Does unbalanced gender composition in the workplace influence the association between psychosocial working conditions and sickness absence?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Earlier research has shown that bad psychosocial working conditions contribute to sick-leave. Some theorists argue that skewed gender composition can be one of the factors contributing to bad psychosocial working conditions. OBJECTIVES: We examine whether workplace gender composition has an effect on the association between job strain and sick-leave. METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS: Associations were assessed using a case-control study with Swedish data collected in 2008 (n=5595). RESULTS: Results indicated that there was an association between high strain jobs and sickness absence among both women (Adj. OR 2.04, CI95% 1.62-2.57) and men (2.24, 1.67-3.01). Furthermore, both women (2.87, 1.34-6.26) and men (2.53, 1.74-3.69) in male-dominated workplaces had the highest risk for sickness absence due to high strain jobs. Male-dominated workplaces were, in general adverse for both women and men. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that a minority position strengthens job strain for women while it weakens the association for men. Using modern gender theories, we could argue that some of these results might be explained by the general use of masculinity as the social norm in the labor market. However, findings from this study need to be validated by further research.