Gender Equality, Work and Health : a Review of the Evidence
- Document number
- 1266
- Date
- 2006
- Title
- Gender Equality, Work and Health : a Review of the Evidence
- Author/publisher
- Karen Messing, Piroska Östlin, World Health Organization (WHO)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution, Economy in transition, Socio-Economic transition, Discrimination, Unemployment, Poverty, Community development, Social security, Social exclusion, Health care, HIV/AIDS, Globalisation;
- Summary
- Workers have always had to balance their need for income against their desire for healthy working conditions. This balancing act is becoming more difficult as the world moves toward a single global marketplace with intense competition. Both men and women need steady, well-paid employment to guarantee a future for themselves and their children. At the same time, as Lagerlöf points out (WHO, 2005), pressure to maximize profits has created a marketplace where good jobs are hard to find and keep. Fewer and fewer employers readily offer regular, permanent, well-paid employment. In the industrialized countries, labour organizations are weakened by pressures from global competition, while developing countries may attract investment by weak protections for the workforce. In this highly competitive labour market, both women and men may find it impossible to ensure enough income to keep their families alive and healthy in the long term while insisting that their health be protected in the short term. This publication provides a global overview of gender issues in research, policies and programmes on work and health and highlights some specific issues for women. In particular, it will examine some apparent incompatibilities between women’s struggles for economic and social equality and their need to protect their health.
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