Gender, occupational gender segregation and sickness absence

Abstract

Women have much higher sickness absence rates than men. One prominent hypothesis is that this is a result of gender segregation in the labour market and the differences in employment or working conditions that follow from this. Previous studies assessing this idea give mixed results, but they do not take into account the possibility of selection effects. Long-term health differences between individuals may for instance influence both what jobs people end up in and their levels of sickness absence. In this paper we provide new evidence on employment and working conditions as a cause of gender differences in sickness absence. We use individual fixed effect models to account for selection based on stable individual characteristics. Like several previous studies we find a U-shaped relationship with high absence in both male-and female-dominated occupations. However, the fixed effect models show that this relationship is primarily caused by over-representation of absenceprone individuals in female-dominated occupations. Accounting for selection, the association between the proportion of women in the occupation and sickness absence is negative. As far as sickness absence is concerned, the gender segregation in the labour market thus seems to work to the advantage of women.

Gender equality in sickness absence tolerance: Attitudes and norms of sickness absence are not different for men and women

“…Past studies on gender differences in sickness absence have mainly focused on factors that may cause women to have more health problems or be more susceptible to illness than men, and health issues related to pregnancy do indeed seem to account for part of the gender gap [ 8 , 9 ]. However, other health-related explanations have received limited empirical support, with neither heavier work/family loads among women than among men [ 10 , 11 ] nor differing work conditions for women and men appearing to be of major importance for the gender difference [ 12 , 13 ]. Thus, the gender gap in sickness absence remains largely unexplained [ 2 , 6 ].…”

“…So far, sickness absence norms in relation to gendered occupations have not been tested, but several studies suggest a tendency of higher sickness absence rates in female-dominated occupations or workplaces [ 38 , 39 ]. This tendency could imply that sickness absence norms are more lenient in cases of female-dominated occupations compared to male-dominated or gender-integrated occupations, particularly because past research indicates that female-dominated occupations are not unhealthier than male-dominated occupations are [ 12 , 13 ]. We posit the following hypothesis:…”

“…Norway, adhering to the Nordic welfare model, is characterised by high participation of women in education and the workforce, as well as by shared housework and childcare [ 40 , 41 ]. However, despite Norway being a gender-equal welfare state, Norway’s labour market remains remarkably gender segregated and women have substantially higher sickness absence than men [ 13 , 41 – 43 ]. The gender difference in sickness absence is mainly evident for physician-certified sickness absence.…”

Long-term Sickness Absence Among Professionals: Investigating Gender, Socioeconomic Position and Care Work

“…Third, differences in risk of LTSA could be due to selection into occupations. A recent study found that the heightened risk of LTSA in female-dominated occupations (e.g., nursing) could be attributed to unobserved heterogeneity rather than occupationspecific characteristics (e.g., working conditions) (Melsom & Mastekaasa 2017). Thus, it is likely that both men and women more inclined to be on sick leave are sorted into caring professions indicating that sorting mechanisms as opposed to work environment mechanisms are present.…”

Human Capital Gender Structure As A Factor Of Socio-Economic Regional Development

“…All mentioned above indicates that growing investment in family welfare, including indirectly through investments in health care and education (Melsom & Mastekaasa, 2018), contributes to the better access for women to a number of valuable resources, which include employment, land, and capital. This leads to the conclusion that the correlation between the income of children and their education, as well as the income of their mothers, is much higher than the similar correlation between children and their fathers.…”