bulgaria, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Austria, Rumania, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Byelorussia.

The conference programme included in total 7 discussion rounds and 7 workshops as well as an excursion to a Women and Technology Centre and a one-day workshop with a common discussion of experiences gained, a closing roundtable discussion and an initial presentation of the results of the exchange of experiences.

We are now elaborating documentation, which should be ready in the autumn of this year.