Physical Exposures in Work Commonly Done by Women

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 639-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Messing

The North American workforce is still highly sex-segregated, with most members of each sex in jobs composed primarily of workers of the same sex. This division is accentuated when jobs involve physical demands. Women have traditionally been assigned to tasks whose physical demands are considered to be light. Nevertheless, these tasks can have biological effects, sometimes serious. Phenomena related to physical demands of women's work can be considered in three categories: (a) musculoskeletal and cardiovascular demands of tasks often assigned to women in factories and service work; (b) sex- and gender-specific effects of toxic substances found in the workplace; and (c) interactions between work and the domestic responsibilities of many women. These phenomena are described, using examples recently gathered from workplaces. Effects of biological sex are distinguished, as far as possible, from effects of gender (social roles). Keywords: ergonomics, gender, occupation, anthropometry, toxicity, repetitive movements, static effort

Author(s):  
Lucy Mercer-Mapstone ◽  
Sarah Bajan ◽  
Kasia Banas ◽  
Arthur Morphett ◽  
Kristine McGrath

The need to make higher education curricula gender-inclusive is increasingly pressing as student cohorts diversify. We adopted a student-staff partnership approach to design, integrate, and evaluate a module that taught first-year science students the difference between biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in the context of genetics concepts at an Australian university. This module aimed to break the binary in misconceptions of both sex and gender, emphasising that both exist on separate spectra. Data triangulation was used to evaluate students’ attitudes towards the module and their learning of module concepts. Students’ attitudes were positive overall, and evaluation of students’ learning indicated that the majority of students understood and retained key concepts, while also identifying common misconceptions. Perhaps the most important finding was that students who identified as belonging to a minority group had significantly more positive attitudes towards the module than non-minority students. This finding supports previous research that has found inclusive curricula have greater benefit for students from minority backgrounds, indicating the importance of making such curriculum enhancements. Our results speak to both the co-creation process and students’ learning outcomes, providing valuable insights for practitioners both within science and beyond.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155708512199133
Author(s):  
Susan Gluck Mezey

There are three reason why I disagree with the author’s premise that 2019 Equality Act disadvantages women by blurring the distinction between sex and gender identity. First, it ignores current legal theory and practice that sex discrimination encompasses gender identity discrimination in federal law; second, it has not made a sufficient case that the Act’s interpretation of sex would harm women; third, it incorrectly assumes gender equality in the workplace can be achieved while sex-segregated spaces remain segregated by biological sex. In sum, revising the Equality Act to exempt women’s spaces would sacrifice the principle of gender equality upon which the Act is based.


Author(s):  
Anna Marie Smith

A chapter addressing the formation of the subject, and the rejection of the assumption that gender and sex are simply given, in various feminist theory paradigms. The project of advancing gender justice requires close attention to the ways in which categories of biological sex and gender, in intersectional relations with race, ethnicity, nationality, class and so on, are historically constructed and deployed to bring subjects into being, even as these same categories are resisted and re-negotiated at the same time in an always agonistic field of social relations. Special reference is made to three pairs of theoretical paradigms and practitioners: liberal feminism and Nancy J. Hirschmann; antiracist socialist feminism and Angela Davis; Derridean-Foucauldian theory and Judith Butler.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wyllians Borelli ◽  
Carolina Formoso ◽  
Andrei Bieger ◽  
Eduardo Zimmer ◽  
Marcia Chaves ◽  
...  

Background: Subjective Cognitive Decline may represent the earliest clinical manifestation of the Alzheimer’s continuum. A continental-size country like Brazil demands regionalized strategies to provide adequate public health strategies. Objectives: To analyze the prevalence of SCD in Brazilian regions, sex and genders. Methods: Data was gathered from a complex-sample epidemiological study named ELSI (Estudo Longitudinal da Saúde de Idosos). SCD criteria was applied within the dataset. Weighting for complex-sampling was performed. Data was analyzed according to national region, sex and gender. Results: Overall nationwide prevalence of SCD was 15.48%. Prevalence of SCD was the highest in Midwest (19.9%), followed by Northeast (17%), North (16.9%), South (14.6%) and Southeast (14.2%, p <0.0001). Among adults, males in the North showed the highest prevalence of SCD (27.5%), while the lowest prevalence was in females in the Southeast (14.4%). Among older adults, the highest prevalence was in females in the North (19.2%), while females in the Southeast showed the lowest (11.2%). Prevalence of SCD was statistically similar in females and males (15.6% vs. 16.1%, p=0.6). Conclusions: Brazil exhibits distinct profiles of SCD according to regions, sex and genders that should be analyzed by policymakers in public health. The Midwest presented the highest prevalence of SCD. Individually, male adults and female older adults in the North presented the highest prevalence in Brazil.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-125
Author(s):  
Cristine Secco Rosário ◽  
Cristina Alves Cardozo ◽  
Herberto José Chong Neto ◽  
Nelson Augusto Rosário Filho

Differences between biological sex, gender identity, and their impact on health may have significant implications for the prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of several diseases, including allergies. Asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), atopic dermatitis (AD), and allergic conjunctivitis (AC) have different prevalences and different risk factors in infancy. Although boys present allergies more often in childhood, it quickly changes during girls’ sexual development, leading to lifelong female predominance of allergic diseases. This can be explained by the influence of sexual hormones, different lifestyles adopted by men and women, microbiota diversity, diet distinctions, professional options, and adherence to treatment, among others. Gender-related aspects should become essential parameters in allergology to diagnostic and therapeutic stratification, associated with molecular, genetic, and epigenetic patterns. Longitudinal studies would be interesting to evaluate possible mechanisms underlying these differences in prevalence. Sex- and gender-specific observations beyond 14 years of age are scarce and further allergic multimorbidity studies in different populations, especially in adults, are necessary.


2013 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 692-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C. Brown

In this two-part activity, high school biology students examine human karyotyping, sex-chromosome-linked disorders, and the relationship between biological sex and gender. Through interactive simulations and a structured discussion lab, students create a human karyotype and diagnose chromosomal disorders in hypothetical patients, as well as formulate a scientifically based argument distinguishing biological sex from gender. This activity reinforces biology concepts such as DNA structure and function, meiosis, and the inheritance of traits. In their arguments, students integrate prior knowledge with science content. This lesson connects the world of science with issues important in their own lives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Heike Kessler ◽  
Klara Langmann

AbstractPrevious studies have emphasized a person’s biological sex as a factor which influences online search behavior. This study aims to investigate how people (N = 44 students) search online for political information (N = 220 search tasks) and if gendered online search exists. We examined online search behavior via eye tracking while the participants searched for information about political party positions on the Internet. A content analysis of the eye tracking data followed and was evaluated with a special focus on the role of biological sex and social gender, and the relationship of both factors with other variables, such as self-reported prior political knowledge, political interest, and Internet skills (via an online survey). The results accord with previous studies in that the sex influences the online search process. However, this relationship was partially mediated by self-reported political interest and prior knowledge. This outcome calls for a more critical use of the sex variable in reference to political online search behavior, and the inclusion of sex and gender related variables.


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