| Abstract |
Researchers and women's health advocates over the years have highlighted the importance of the relationship between work and women's health. This complex area of investigation includes the impact of women's work in the unpaid private and paid public spheres, the role of societal norms and social policies on gendered roles and discrimination in the workplace, and the disproportionate impact of precarious employment conditions, chronic musculoskeletal diseases, violence and harassment at work among others. The 5th International Congress of Women, Work and Health, held in Zacatecas, Mexico from October 27th-31st of 2008, brought together 625 participants from 43 countries - academic and government researchers, policy makers, workers and community and labor-based women's advocacy groups - to discuss these critical issues. Plenary sessions, workshops and discussion forums led to a series of resolutions including those focused on improving the health of domestic workers; monitoring persistent organic compounds in mothers' milk; developing indicators for gender equity, working conditions and health in population surveys; and developing a women, work and health initiative in the Americas. A special issue of New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, forthcoming in December 2010, will publish articles from the Congress, highlighting research and public policy initiatives in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil and Spain. NIOSH funding facilitated the participation of nineteen women researchers and interpreters, the publication of articles in a special issue of the New Solutions journal dedicated to Women, Work and Health and the translation of four articles from Spanish for publication in that issue. The articles address work and health among immigrant and migrant women in the Americas and describe public policy initiatives to protect the health of domestic workers and home care providers in the U.S. and Canada and among female elected officials in Bolivia. They also document the impact of global and workplace production policies on women in the agricultural and maquiladora export industries in Mexico as well as the persistence of gender inequality in the domestic sphere and the effect on women who must juggle simultaneous work and family demands in Brazil and Spain. Articles will be published with abstracts in both English and Spanish and the issue will be distributed at the 6th International Congress on Women, Work and Health to be held in Spain. Information from the Congress and a link to the journal issue will also be posted on the Zacatecas Congress web page, currently being re-designed with partial funding from NIOSH. |
