Work Psychology, Women and Stress: Silence, Identity and the Boundaries of Conventional Wisdom

It is argued that there has been a close connection between work psychologists and management which has produced a discourse about stress. In this discourse workers are positioned as victims whose suffering may be overcome through behavioural technologies. Having drawn attention to the assumptions, limitations and silences of the literature, recent debates surrounding gender and the politics of identity are considered in order to outline the possibility of a complementary approach to the study of gender and work stress. Theoretical and practical issues are addressed.