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Blood work: Managing menstruation, menopause and gynaecological health conditions in the workplace.
Abstract
The menstrual cycle remains neglected in explorations of public health, and entirely remiss in occupational health literature, despite being a problematic source of gendered inequalities at work. This paper proposes the new concept of blood work to explain the relationship between menstruation (and associated gynaecological health conditions) and employment for women and trans/non-binary people. We build on and extend health and organisational literature on managing bodies at work by arguing that those who experience menstruation face additional work or labour in the management of their own bodies through the menstrual cycle. We discuss how this additional labour replicates problematic elements that are identifiable in public health initiatives, in that it is individualised, requiring individual women and trans/non-binary people to navigate unsupportive workplaces. We present findings from an analysis of qualitative survey data that were completed by 627 participants working in higher education, revealing that employees’ blood work comprises distinct difficulties that are related to the management of painful, leaking bodies, access to facilities, stigma, and balancing workload. We suggest developing supportive workplaces and public health policies, which refocus the responsibility for accessible, equal workplaces that accommodate menstruating employees, and those with gynaecological health conditions.
... Poor menstrual health can inhibit full participation in work activities [1,2]. Menstruating workers are disadvantaged compared to non-menstruating workers by "blood work": the physical, financial and mental burden of menstruating workers to manage and 'hide' their menstrual bleeding and symptoms [3,4]. Improving access to menstrual products at work is a potential focus for community intervention for both developing and developed nations. ...
... Menstrual products are frequently absent from workplace policy and so menstruating workers must supply their own. Failure to do so can lead to being 'caught short' at work [5], causing distress and anxiety [3][4][5]. ...
... Menstruating workers may resort to using toilet paper as a substitute [3] or wearing products longer than recommended [4]. This violates the right to effective, clean materials needed for good menstrual health [1], risks leakage through clothes [3] and increases risk of genitourinary infections [6]. ...
In 2022, the World Health Organization acknowledged menstrual health as a global human right and encouraged a shift in responsibility from individuals to the community. Globally, menstrual products are rarely included in workplace policies, hindering equitable well-being by placing disproportionate burden on menstruating workers. This exploratory study in Queensland, Australia supplied a public sector workplace with menstrual products for two months in 2023. A questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative aspects assessed the experiences of 21 menstruating workers. Before the supply, 94.7 % had experienced menstruation at work without access to products, leading to mental distress. Additionally, 71.4 % worried about lacking products when needed and 38.1 % believed this worry decreased their mental well-being or concentration. After the supply, 94.1 % reported improved emotions, 70.6 % perceived improved concentration and 64.7 % felt improved mental well-being. However, only 57.1 % believed that menstrual product supply should be mandated by workplace policy. Factors contributing to exclusion of menstrual products from global workplace policies are discussed, such as limited awareness, poor workplace infrastructure and persistent stigma. This study was limited by a small sample size and self-reporting bias. Regardless, the findings highlight the respective positive and negative impacts of including or omitting menstrual products in workplace policy, even in a socioeconomically privileged country like Australia. This emphasises the underestimation of menstrual health as a basic human right in workplace health and safety, urging more research on workplace menstrual product provision and related feminine sanitary infrastructure especially in low-resourced nations.
... Coping with symptoms, often covertly, takes considerable time and energy, as workplace culture often places a responsibility on individuals to overcome ableist barriers and reinforces a 'suck-it-up mentality' when dealing with menstrual pain and symptoms (Howe et al., 2024). Menstruating individuals often rely on prescription medication to continue working despite their symptoms, but this comes with less productivity (Sang et al., 2021). ...
... In Italy, for instance, absenteeism-related costs for those affected by heavy menstrual pain are approximately US$231 per week (Nnoaham et al., 2011). In the United Kingdom, menstruation-related productivity losses are substantial, with absenteeism costs ranging between £3.7 to £4.7 billion annually and presenteeism, whereby employees work despite severe symptoms to avoid judgment or the perception of unprofessionalism (Sang et al., 2021), adding another £291.9 and £418.1 million each year (Gorham & Langham, 2024). In the United States, 45.2% of participants reported absenteeism due to their menstruation, averaging 5.8 days in the last 12 months (Ponzo et al., 2022). ...
... In work environments, these stigmas contribute to challenges such as presenteeism and the perception of menstruation as a sign of weakness or incompetence (Grandey et al., 2020;Sang et al., 2021). Understanding how these cultural and structural norms shape EXPLORING PERCEPTIONS OF MENSTRUAL LEAVE POLICIES workplace attitudes is crucial for addressing the barriers faced by menstruating individuals and fostering inclusivity. ...
Menstrual stigma is deeply rooted in cultural and organizational norms, leading to significant challenges for menstruating individuals in the workplace. Despite the rise of advanced reproductive health policies globally, research on menstrual leave remains limited. This study explored menstrual stigma and menstrual leave in Europe through semi-structured interviews (n=45) with menstruating and non-menstruating workers. Using Earnshaw and Quinn’s stigma framework and Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory, the analysis revealed deep-rooted cultural taboos and workplace norms perpetuating stigma. Participants acknowledged the benefits of menstrual leave policies, including improving inclusivity, reducing stigma, and increasing productivity, but also expressed concerns about potential misuse and reinforcing stereotypes. Stigma reduction interventions and educational campaigns to support the adoption of menstrual leave, and longitudinal studies to understand the impact of menstrual leave policies across various work environments are recommended.
... Menstruation is more than a biological process: it is loaded with political, social, cultural, medical and religious meanings Medina-Perucha et al., 2020). Despite recent progress towards gender equality, the topic of menstruation and how to deal with it is still surrounded by deeply entrenched shame and stigma, exacerbating ongoing inequalities in education, healthcare, and workplaces (Johnston-Robledo and Chrisler, 2013;Plan International UK, 2018;Sang et al., 2021;Sommer et al., 2021). This stigma has led to menstruation being historically neglected in academic and professional settings, with research about menstruation remaining scarce and often dismissed by male-dominated research cultures Medina-Perucha et al., 2020;Munro et al., 2021). ...
... At the University of Warwick, this has been led by Student Union of cers, including myself, campaigning for free period product provision and gender-inclusive language since 2015 (Warwick SU, 2015;. This is an important step in increasing accessibility of menstrual products, with 1 in 7 girls in the UK having struggled to afford sanitary products (Plan International UK, 2018), and a lack of access to menstrual products at university campuses causing distress and disruption for students and staff Sang et al., 2021). However, scholars have suggested that campaigns for menstrual equity must go beyond period product provision to challenge ongoing menstrual taboos and consider how this impacts individuals' dignity and human rights (Briggs, 2021;Loughman et al., 2020;McLaren and Padhee, 2021;Sang et al., 2021). ...
... This is an important step in increasing accessibility of menstrual products, with 1 in 7 girls in the UK having struggled to afford sanitary products (Plan International UK, 2018), and a lack of access to menstrual products at university campuses causing distress and disruption for students and staff Sang et al., 2021). However, scholars have suggested that campaigns for menstrual equity must go beyond period product provision to challenge ongoing menstrual taboos and consider how this impacts individuals' dignity and human rights (Briggs, 2021;Loughman et al., 2020;McLaren and Padhee, 2021;Sang et al., 2021). Moving beyond a focus product provision can link menstrual health across different domains to structural, social and cultural obstacles to gender equality Loughman et al., 2020;McLaren and Padhee, 2021). ...
With ongoing menstrual stigma maintaining a culture of silence and secrecy in academic institutions, this research seeks to reveal student perceptions of this stigma at the University of Warwick, and understand their suggestions for how the University can better support menstruating students. Drawing on findings from a focus group of six menstruating students at the University of Warwick, the paper suggests that menstrual stigma persists at the University, affecting students’ wellbeing and academic performance. Participants expressed frustration at the lack of understanding of, or institutional support for, the difficulties of menstruation; including (but not limited to): debilitating pain, negative assumptions about the body, inaccessible menstrual products and inadequate hygiene facilities. However, certain students appear to be countering the cultural pressure to remain silent about menstruation, calling for the University to implement proactive measures to improve menstrual education, counter stigmatising assumptions and help menstruators mitigate the effects of pain and menstrual management. The research also calls attention to the elements of privilege present in such discourses, highlighting the need for further research into students’ menstrual needs and potential institutional interventions, with a particular focus on the intersecting difficulties faced by marginalised students.
... In the present research, women who have difficulty making ends meet also reported having inadequate conditions for menstrual hygiene away from the home, and for disposal and safe management of used menstrual products. These results are similar to studies in the UK, 21 Sub-Saharan Africa, 10 Nepal, 22 and elsewhere, 23 in which the workplace or educational facilities lack the necessary resources, such as toilets or disposal bins, or menstrual hygiene products. ...
... They reported needing to change their daily work activities to protect themselves and others from smelling or seeing menstrual blood. 21 Others reported that menstruating people's behavior differs at home and away from the home. In the latter case, girls are reportedly absenting themselves from school because they do not have a proper waste disposal system and poor water supply, or they do not use the disposal system out of shyness or fear of being seen using it. ...
... lems are associated with reduced QoL.21 Quality of life comprises individuals' perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, as well as their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns; it refers to a subjective evaluation within four domains: physical, psychological, social relationships, and environmental context.17 ...
Objective
To assess menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and period poverty in a group of low‐ and medium‐income menstruating people.
Methods
A cross‐sectional study was conducted at the University of Campinas, Brazil, from January to June 2022 with 535 participants aged 18–49. For data collection, we used the abbreviated version of the WHO Quality‐of‐Life questionnaire (WHOQOL‐BREF) and a pre‐tested questionnaire with items regarding MHM and period poverty.
Results
We found an inverse relationship between the risk of no access to supplies to perform menstrual hygiene, which increased by 2.5% and each point less in the environmental domain of quality of life (QoL), and this risk increased by up to 3.1 times among participants who reported difficulty making ends meet. The risk of not having adequate conditions to perform menstrual hygiene at home increased by up to 2.6% for every one‐point drop in the environmental domain of QoL. The risk of not having adequate conditions to perform menstrual hygiene outside the home increased by up to 1.3% for less points in the psychological domain of QoL, and 44.4% of those who indicated inadequate conditions for menstrual hygiene reported two or more childbirths.
Conclusions
Menstruating people who have an increased risk of lacking menstrual supplies and have an increased risk of inadequate conditions for MHM at home and outside the home, as well as those who have two or more deliveries and those having difficulties making ends meet, scored low on the QoL, especially in the environmental and psychological dimensions.
... Furthermore, menstruation-related stigma and resource scarcity lead to wider gender disparities in Indian society. Menstruation-related silence and shame exacerbate genderbased discrimination against women and restrict their access to social, professional, and educational opportunities (Sang et al, 2021). A holistic strategy is needed to address these issues, one that involves expanding period health education, increasing access to menstruation goods and facilities, and questioning societal norms that support discrimination and stigma. ...
Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) is one of the overlooked issues by various sectors in both the Indian and global contexts. The development and promotion of this field is limited to the distribution of sanitary products in the public health system. Research indicates that certain sub-domains within this field remain underexplored, including menstrual education, access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, open communication and societal acceptance, as well as the persistent stigmas associated with menstruation. The present study aims to clarify the several facets, implications, and results of India's proposed menstrual hygiene policy. The conceptual structure of this policy is first introduced in the paper by aligning it with the Stakeholders Theory and its relevant outcomes. Later, after reviewing relevant studies that have been published over the past few years, discusses the propositions regarding numerous facets and results of menstrual health and hygiene policy. Notable consequences that are pertinent to the advancement of this policy are discussed in the paper's conclusion. Future directions for research and their limitations are also discussed.
... Although not life threatening, these pelvic symptoms are common: pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) including urinary and faecal incontinence, bladder, bowel, and sexual dysfunction, prolapse and persistent pelvic pain, is prevalent in up to 50% of women [8], and has a significant impact on women's quality of life and physical, mental, and social wellbeing [9,10]. The intimate, personal and varied nature of pelvic symptoms, causes significant embarrassment and shame, leading to further psychological distress, reduced functioning, poor body image and social and occupational difficulties [9,[11][12][13][14]. ...
Background
Women’s pelvic health is a globally important subject, included in international and United Kingdom health policies, emphasising the importance of improving information and access to pelvic health services. Consequences of pelvic symptoms are intimate, personal, and varied, often causing embarrassment and shame, affecting women’s quality of life and wellbeing.
AIM
To understand the experience of seeking healthcare for stigmatised pelvic health symptoms by synthesising all types of published primary research and mapping the results to behavioural theory, to identify potential targets for intervention.
Methods
Systematic search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, PubMED databases, CDSR and CENTRAL registers, from inception to May 2023 for all types of research capturing women’s views and experiences of seeking help with stigmatised urogenital and bowel symptoms. Studies only reporting prevalence, predictors of help-seeking, non-health related help-seeking, or written in languages other than English, German, French, Spanish and Swedish were excluded. Reference checking and forward citation searching for all included studies was performed. A results-based synthesis approach was used to integrate quantitative and qualitative data. Themes were mapped to the Common-Sense model and Candidacy framework. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used for critical appraisal. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation - Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research for assessing certainty of review findings.
Results
86 studies representing over 20,000 women from 24 high income countries were included. Confidence was high that barriers to help-seeking were similar across all study types and pelvic symptoms: stigma, lack of knowledge, women’s perception that clinicians dismissed their symptoms, and associated normalising and deprioritising of low bother symptoms. Supportive clinicians and increased knowledge were key facilitators.
Conclusions
Using the Common-Sense Model to explore women’s help-seeking behaviour with stigmatised pelvic symptoms reveals problems with cognitive representation of symptom identity, emotional representations of embarrassment and shame, and a subjective norm that women believe their symptoms will be trivialised by clinicians. Together these barriers frustrate women’s identification of their candidacy for healthcare. Addressing these issues through behavioural change interventions for women and clinicians, will help to achieve universal access to pelvic healthcare services (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.7).
Systematic Review Registration
PROSPERO CRD42021256956.
... 2,3 this 'mental burden' of menstruation has detrimental effects on participation in work and leisure activities. 2 In the workplace, management of menstruation accrues 'additional labour' in managing pain and symptoms, dealing with social stigma and accessing necessary facilities. 3 resource limitations, particularly a lack of access to menstrual materials and facilities, have been recognised as a problem, even in high-income countries (104 studies; 16 countries). 2 In addition, 'Period poverty' (i.e. a lack of access to sanitary products due to financial constraints) is becoming a growing issue for those from low-income households, and this is likely to increase given the rising cost of living in the UK demographics, (4) education, including promoting open and inclusive conversations around menstruation and menopause. ...
... Similar ambiguity and dilemmas are presented in other studies [51,52] where workers struggle with disclosing chronic illnesses at work. Further, menstruation [53], pregnancy [54], and breastfeeding [55] are reproductive processes depicted as taboo in the workplace. Herron-Marx, Williams and Hicks [45] show that perineal morbidity is a taboo for women themselves and society. ...
Background
In Sweden, persistent physical and psychological health problems occur in about three in ten women who sustain severe perineal trauma (SPT) during childbirth. As most Swedish women work outside the home, the question of if and how SPT-related morbidity influences working life needs exploration. This study aims to qualitatively explore how women with persistent SPT-related morbidities experience and conceptualise their problems concerning working life. Further, we theorise the findings by applying Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist framework of immanence and transcendence as well as authentic and inauthentic life.
Methods
Ten interviews with women recruited via a Swedish social media community for perineal trauma were analysed according to Charmaz’s constructivist approach to grounded theory.
Results
The theoretical model and related core category ‘Negotiating the ambiguity of an (in)authentic working life’ reflected the women’s negotiations of immanence as ‘the silent covert object’ versus transcendence as the ‘the resourceful overt subject’. The model also mirrored the conflict of (in)authenticity in working life. An inauthentic working life was experienced when women were denied their subjectivity at work or constructed themselves as subjects in denial of their SPT. On the other hand, women who acknowledged their SPT and were constructed as subjects by ‘others’ achieved an authentic working life despite SPT.
Conclusions
The conflicting gendered process of ‘the silent covert object’ versus ‘the resourceful overt subject’ problematised women’s vulnerability at work. Aspects that enable subjectification and transcendence are essential for policymakers, employers, healthcare services, and society to eradicate the taboo of SPT and create a working environment characterised by understanding, support, and flexibility. Further, access to adequate care, sick leave, and occupational rehabilitation are essential. Such measures support transcendence towards an authentic working life and, consequently, a more gender-equal working environment that does not deprive women of career opportunities due to a physical ailment.
... Although empiric insights into men's attitudes towards menstruation and period pain are sparse, there are valid reasons to assume that the gender of people in the workplace is relevant to the decision on whether to work while experiencing period pain. Qualitative insights indicate that employees with menstrual problems are more comfortable if a female manager knows about their problem (Sang et al., 2021), which may be caused by the perception that period-related problems are gender-specific (Gilmour et al., 2008) or that menstruation and its symptoms need to be particularly concealed or hidden from men (O'Flynn, 2006). ...
Although menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) is common and can have detrimental effects on workability and social functioning, little is known about how people manage dysmenorrhea in their professional life. Existing evidence indicates that people with dysmenorrhea often engage in presenteeism, meaning they work despite experiencing symptoms and report perceptions of social stigma around menstruation. In this study, we investigated individual health-related factors, psychosocial factors, and work factors associated with period pain presenteeism in a cross-sectional survey study including N = 668 employed people with experiences of dysmenorrhea. Our results show that symptom severity, disclosure of menstrual pain to the leader, and remote work are directly associated with period pain presenteeism. Also, we found that disclosure to the leader was associated with leader gender, leader-member exchange (LMX), and the absence of a medical diagnosis, indicating a potential mediating effect. We did not, however, find the perceptions of public beliefs regarding the concealment of menstruation to be related to presenteeism or disclosure. Our findings have important implications for theory building and research on menstruation in occupational contexts, occupational health management and communication, diversity management in organizations, and leadership training.
Introduction Menopause is an inevitable phase in every woman's life, significantly impacting their physical, psychological, and social well-being, with wide-ranging effects on their quality of life, including their ability to work. This systematic review employed a meta-synthesis to explore the workplace experiences of menopausal women. Methodology This study employed meta-synthesis to integrate findings from several qualitative and mixed-methods studies. Using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist and structured according to the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram, the review synthesized data from 12 final articles. Results Four key themes emerged from the thematic analysis: Impact and Symptom Experience, Disclosure and Attitude, Coping Tactics and Self-Management, and Workplace Policies and Practices. A meta-theme, Menopause as a Diversity-Wellbeing Concern in the Workplace, highlighted the need to recognize menopause as a critical diversity issue affecting women across all stages of their careers, from entry-level roles to senior positions. Conclusion This review underscores the importance of tailored support and creating inclusive workplace environments that value and respect menopausal women, allowing them to thrive professionally while navigating this life stage.
There is growing interest in menopause discrimination in healthcare, the workplace and beyond. However, there is a dearth of research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) experiences of the menopause. This article reports on a scoping review of the recent literature which identified a very limited number of articles and a wide range of knowledge gaps. This is discussed in relation to LGBTQ+ wider health, healthcare and workplace inequalities, and heteronormative and cisnormative conceptualisations of the menopause. A research agenda is proposed. Research should: be intersectional; differentiate between LGBTQ+ sub-groups; aim to understand how menopause experiences impact and are impacted by minority sexuality/gender identities; and examine how menopause healthcare and workplace support can be LGBTQ+ inclusive. Such research is urgently needed to ensure that LGBTQ+ people are fully included in menopause justice discussions and solutions.
Background
Menstruation’s effects on workplace productivity and its impact on women’s careers are rarely discussed in public discourse. This paper presents an analysis of thirteen women’s accounts of their menstrual experiences at work.
Objectives
The study aimed to understand women’s lived experiences of menstruation in the workplace in Namibia and to make recommendations for best practices and policy formulation to help female employees cope with menstruation at work in Namibia.
Materials and Methods
The study adopted a qualitative, phenomenological narrative inquiry research design, and thirteen participants working in various institutions and companies in Namibia were selected through a snowball sampling procedure. Individuals who agreed to participate in the study were given a link to a Google document containing reflective questions.
Results
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the narratives. The study findings show that most participants experienced various menstrual-related symptoms ranging from unbearable physical pain or discomfort to heavy bleeding and psychological distress. Menstruating women face workplace challenges, such as a lack of emergency sanitary products and unsupportive superiors.
Conclusions
Based on the narratives analyzed, we conclude that menstrual-related symptoms affect work productivity. Participants highlighted that they perform better and are considerably more productive on their non-menstrual days. Participants advocated for a shift in policy to allow flexibility to work from home or get menstrual leave when experiencing severe menstrual symptoms. Such a change will go a long way in making the workplace more accommodating to women.
As countries across the world adopt policies addressing menstruation, it is imperative to identify who benefits from such policies and to understand the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. We examine such policies through the lens of human rights, as a framework that demands addressing marginalization, ensuring substantive equality, and guaranteeing inclusive participation to ensure that the menstrual needs of everyone, everywhere are met. Our review is focused on four countries (India, Kenya, Senegal, and the United States) and is based on data from 34 policy documents and interviews with 85 participants. We show that girls, particularly school-going girls, are the main target group of policies. Due to this myopic view of menstrual needs, policies risk leaving the needs of adult menstruators, including those experiencing (peri)menopause, unaddressed. Moreover, the intersection between menstrual status and markers of identity such as disability and gender identity produces further policy gaps. These gaps can be attributed to the exclusion of marginalized menstruators from decision-making processes by creating barriers and failing to ensure meaningful inclusive participation. To address inequalities, policy makers need to make a concerted effort to understand and accommodate the needs of menstruators in all their diversity.
Background:
Despite scientific recommendations for exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and complementary breastfeeding to 2 years of age, breastfeeding abandonment rates increase with time, and one of the main reasons is that women go back to work.
Aim:
To analyze the perception of support of breastfeeding workers to continue breastfeeding at two Spanish universities, and associated factors.
Methods:
A multicenter retrospective cross-sectional comparative study conducted in a population of 777 female workers at the Universidad de Sevilla (US) and the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) in Spain using an online questionnaire.
Results:
The response rate was 38.74% (n = 301). Of all the participants, 57.8% continued breastfeeding after returning to work. The factors associated with continuing breastfeeding for longer were the university having a breastfeeding support policy and special accommodation (p < 0.001); participating in breastfeeding support groups (p < 0.001); intending to continue breastfeeding after returning to work (p < 0.001); knowing the occupational legislation in force (p = 0.009); having a female supervisor (p = 0.04).
Conclusion:
Breastfeeding support initiatives and having special accommodation to pump and preserve breast milk after returning to work are associated with a longer duration of female workers' breastfeeding.
Endometriosis is a chronic, inflammatory disease affecting more than 170 million women worldwide and up to 10% of women of reproductive age. As a consequence of inflammatory reaction and infiltration of anatomic structures, endometriosis can cause “pain symptoms” including dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, dyschezia, dysuria, and chronic pelvic pain. In this review, we summarized the impact of endometriosis on quality of life in all its aspects including sexual life, work, and social relationships. The data research was conducted using web-based search engines and/or various electronic research databases querying for all articles related to endometriosis and quality of life from the inception of the database up to February 2020. Endometriosis has not only physical but also psychological effects, causing depression, anxiety, and compromising social relationships. Furthermore, endometriosis negatively impacts sexual life and social relationships. At last, the economic burden of endometriosis should not be underestimated, both individually and for the community, as this pathology leads to a loss of productivity at work and large use of health resources. Thus, endometriosis-related symptoms control women’s lives compromising the quality of life in all aspects. In this review, we summarized the impact of endometriosis on various aspects of women’s lives.
Aim:
To explore endometriosis-related fatigue (ERF), health-related fitness, sleep quality, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in women with endometriosis in comparison with matched controls.
Methods:
Twenty-five affected women and twenty-five age and height-matched women without endometriosis were included. ERF was assessed through the Piper Fatigue Scale; health-related fitness was assessed through the Schöber, flamingo, and 6-min walking tests and dynamometry; and body composition was assessed through impedanciometry. Self-perceived physical fitness, sleep quality, and HRQoL were assessed through the International Fitness Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey, respectively.
Results:
Affected women exhibited higher levels of ERF than controls, increased fat mass, and physical deconditioning (reduced back strength, lumbar flexibility, body balance, and functional capacity, p-values < 0.050). Moreover, cases also had poorer perceived physical fitness, sleep quality, and HRQoL (p-value < 0.050). Finally, we observed deteriorated health-related fitness, sleep quality, and HRQoL in those women with endometriosis with higher levels of ERF.
Conclusions:
This study constitutes the first evidence that women with endometriosis describe a generalized physical deconditioning, even more pronounced in affected women with higher levels of ERF. Further studies assessing the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions to face these physical impairments in women with endometriosis are warranted.
Following the controversial adoption of spit-hoods by some UK police forces, most recently by the London Metropolitan Police in February 2019, this article contributes to and extends debates on physical and symbolic contamination by drawing on established considerations of ‘dirty work’. The article argues that, for police officers, cleansing rituals are personal and subjective. As a relatively high-prestige occupation, police officers occupy a unique position in that they are protected by a status shield. Reflections from this ethnographic study suggest that the police uniform can be used as a vehicle for contamination and staff employ purification rituals and methods of taint management.
This article explores menstruation in the workplace in the context of a humanistic management approach which highlights the values of respect, dignity, and wellbeing at work. Increased public conversation on menstruation in recent years, supported by research showing the detrimental effects of menstrual stigma on women’s physical and mental health, point to a shift in consideration for women’s menstrual wellbeing. This paper is based on my research on the development and implementation of a ‘period policy’ at Coexist, a social enterprise in Bristol, UK, which I undertook between October 2016 and December 2017. The policy was co-designed by management and staff, and uses flexible working arrangements and contingency planning to allow women greater support when menstruating. I discuss the effects of the policy and suggest avenues for future research.
The #MeToo and the Time’s Up movements have raised the issue of sexual harassment encountered by women to the level of public consciousness. Together, these movements have captured not only the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the everyday functioning of the workplace, but they have also demonstrated how women are silenced about their experiences of it. Inspired by the political and the social currents emerging from these movements, and theoretically informed by ideas of discursive hegemony, rhetorical persuasion and affective practice, this article draws on a qualitative study of early- and mid-career women academics in business schools to answer the question: How are victims silenced when they voice their experiences of sex-based harassment within the workplace? Our findings reveal that organisational silence is the product of various third party actors (e.g., line managers, HR, colleagues) who mobilise myriad discourses to persuade victims not to voice their discontent. We develop the concept of ‘reluctant acquiescence’ to explain the victims’ response to organisational silencing. In terms of its contributions to the extant literature, this article: i) moves away from explanations of sex-based harassment that focus solely (or predominately) on the actions of individual perpetrators, and, ii) shows how reluctant acquiescence leads to maintaining the status quo in the organisation. In highlighting features of academic work that facilitate reluctant acquiescence, we call for more contextualisation of the dynamics of sex-based harassment specifically, and other forms of workplace mistreatment broadly.
Chronic health conditions represent the major share of the disease burden in Europe and have a significant impact on work. This study aims to: (1) identify factors that have a negative or positive impact on the work lives of persons with chronic health conditions; (2) explore the needs of these persons to maintain a job or return to work and (3) compare these results with respect to these persons’ occupational status. An online survey was performed in seven European countries. Open-ended survey questions were analyzed using qualitative methods. In total, 487 participants with six chronic health conditions participated. The majority of participants named work-related aspects (such as career development, stress at the workplace, work structure and schedule as well as workload), support of others and attitudes of others as being the factors positively and negatively impact their work lives the most. Our study shed light on the importance of changing the attitudes of supervisors and co-workers to counteract stigmatization of persons with chronic health conditions in the workplace. In conclusion, this study provides a basis for developing new strategies of integration and reintegration at work for persons with chronic health conditions in European countries.
Existing theory suggests that social networks form a major factor in individual and team performance, including in academic collaborative research. However, there is currently a lack of a theoretical framework to explain the social network related factors that influence publication processes and decisions. We address this gap by adopting a theory-building perspective, analyzing a large data set on the impact of social networks. Using a case of one leading journal (Human Resource Management), we collected data on 10 years of publication, exploring 327 papers, written by 667 authors, which represent 839 ties. Examining individual demographic and institutional characteristics, we developed and tested a set of hypotheses, providing a framework for shaping and guiding future academic research collaborations. Our findings suggest that as albeit the intention, diverse collaboration is still at a low level. This contribution adds to the literature on understanding the factors influencing the type of collaborations that lead to publications in leading journals.
Drawing on a relational approach and based on an ethnographic study of street cleaners and refuse collectors, we redress a tendency towards an overemphasis on the discursive by exploring the co-constitution of the material and symbolic dynamics of dirt. We show how esteem-enhancing strategies that draw on the symbolic can be both supported and undermined by the physicality of dirt, and how relations of power are rooted in subordinating material conditions. Through employing Hardy and Thomas’s taxonomy of objects, practice, bodies and space, we develop a fuller understanding of how the symbolic and material are fundamentally entwined within dirty work, and suggest that a neglect of the latter might foster a false optimism regarding worker experiences.
The potential menstrual hygiene management barriers faced by adolescent girls and women in workplace environments in low- and middle-income countries has been under addressed in research, programming and policy. Despite global efforts to reduce poverty among women in such contexts, there has been insufficient attention to the water and sanitation related barriers, specifically in relation to managing monthly menstruation, that may hinder girls’ and women’s contributions to the workplace, and their health and wellbeing. There is an urgent need to document the specific social and environmental barriers they may be facing in relation to menstrual management, to conduct a costing of the implications of inadequate supportive workplace environments for menstrual hygiene management, and to understand the implications for girls’ and women’s health and wellbeing. This will provide essential evidence for guiding national policy makers, the private sector, donors and activists focused on advancing girls’ and women’s rights.
The deregulation of working time has been occurring over recent decades. Academia is one of the many industries that can be characterised by a long hours work culture and intensification of work. This is significant given the negative effects of such a work culture on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of workers. Using evidence from two UK-based qualitative studies, this paper begins to explore the causes and effects of academic long hours work culture further. It has a particular focus on the extent to which the long hours culture is a result of cultural and structural changes in higher education, which have led to an increased focus on performance and outcome measures. It queries whether this is also shaped by more personal factors, such as the desire to excel and blurred boundaries between work and leisure, whereby the pursuit of knowledge may be a source of leisure for academics. It finds that while individual factors contribute to the long hours culture, these factors are shaped by cultural norms and pressures to cultivate a perception of the 'ideal academic' within an increasingly target-driven and neoliberal environment.
Author post-peer review version available here: http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/39871/
This article contributes to a sensory equilibrium in studies of workplace life through a qualitative study of everyday smells in UK offices. Drawing on Csordas’ (2008) phenomenology of intercorporeality, we develop the concept of corporeal porosity as a way of articulating the negotiation of bodily integrity in organizational experience. We explore the corporeal porosity of workplace life through smell-orientated interview and diary-based methods and our findings highlight the interdependence of shared, personal, local and cultural elementals when experiencing smell in office-based work. Our analysis explores three elements of bodily integrity: ‘cultural permeability’; ‘locating smell in-between’; and ‘sensual signifiers’. This suggests that while the senses are part of the ephemeral, affective ‘glue’ that floats between and around working bodies, they also foreground the constantly active character of relationality in organizational life. Corporeal porosity, therefore, captures the entanglement of embodied traces and fragments - corporeal seeping and secretion that has hitherto taken a backseat in organizational studies of the body at work.
Through a study of the butcher trade, this article explores the meanings that men give to 'dirty work', that is jobs or roles that are seen as distasteful or 'undesirable'. Based on qualitative data, we identify three themes from butchers' accounts that relate to work-based meanings: sacrifice through physicality of work; loss and nostalgia in the face of industrial change; and distinction from membership of a shared trade. Drawing on Bourdieu, we argue that sacrifice and distinction help us understand some of the meanings men attach to dirty, manual work - forming part of a working-class 'habitus'. Further, these assessments can be both 'reproductive' and 'productive' as butchers reinforce historically grounded evaluations of work and mobilize new meanings in response to changes in the trade.
There are few quantitative studies that show the workplace is experienced in a different way by employees with disabilities. This article fills this gap using data from the British Workplace Behaviour Survey, which found that employees with disabilities and long-term illnesses were more likely to suffer ill-treatment in the workplace and experienced a broader range of ill-treatment. Different types of disability were associated with different types of ill-treatment. The survey also showed who employees with disabilities blamed for their ill-treatment and why they believed the ill-treatment had occurred. Drawing on the existing literature, four possible explanations for ill-treatment are considered: negative affect raises perceptions of ill-treatment; ill-treatment leads to health effects; ill-treatment results from stigma or discrimination; ill-treatment is a consequence of workplace social relations. Although some of these explanations are stronger than others, the discussion shows that more research is required in order to decide between them.
This article develops the conceptualization and analysis of aesthetic labour in two parts. The first part focuses on conceptualizing aesthetic labour. We critically revisit the emotional labour literature, arguing that the analysis of interactive service work is impeded by the way in which its corporeal aspects are retired and that, by shifting the focus from emotional to aesthetic labour, we are able to recuperate the embodied character of service work. We then explore the insights provided by the sociological perspectives on the body contained in the works of Goffman and Bourdieu in order to conceptualize aesthetic labour as embodied labour. In the second part, we develop our analysis of aesthetic labour within the context of a discussion of the aesthetics of organization. We discern three ways in which aesthetics is recognized to imbue organization: aesthetics of organization, aesthetics in organization and aesthetics as organization. We contend that employees are increasingly seen not simply as `software' but as `hardware', in the sense that they too can be corporately moulded to portray the organizational aesthetic. We ground this analysis in a case study from research conducted by the authors.
This article builds on the theorizing of body work through introducing a new concept: ‘maternal body work’. In so doing, it shows how progress towards a feminist politics of motherhood within organizations remains limited. Despite decades of feminist scholarship, dissonances remain between the private worlds of reproduction and public worlds of organization. With regard to this limited progress, the article reveals how, among a sample of 27 mothers (all professionally and managerially employed in the UK), 22 felt marginalized and undervalued at work, experiencing the borders between maternity and organization as unmalleable. By contrast, five women treated borders between reproduction and organization as more fluid than anticipated. Setting a high value on their skills, they developed strategies for parrying unfavourable revisions of their status. The article concludes by considering the potential development of resources for enhancing maternal coping strategies.
This article is based on ethnographic research carried out in sex shops – retail premises selling sex toys, clothing and accessories, as well as sexually explicit books and films – located in London’s Soho. Drawing on the concept of ‘dirty work’, it explores not only the ways in which the various taints associated with dirty work – physical, social and moral – are lived and experienced, but also the allure of this particular type of work for those who perform it, and particularly of Soho as a work place. In doing so, the article extends the study of dirty work by drawing attention to two related themes that emerged from the research – first, the performance of what might be termed ‘abject labour’; that is, work that invokes a simultaneous attraction and repulsion for those who undertake it, and second, the significance of location and place in understanding the lived experience of work and the meanings with which particular types of work are imbued. The discussion concludes by arguing that teasing out the inter-relationship between these two themes – of simultaneity (of repulsion and desire) and setting – enables us to better understand interconnections between the meanings attached to particular types of work, and the specific locations in which they take place.
This article explores how employers portray themselves as supporters of work—life balance (WLB) in texts found on 24 websites of 10 different companies. With a theoretical framework based on a critical reflection on strategic HRM, feminist studies of organizational culture and hegemonic power processes, we examine implicit and explicit messages of work, life, and WLB support. We study the cultural norms that can be distilled from these articulations, including the concepts of the ideal worker and the ideal parent and discuss the possible (unintended) effects of the implicit and explicit messages. Our analysis shows the ambiguity of the different messages conveyed on WLB support. In contrast to the explicit supportive messages, implicit messages present WLB-arrangements as a privilege. The majority of websites reproduce traditional cultural norms regarding ideal workers and parents and the power of hegemony is not broken. Apparently, WLB support does not always signify support.
Perinatal loss is a life-altering event for a mother, affecting every aspect of her existence, including her work and career. Fifteen women describe how such loss affected their work and how the responses of others influenced their healing. I consider the effects on grief of silence, disenfranchisement, attachment, trauma, shame, secrecy, and the social context. I note patterns of healing: connection to the self, attachment to the dead child, and linking the self and child to the family and community. Community attachments include those made in the workplace. Relationships at work and work itself can contribute to disenfranchised grief or healing from perinatal loss.
The sanitary bin and warnings such as ‘Do Not Flush Feminine Products!’ have become a feature of women’s public bathrooms throughout Britain. Begun in the 1950s by family-owned companies such as Personnel Hygiene Services and Cannon Hygiene, and developed into large corporate systems, these items and their cleaning structures have expanded into nearly every university, hospital, office, café, school and gym in the country. This article examines the three historical phases of sanitary bin technology and its meanings. First, the pioneering phase when the bin was needed to tackle the problems of flushing menstrual products and unpopular incinerators, and was developed and popularised by creative entrepreneurs. Second, the environmental phase when campaigners, especially the Women’s Environmental Network, boosted the industry as they called for more regulations regarding menstrual product waste in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to the popularisation of the bin exchange and cleaning services now commonplace throughout the UK. Third, the high-tech phase of the 2000s, when the industry sought to reinvent the object by adding no-touch technology, more chemicals and aesthetic innovations. This article thus presents the sanitary bin in its historical context for the first time, and argues that it reveals changing attitudes towards menstruation, the environment and bathroom politics.
In North America and Western Europe, women now compose almost half the workforce but still face disparities in pay and promotions. We suggest that women’s natural experiences of the three Ms (i.e., menstruation, maternity, and menopause) are taboo topics in ways that may constrain women’s careers. We propose that the three Ms are particularly incongruent with expectations at intersecting career stages (i.e., a job market newcomer having menstrual discomfort, an early career professional breastfeeding, a company leader getting hot flashes), with implications for work outcomes. In this review, we tackle the taboo of the three Ms by reviewing the evidence for how menstruation, maternity, and menopause are each linked to (1) hormonal and physiological changes, (2) societal beliefs and stereotypes, and (3) work affect, cognition, and behavior. We conclude by proposing novel implications for incorporating the three Ms into existing theoretical frameworks (i.e., work-nonwork spillover; stigma and disclosure; occupational health) and presenting new research questions and practices for understanding and addressing the ways that women’s health intersects with career trajectories.
This article examines the double burden of ‘menstrual etiquette’ and the implications for women’s inclusion in public spaces in Scotland today. Beginning from Laws’ work on ‘menstrual etiquette’, we explore how menstrual etiquette is characterised primarily by the burden of rendering menstruation invisible, both discursively and practically. However, women not only work to ensure that others remain unaware that they are menstruating; they depend on technologies, such as menstrual product dispensers and bins, to facilitate this process of rendering menstruation invisible. When these technologies are absent or poorly maintained, women experience a double burden: not only must they maintain the social invisibility of menstruation but do so without social or infrastructural support or drawing attention to this absence (for fear of breaching the discursive silence demanded of menstrual etiquette). We locate poor maintenance of facilities within the very same ‘civilising process’ that has pushed women’s bodily management to the furthest reaches of the private sphere. Socially invisible, these infrastructural supports are granted low status and poorly maintained. The pressure to maintain conceptual silence around menstruation limits women’s capacity to contest this neglect and, in turn, perpetuates their exclusion from public space. This article, then, exposes the nature and the compounding temporal and affective burden of menstrual etiquette and advocates for breaking discursive silences to facilitate much needed social change.
This study explores female faculty members’ pregnancy and pregnant embodiment in academia. Based on semi-structured interviews with 32 faculty mothers from 21 academic institutions in the U.S., I examine their experiences of working while pregnant and highlight the ways that the pregnant body disrupts the masculine disembodied ideal academic worker norm. Pregnancy can still be an anomaly in the university classroom where the division between work and family – mind and body – is the norm and where the ‘ideal academic worker’ model can influence who succeeds or fails. The ideal of the disembodied academic influenced the pregnant women’s decisions about when to announce their pregnancy, how they managed their pregnant body, and how colleagues and students responded to their growing physique. The conclusion calls for more research on how the academic workplace responds to the embodied realities brought about by the changing sex composition of university faculty.
This study explored the disposal strategies of menstrual sanitary products through in-depth semi-structured interviews with women aged 18–30 years. There have been many educational campaigns to improve solid waste disposal, but inappropriate disposal and blockages are still a major problem for the water industry. While quantitative studies exploring self-reporting of flushing norms have been conducted, there is evidence to suggest that these results may not take into account the complex set of socio-cultural factors associated with menstrual product disposal. Bridging this gap, the interviews undertaken in this work revealed that although all participants had a desire to dispose responsibly, their ability to utilise solid waste streams or to minimise waste by using reusable products was not always possible because they felt, to some degree, restricted by the wider societal requirements for discretion and the design, accessibility and availability of bins and bathroom facilities. Based on these findings, industry recommendations are suggested.
This article advances feminist organizational theorizing about embodiment and subjectivity by investigating menopause at work as a temporally constituted phenomenon. We ask how time matters in women’s embodied and subjective experiences of menopause at work. Theoretically, we draw on feminist writers McNay and Grosz to explore the relationship between gendered agency and time in a corpus of 48 qualitative interviews conducted with women employed at two Australian universities about their experiences of menopause. Our empirical analysis identifies three temporal modalities – episodic, helical and relational – that show how gendered organizational subjectivities are not simply temporally situated, but created in and through distinct temporal forces. We offer two contributions to feminist organizational theory: first, by illuminating the ontological role played by time in gendered agency; and second, by fleshing out the notion of a ‘body politics of surprise’ with implications for feminist studies of organizational embodiment, politics and ethics.
Our built environment is required to meet human needs at the most basic of levels. If our pavements and roads aff ord our movement across the built environment's landscapes, then provisions should also be in place to meet the needs of the body in motion. This paper will take a historical perspective of the introduction and design of public toilets to illustrate how certain spaces in the city were defi ned by the bodies that toilet provision served. It will show how biological functions such as menstruation are not being met by public toilet design and infrastructure, and how overall provision is inadequate for women for both biological and social factors. Public toilets refl ect and reinforce a binary gender society, resulting in some users being excluded or their rights to access challenged by others. A new chapter is currently being writt en regarding the needs of transgender people, raising questions around existing design diff erences between men's and women's toilets and the very notion of segregating public toilets by gender, evident through the growing numbers of 'gender-neutral toilets'. However, these changes to public toilet design and provision are emerging without expert guidance and with a lack of research into how this might positively or negatively impact diff erent groups. Designers, architects and planners are facing a series of interesting challenges when considering how new and existing UK provision can be inclusive of a diversity of bodies and their rights to access without excluding those socially and culturally dependent on a gender-segregated space.
This paper contributes to theory on maternity, embodiment and organizations through advancing a contemporary theory of ‘abjection as practice’ in relation to breastfeeding and employment. Drawing upon the work of Margaret Shildrick and Julia Kristeva, it analyses a qualitative study of netnographic (internet) discussions among employed breastfeeding mothers, observing how lactating bodies are treated as abject within organizations. It proposes that hostile behaviour towards breastfeeding women could be seen as a form of ‘abjection as practice’, displaying a purposeful intent to exclude breast milk production from workplace contexts. In exploring the position of breastfeeding workers, the paper observes how breastfeeding women occupy an uncomfortable space on the borders between health ideals of ‘proper’ mothering and organizational notions of ‘good’ worker. The situation of breastfeeding employees is rendered ambiguous and such uncertainties invoke co-worker antipathy. Co-worker hostility towards breastfeeding colleagues appears validated at work because minimal action is taken to address deliberate utilization of ‘abjection as practice’ towards breastfeeding workers.
This cross-sectional study explored associations of irregular menstruation with occupational characteristics, using secondary analyses of data from 4,731 women aged 19–54 years, collected from a nationally representative sample, the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey-V during 2010–2012. The associations between irregular menstruation and occupation were explored using multiple logistic regression. Compared to non-manual workers, service/sales workers had a greater odds of irregular menstruation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04–1.99) as did manual workers and unemployed women (aOR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.10–2.22, aOR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.14–1.89, respectively). Compared to regular workers, temporary workers and unemployed women had aORs of 1.52 (95% CI: 1.08–2.13) and 1.33 (95% CI: 1.05–1.69), respectively. Also, when compared to full-time workers, part-time workers and unemployed women had greater odds of irregular menstruation (aOR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.00–2.00 and aOR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.03–1.63, respectively). Further, compared to daytime workers, shift workers and unemployed women had greater odds irregular menstruation (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.03–1.88 and aOR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.04–1.59, respectively). Women with these occupational characteristics should be screened for early diagnosis and intervention for irregular menstruation.
Social, political, and economic changes affecting labor markets and human resource management (HRM) practices continue to shape employee well-being into the twenty-first century. In this paper, we argue that much influential work on employee well-being has focused on individualistic, psychological conceptualizations at the expense of a more interdisciplinary approach that takes wider social and contextual realities more fully into account. In particular, we critique the neoliberal emphasis on individual responsibility underpinning work on positive psychology, the psychology of happiness, and resilience in relation to employee well-being. We next draw upon inclusive socio-structural conceptualizations of violence – defined here in terms of the use of power in the employment relationship to implement workplace practices that cause harm – to provide a more contextualized, politicized, and interdisciplinary conceptualization of employee well-being in relation to HRM. Finally, we outline an alternative well-being agenda for research and practice, based on investigating socio-structural types of employee violence transmitted through various HRM practices, types of harm and manifestations of resistance and nonviolence. We argue that such an approach to well-being can, through its greater acknowledgment of types of violence, indignity, and inequality in social systems, complement prevailing psychological approaches and compensate for some of their limitations.
Studies have begun to explore how those women academics committed to social justice, namely feminist academics, are navigating the increasingly managerial Academy. To understand how these multiple social identities, including gender and ethnicity, interact and intersect, this paper adopts an intersectional approach to understanding the heterogeneity of women’s experiences in academia. Five focus groups with feminist academics (n = 6–10 in each focus group) reveal concerns of hampered career progression as a consequence of being female and openly feminist. Some ethnic minority academics felt that they were forced to choose between a feminist identity or that of their ethnic background. For some women, their feminist identity provided opportunities for challenging dominant practices. The paper concludes that the heterogeneity of feminist academics’ experiences within academia is under-researched and that the lens of intersectionality helps to illuminate this. This paper advances understanding of multiple identities at work, though demonstrating that intersectionality can lead to the accumulation of advantage as well as disadvantage in relation to social identities such as gender and ethnicity, and a political identity such as feminist.
Dirty Work profiles a number of occupations that society deems tainted. The volume's vivid, ethnographic reports focus on the communication that helps workers manage the moral, social, and physical stains that derive from engaging in such occupations. The creative ways that those who perform such dirty work learn to communicate with each other, and with outsiders, regulate the negative aspects of the work itself and emphasize the positives so that workers can maintain a sense of self-value even while performing devalued occupations.
Can trade unions be effective representatives of disabled employees? The paper
presents a qualitative case study of views and experiences of a range of trade union
stakeholders related to a novel UK Union Learning Fund (ULF) project designed to
represent neurological impaired employees employed in the UK rail/transport
industry. The case study is the UK's Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA)
Neurodiversity project that began in 2012. The findings are based on analysis of
focus groups with TSSA members, interviews with neurologically impaired
employees, Neurodiversity Champions and TSSA organisers. The findings suggest the
Neurodiversity project attracted positive sentiments from TSSA members and
neurologically impaired employees, with Neurodiversity Champions and TSSA
organisers reporting successes with individual case work and shaping trade unionemployer
bargaining agendas. Despite examples of resistance from some employers,
an increased number of employers took active steps as the project progressed to
support neurologically impaired employees, and incorporate neurodiversity
practices into organisational strategy. The study makes a unique contribution to
wider debates, showing how trade unions can be effective representatives of
disabled employees.
Human physiological systems are highly responsive to positive social interactions, but the organizational importance of this finding largely has been unexplored. After reviewing extant research, we illustrate how consideration of the physiology of positive social interactions at work opens new research questions about how positive social interactions affect human capacity and how organizational contexts affect employee health and physiological resourcefulness. We also address the practical implications of integrating physiological data into organizational research. Our paper invites a fuller consideration of how employees' bodies are affected by everyday work interactions and, in so doing, encourages a stronger tie between human physiology and organizational research.
Even though epidemiological evidence links specific workplace stressors to health outcomes, the aggregate contribution of these factors to overall mortality and health spending in the United States is not known. In this paper, we build a model to estimate the excess mortality and incremental health expenditures associated with exposure to the following 10 workplace stressors: unemployment, lack of health insurance, exposure to shift work, long working hours, job insecurity, work–family conflict, low job control, high job demands, low social support at work, and low organizational justice. Our model uses input parameters obtained from publicly accessible data sources. We estimated health spending from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and joint probabilities of workplace exposures from the General Social Survey, and we conducted a meta-analysis of the epidemiological literature to estimate the relative risks of poor health outcomes associated with exposure to these stressors. The model was designed to overcome limitations with using inputs from multiple data sources. Specifically, the model separately derives optimistic and conservative estimates of the effect of multiple workplace exposures on health, and uses optimization to calculate upper and lower bounds around each estimate, which accounts for the correlation between exposures. We find that more than 120,000 deaths per year and approximately 5%–8% of annual healthcare costs are associated with and may be attributable to how U.S. companies manage their work forces. Our results suggest that more attention should be paid to management practices as important contributors to health outcomes and costs in the United States.
This paper was accepted by Dimitris Bertsimas, optimization.
In this article, we are concerned with the ethical implications of the entanglement of embodiment and non-human materialities. We argue for an approach to embodiment which recognises its inextricable relationship with multiple materialities. From this, three ethical points are made: first, we argue for an ethical relation to ‘things’ not simply as inanimate objects but as the neglected Others of humanity’s (social and material) world. Second, there is a need to recognise different particularities within these entanglements. We draw on the work of Merleau-Ponty and Levinas to think through how the radical alterity of these Others can be acknowledged, whilst also recognising our intercorporeal intertwining with them. Third, we argue that recognition of this interconnectedness and entanglement is a necessary ethical and political position from which the drawing of boundaries and creation of separations that are inherent in social organising can be understood and which contribute to the denigration, discrimination and dismissal of particular forms of embodiment, including those of non-human Others. In order to explore the ethical implications of these entanglements, we draw upon fieldwork in a large UK-based not-for-profit organisation which seeks to provide support for disabled people through a diverse range of services. Examining entanglements in relation to the disabled body makes visible and problematises the multiple differences of embodiments and their various interrelationships with materiality.
In recent years, the menstrual hygiene management challenges facing schoolgirls in low-income-country contexts have gained global attention. We applied Gusfield's sociological analysis of the culture of public problems to better understand how this relatively newly recognized public health challenge rose to the level of global public health awareness and action. We similarly applied the conceptualization by Dorfman et al. of the role of public health messaging in changing corporate practice to explore the conceptual frames and the news frames that are being used to shape the perceptions of menstrual hygiene management as an issue of social justice within the context of public health. Important lessons were revealed for getting other public health problems onto the global-, national-, and local-level agendas. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print May 14, 2015: e1-e10. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302525).
* 1. Introduction: political fictions and real oppressions. * 2. Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde: defining domestic work. * 3. A foot in the door: the social organisation of paid domestic work in Europe. * 4. Invisible women I: migrant domestic workers in Southern Europe. * 5. Invisible women II: migrant domestic workers in Northen Europe. * 6. Changing the rules: the case of the UK. * 7. Selling the self: commodification, migration and domestic work. * 8. The legacy of slavery: the American South and contemporary domestic workers. * 9. "Just like one of the family": status and contract. * 10. "Your passport is your life": domestic workers and the state. * 11. Conclusion.
The health effects of menstruation are a controversial explanation for gender gaps in absenteeism and earnings. This paper provides the first evidence on this issue using data that combines labor market outcomes with information on health. We find that menstrual problems could account for some of the gender gap in illness-related absences, but menstrual problems are associated with other negative health conditions, suggesting that our estimates may overstate causal effects. Nevertheless, menstrual problems explain very little of the gender gap in earnings.
Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12059/abstract- Inspired by Hélène Cixous's ‘The laugh of the Medusa’, this paper revisits a public uproar over menstruation in the workplace triggered by a statement from the CEO of New Zealand's largest body of private sector employers, that periods make women take more sick leave than men. The utterance triggered an astonishing outpouring of public discussion and writing about working while menstruating, as well as about productivity and equal pay. We discuss how a comment about women's periods ruptured the status quo of menstrual repression by using selected online posts rendered as poems. Then, drawing on Cixous and the idea of poetic rapture, we discuss women's online writing in tandem with feminist writing on menstruation. In our theoretical reflections we consider how poetry, menstruation and social media can ‘make trouble’ for regimes of power. We argue that menstruation should be a required topic for organizational studies.
Background: Teacher stress potentially impairs personal and professional competence and compromises productivity. Aversive emotional experience has been most comprehensively encapsulated by the phenomenon of burnout, which is particularly prominent for staff in human service sectors. Burnout reactions have been characterised as tripartite: the depletion of emotional reserves (emotional exhaustion), an increasingly cynical and negative approach towards others (depersonalisation) and a growing feeling of work-related dissatisfaction (personal accomplishment).Purpose: Few studies have investigated the emotional consequences of teachers' stress and even fewer have specifically focused on university educators. A systematic literature review was thus conducted to evaluate the extent of burnout for university teaching staff and specifically to reveal predictive variables, which may explain this experience in this understudied occupational group.Design and methods: Six databases including Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), PsychINFO and Scopus were searched using the terms burnout, university, academics, teaching staff, lecturers, research staff and faculty. Papers were limited to English language peer-reviewed empirical investigations ofburnout in full-time university teaching staff. Papers not adopting a clear operationalisation of burnout were rejected. Twelve papers met the criteria and were included in the review. A detailed data extraction form was used to reveal relevant information from each paper.Conclusions: The review revealed that staff exposure to high numbers of students, especially tuition of postgraduates, strongly predicts the experience of burnout. Other predictive variables included gender, with higher depersonalisation scores found in male teachers and female teachers typically scoring higher onthe emotional exhaustion dimension. Age also demonstrated an association, with younger staff appearing more vulnerable to emotional exhaustion. Burnout in university teachers was comparable with other service sector employees such asschoolteachers and healthcare professionals. The current review reveals a scarcity of comparative studies across different university contexts, therefore multi-site studies are required in order to control for the potential influence ofmoderating variables such as institution age when measuring burnout in university teachers.
This paper aims at discussing the notion of the body in organization theory. The postmodern and the linguistic turns in social theory have focused all forms of lexical, linguistic, semiotic and symbolic theories of organizations. This paper argues that these positions have contributed substantially to organization theory but that there are considerable, embodied activities of organizations that are excluded, marginalized or overlooked. Therefore, it is important to rethink and problematize the use of human bodies in organizations. Four different perspectives on embodiment are examined in the text: phenomenology, feminist theory, theories of practice and postmodern theory. The paper concludes that organization theory needs to integrate the human body to fully understand how organizations operate.
The article theorizes the positioning implications of a specific occasion of silence told through an autobiographical narrative. Positioning theory is discussed, as are modifications to speech act theory. These discussions raise questions concerning the social power relations that enable specific silences. The article reads an account of a mother's silence to argue that that silence may enable subject positions that marginalize or exclude the silent participant, reproduce criteria of inadmissibility or incompetence, or code some experiences as ineffable. The article also discusses silence as an effect of potentially contradictory positioning.
This article aims to make a contribution to the literature by addressing an undertheorized aspect of sensemaking: its embodied narrative nature. We do so by integrating a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective of narrative and storytelling with a documentary case taken from a filmed tour of a sports team to illustrate the process of sensemaking around a specific event. We argue that we make our lives, ourselves and our experience ‘sensible’ in embodied interpretations and interactions with others. We suggest this occurs within contested, embedded, narrative performances in which we try to construct sensible and plausible accounts that are responsive to the moment and to retrospective and anticipatory narratives.