Kvinner og sykefravær

Abstract

Professor -Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi, Universitetet i Oslo, arne.mastekaasa@sosgeo.uio.no Det er lite støtte for hypotesen om at kvinner har høyere sykefravaer enn menn på grunn av mer belastende arbeidsforhold. Også hypotesen om at kombinasjonen av ansvar for barn og betalt arbeid kan forklare det høye sykefravaeret, får begrenset støtte. Det er flere tegn som tyder på at kjønnsforskjeller i helse eller reaksjoner på helseproblemer utvikles tidlig og før så vel familieetablering som starten på yrkeskarrieren. Dette tyder på at enten forskjeller i biologi eller i den tidlige sosialiseringen av gutter og jenter kan vaere viktige faktorer. NøkkelordSykefravaer, kjønn, arbeidsforhold, omsorgsoppgaver, ungdom, medisinbruk. Women and Sick LeaveThe article provides an overview of the state of knowledge regarding women's high levels of sickness absence. There is little support for the idea that women have higher sickness absence than men because of less healthy working conditions. The hypothesis that women's sickness absence is due to the combination of responsibility for children and paid employment also receives, at best, limited support. On the other hand, gender differences in health or in ways of dealing with illness seem to develop at an early stage, and earlier than both family formation and the start of the work career. This suggests that gender differences in sickness absence may to a considerable extent be due to biological factors or to differences in the socialization of boys and girls.

Hearing loss and work participation: a cross-sectional study in Norway

“…Gender differences in the labour market are known from the general population, both in employment, part-time work and the degree of sick leave. Differences in work and working conditions have been used as an explanation for these gender differences (Mastekaasa 2016). For employees with hearing loss it may be particularly relevant that some of the female-dominated jobs, in health care and social work, may require more communication skills and are more emotionally demanding than other jobs.…”

“…For employees with hearing loss it may be particularly relevant that some of the female-dominated jobs, in health care and social work, may require more communication skills and are more emotionally demanding than other jobs. Mastekaasa (2016) argued that women choose absence instead of presence when they are confronted with health problems to a larger degree than men. If this line of argument is plausible, it is likely that the gender differences found among employees with hearing loss, in the present study, could be attributed to the same mechanisms implying that women with hearing loss experience their health condition as more severe and that they choose to stop working earlier than their male counterparts.…”

Women’s health at work: a qualitative study on women’s health issues in relation to work participation. Experiences and perspectives from female teachers and managers in Norwegian high schools

“…In addition to structural and cultural gender differences in working life, women and men also have difference in biology and experience different health challenges. In Norway, the biological and physiological differences between women and men have previously been suggested to potentially impact work participation and sickness absence [ 11 , 18 ], but the implications of women’s specific health issues have been poorly investigated in this regard. Women’s health can be defined as diseases and ailments that only women have, diseases that affect more women than men, that affect very many women or that have different consequences for women than for men [ 26 ].…”