t
He
sexual
division
of
labour
: "
Women
'
s
"
Work
and
"
men
'
s
"
Work
this issue have felt that it would not be a good strategy to argue for
inclusion of work-related menstrual problems in the occupational
health and safety system, due to fears of a negative effect on
employment possibilities for women.
Women are, however, relatively at ease in arguing for protection for
possible damage to their fetus from dangerous working conditions
(Turcotte, 1992). This may be because protecting children is seen
as an appropriate maternal role. Also, according to an analysis
of jurisprudence on reproductive hazards in Quebec, Canada,
policy-makers are sensitive to safety issues for the fetus and take the
view that "a pregnant worker has a member of the public in her womb"
(Lippel, 1998).
Occupational health-related sex and gender
differences
In order to make the workplace accessible to women and men with
no discrimination, employers must take into account diversity
among employees related to both biological and gender differences.
On the other hand, some researchers have queried the focus on
sex to the exclusion of other relevant population characteristics
(Meinert and Gilpin, 2001). Biological sex differences should not
be used erroneously to justify job segregation or inequitable health
promotion measures.
Men are on average taller, larger and heavier than women,
contributing to sex differences in average values of other important
health-related variables such as blood volume and oxygen
consumption. For example, sampling from populations at Canadian
army bases indicates that women's average wrist to index finger
length is 170 cm and men's is 183 cm (7.6% longer). The hands of
about 92% of the women were shorter than that of the average man,
and the hands of about 92% of the men were longer than that of the
average woman. However, there was considerable overlap: 36% of
the women's and 46% of the men's were between 170 and 183 cm
Biological sex
differences should
not be used
erroneously to
justify job
segregation