Women, Work, and Health

The majority of women today simultaneously occupy demanding work and family roles. In 1980, 60 percent of women between 16 and 64 years of age were employed (76). Yet women continue to shoulder the main responsibilty for household tasks and childcare. It is often suggested that women's multiple responsibilities and attendant role conflicts will have negative consequences for their health. Despite the rising concern and considerable speculation surrounding this subject, little is known about the implications of women's rising employment for changes in women's physical and mental well-being. In this article, we describe the main theoretical models and pertinent research about work and health among women. It is likely that all of the models contain some truth and that no single model can encompass the ways employment affects women's health. The scientific task therefore is to identify the job conditions and role configurations that lead to positive, or negative, health consequences and then to distill the many empirical results.