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Are we seeing a uniformisation of masculine and feminine experiences of retirement or are gender differences maintained, indeed becoming stronger, among retired people whom we imagine have adopted the cultural models and in particular the egalitarian ideals of the next generation? This article offers some answers to these questions on the basis of the analysis of 32 in-depth interviews with recently retired people in France and Belgium, supported by the results of two questionnaires to which there were 462 replies in all. Three aspects were studied: the change in identity after professional activity ceases, the modification of roles in the family and socially and the territorial dimension of this change. The intertwining of the effects of the period, of the generation, of social milieu and social uses of territory contributes to producing different types of attitudes.