Abstract
This chapter examines the interrelationships of the three sets of resources showing how the resource triangle is gendered, with older women systematically disadvantaged in each of these three key resources. They are: first, the bodily resources of health and functional abilities of the individual and other household members; second, material or structural resources such as income, assets, car ownership, housing and the quality of the home environment; and third, access to personal, domestic and health care. Gender differences in self-assessed health are relatively modest in later life and are less important than differences associated with class. The chapter shows that how health in later life is closely associated with position in the labour market during adult life, those previously in manual occupations having the highest levels of physical disability and poorer self-assessed health. It provides a framework for understanding the interrelationship between health and other aspects of elderly women's and men's lives.