University of Helsinki - Research news
Bedridden
Really, what should we think when women are much more often off sick for short periods?
Week 9/2008
Regardless of the state of gender equality, men are doing well! At least if it is anything to go by that men tend not to call off sick and seldom admit to feeling poorly enough to see a doctor. Women are much more likely to recognise symptoms and find it easier to seek help.
Really, what should we think when women are much more often off sick for short periods? Perhaps the difficulty of combining work and family is evident in the sick leave statistics? Or is women’s morbidity genuinely higher?
According to a study carried out by public health and sociology researchers at the University of Helsinki, female municipal employees had as much as 50 percent more sick leave than men during the research period. The difference between genders levelled off only in sick leave longer than two weeks.
An article published on 5 February in the journal Occupation and Environmental Medicine sought an explanation for the phenomenon from the health status of the research subjects as well as their family and working conditions. The writers concluded that women are indeed more sick than men.
“It turned out not to be a question of women having a lower threshold than men for calling in sick. They genuinely had more health problems,” says Mikko Laaksonen, University Lecturer from the Department of Sociology.
Women also suffered from the physical demands of their work and work fatigue more often than men. Family situations did not offer any meaningful explanation as to the differences in absence due to illness.
The survey involved nearly 7,000 employees of the City of Helsinki between the age of 40 and 60 years. Gender difference in sick leave patterns remain partly unexplained. Laaksonen recommends a further analysis of what is behind short-term sick leave, because when accumulated, they form a substantial amount of the total number of days spent on sick leave.
Text: Virve Pohjanpalo
Photo: Mirja Mäenpää
Translation: Valtasana Oy
