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Sickness absence in female- and male-dominated occupations and workplaces

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  • Mastekaasa, Arne

Abstract

Previous research suggests that both men's and women's level of sickness absence may be systematically related to the gender composition of their workplace as well as of their occupational category. The number of studies is, however, low and the composition of the occupational category has often been used as a proxy for the composition of the workplace. This paper employs a large data set broadly representative of the employed population of Norway. The data make it possible to take workplace and occupation simultaneously into account. Thus, the relationship between the gender composition of the workplace and sickness absence is estimated with detailed control for differences between occupational categories. Likewise, the importance of the gender composition of the occupation is assessed with control for between workplace variation. Men's sickness absence turns out to be largely unrelated to the gender composition of the workplace. For women the level of sickness absence tends to be higher in female-dominated workplaces, but the relationship is weak. These findings provide evidence against theories suggesting that the minority sex in the workplace faces special problems and is therefore more absent. They are to some extent consistent with the idea that female-dominated workplaces develop norms that are more tolerant towards sickness absence. The relationship of sickness absence to the gender composition of the occupational category is similar to the U-shaped pattern found in several previous studies (highest sickness absence both in strongly male-dominated and strongly female-dominated occupations), but again the relationship is weak.

Suggested Citation

  • Mastekaasa, Arne, 2005. "Sickness absence in female- and male-dominated occupations and workplaces," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2261-2272, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:10:p:2261-2272
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tim A. Barmby & Marco G. Ercolani & John G. Treble, 2002. "Sickness Absence: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(480), pages 315-331, June.
    2. Evans, Olga & Steptoe, Andrew, 2002. "The contribution of gender-role orientation, work factors and home stressors to psychological well-being and sickness absence in male- and female-dominated occupational groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 481-492, February.
    3. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andersson, Fredrik W. & Bokenblom, Mattias & Brantingson, Staffan & Brännström, Susanne Gullberg & Wall, Johan, 2011. "Sick listing—Partly a family phenomenon?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 496-502.
    2. Dyrstad, Karin & Halvorsen, Thomas & Hem, Karl-Gerhard & Rohde, Tarald, 2016. "Sick of waiting: Does waiting for elective treatment cause sickness absence?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(12), pages 1383-1388.
    3. Hyun‐Jung Lee & Riccardo Peccei, 2007. "Organizational‐Level Gender Dissimilarity and Employee Commitment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(4), pages 687-712, December.
    4. Silke Tophoven & Jean-Baptist du Prel & Richard Peter & Veronika Kretschmer, 2015. "Working in gender-dominated occupations and depressive symptoms: findings from the two age cohorts of the lidA study [Geschlechterdominierte Berufe und Depressivität: Ergebnisse zu den zwei Altersk," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 247-262, October.
    5. Krisztina D László & Charlotte Björkenstam & Pia Svedberg & Petra Lindfors & Kristina Alexanderson, 2019. "Sickness absence and disability pension before and after first childbirth and in nulliparous women by numerical gender segregation of occupations: A Swedish population-based longitudinal cohort study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Milner, Allison & King, Tania & LaMontagne, Anthony D. & Bentley, Rebecca & Kavanagh, Anne, 2018. "Men’s work, Women’s work, and mental health: A longitudinal investigation of the relationship between the gender composition of occupations and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 16-22.
    7. Backhans, Mona C. & Lundberg, Michael & Månsdotter, Anna, 2007. "Does increased gender equality lead to a convergence of health outcomes for men and women? A study of Swedish municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1892-1903, May.
    8. Kieron James Barclay, 2013. "Sex ratios at sexual maturity and longevity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(31), pages 837-864.
    9. Yue Qian & Wen Fan, 2019. "Men and Women at Work: Occupational Gender Composition and Affective Well-Being in the United States," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 2077-2099, October.
    10. Zang, Emma & Zheng, Hui, 2018. "Does the sex ratio at sexual maturity affect men's later-life mortality risks? Evidence from historical China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 61-69.
    11. Anja M S Ariansen & Arnstein Mykletun, 2014. "Does Postponement of First Pregnancy Increase Gender Differences in Sickness Absence? A Register Based Analysis of Norwegian Employees in 1993–2007," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-12, March.
    12. Anne May Melsom, 2015. "The Gender of Managers and Sickness Absence," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440155, March.

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