Working Women Face Unique on-the-Job Stress
NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters Health) - Women now make up almost half of America's work force, and like men, they often suffer from job-related stress. But some of the sources of a woman's stress are unique to their gender, as are some of the work-related health hazards, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association.
"With women constituting nearly half (46%) of today's work force, researchers are starting to identify occupational stress and health risks that are unique to women," according to Dr. Wendy Chavkin, editor-in-chief of the journal. "Many female-dominated occupations, such as healthcare, cleaning and teaching, are fraught with hazards that are often overlooked," she said in a statement issued by the journal.
According to Dr. Naomi G. Swanson of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, Ohio, more women than men report high levels of stress and stress-related illness, and 60% of women in one survey said that their number-one problem was job stress.
"Prolonged exposure to a stressful working condition may lead to illness or disease," reported Swanson, noting that such stress can cause "acute psychological, behavioral, or physical reactions" that can eventually lead to illness, such as depression and coronary heart disease.
Occupation stress can come from working conditions themselves, such as overload, poor interpersonal relations and physical working conditions, as well as from job-related factors like discrimination, lack of opportunity for advancement, and boredom, Swanson stated. Both men and women face many of these stressors, but working women also face unique difficulties that can cause additional stress.
Sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and the pressures of combining work and family put particular stress on working women, explained Swanson. She notes that in 1997, "women still earned only 79% of what men earned," and that even after taking into account education, experience, and other career factors, "men and women still differed significantly in salary and managerial levels."
Despite the more active roles that many men are taking in home and family life, according to Swanson, a recent study found that 80% to 90% of married working women still have primary responsibility for cooking, cleaning, and shopping.
Women can also face unique physical stressors at work. For example, Dr. Jeanne Mager Stellman of Columbia University in New York reports that "many women experience repetitive strain injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, at a rate that far exceeds that of men." She notes that this is often due to operating assembly-line machinery, and that women in industrial jobs may face physical injury because they work with machinery or tools designed for men, who are larger.
Employment fields that are dominated by women--such as healthcare, child care, teaching and social work--also present unique stressors in the form of exposure to infection and psychological stress.
Swanson notes that measures to reduce stress can focus on either the individual or the workplace. Women can be taught coping skills, relaxation techniques and other stress management strategies, but if workplace stress stays the same, these strategies may lose their effectiveness.
"The most effective way of reducing occupational stress is to eliminate the stressors through organizational and job redesign interventions," writes Swanson. These can include allowing workers to participate more in decision making, clarifying job responsibilities, expanding opportunities for promotion, and providing more family support programs that help both men and women cope with work-life issues, such as child care.
"Employment has many benefits for women, including increased financial resources, a sense of achievement and reduced social isolation, all of which can benefit health," concludes Swanson. She points out, however, that "there is a strong need for additional research on interventions to reduce work stress and ill health among employed women."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Women's Association 2000;55:76-78.
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