Abstract

FERNANDEZ FELIPE, M.ª Carmen; CRUZ CANTOS, M.ª Luisa de la; GAYOSO DOLDAN, María  and  RODRIGUEZ TUPAYACHI, Shirley. Mental load in working women: gender inequality and prevalence. Med. segur. trab. [online]. 2015, vol.61, n.238, pp.18-33. ISSN 1989-7790.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0465-546X2015000100003.

Introduction: Gender equality is a concern introduced in the last years by both, international and national institutions. Equality is also an issue into the world of work, involving job division and occupational exposure to psychosocial risks, mainly in societies which economy is based in information and knowledge. The aims are to identify, among the Spanish working population, gender inequality situations regarding the different components of mental load and to estimate its prevalence. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Spanish «VII National Survey on Working Conditions» with a sample of 8.892 workers. The data were analyzed in a bi-variant way, chi-square test was used for qualitative variables and t-test for independent samples for quantitative variables. The significance was considered at p < 0.05. In order to analyze the influence of any factors related with mental workload, its components and their interaction, a binary logistic regression was performed using step backward method (Wald). Results: Men have a lower mental load than women regarding work pace, OR = 0,89 (0,8-0.9), prevalence of a «high work pace» was ( 0,65‰) in women versus (0,63 ‰ ) in men. Men also refer lower «work load» than women OR = 0, 9 (0,8-1,0 ), figures show, for women, an higher prevalence of fatigue due to work load exposure than men (0,37‰) versus 0,35 ‰)). Conclusion: These results did not corroborate our hypothesis, that women are exposed to a higher overall mental load that men. Analyzing several components of mental load women are more exposed to an «high work pace» and an «high work load and fatigue».

Keywords : Inequality; Gender; working conditions; mental load.

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