Health and Health Care of Employed Women and Homemakers

Abstract

Women's increasing participation in the labor force has resulted from availability of fertility control, changed attitudes toward family size, a strong demand for occupations traditionally filled by women, and other factors. Despite many social changes, employed women continue to be concentrated in lower-income pursuits and frequently have major responsibility for,the household. This paper is drawn from a study that explored the association of occupation and home responsibilities with the health of employed women and men and compared them with female homemakers. It also examined variations in the use of physician and hospital services. The principal data source was the National Health Interview Survey .tapes for 1975-77. Nurturant role responsibilities were derived from records of members of the index adult's household. This paper reports on comparisons of employed women with homemakers using multiple regression analysis, and also on direct comparisons of the three work-sex groups. Study findings suggest that better health is associated with desired, positive roles such as marriage and married parenthood. Worse health is associated with unwelcome role expansions such as single parenthood, child disability, having a sick spouse and marital dissolution. Effects vary by both sex and work status. It is suggested that it is not the number of activities that may be burdensome to women's health but inability to choose one's roles and organize one's resources to meet their demands.