Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnt, Work, And hEAlth InEquAlItIEs - a global perspective
is evidence that men and women perceive and live their unemployment differently, which may differently affect their
children. studies show that a father's unemployment more negatively influences child health (piko & Fitzpatrick,
2001; sleskova et al., 2006a). second, the effect of parental unemployment on their children seems to differ by
country. there is a possibility that, in countries where the unemployment rate is higher and where the
unemployment benefits are lower, children suffer more from parental unemployment (sleskova et al., 2006b). third,
there is a question of the role of financial stress in the relationship of parental unemployment to children's health.
since financial stress is tightly connected with unemployment as well as with the health of children, it might be
supposed that financial stress alone explains this relationship. however, recent studies show that the negative
effect of parental unemployment on the health of their children remain, even after taking into account the lack of
financial resources (reinhardt, Madsen, & Kohler, 2005; sleskova et al., 2006a).
on the other hand, many other factors need to be studied. For example, still open is the question of changes of
parental support and behaviour toward the child and adolescent during the period of unemployment. unclear also
is whether the gender of the child plays a role.
although we still do not know the pathways by which parental unemployment affects the health of their
children, it is important to recognise the suffering of children when their parents are jobless.
References
Jahoda, M, lazarsfeld, p., & hans, Z. (1933). the sociography of an unemployed community. london: tavistock.
Komarovsky, M. (1940). The Unemployed Man and His Family: The Effect of Unemployment upon the Status of the Man in Fifty-
Nine Families. new york: dryden.
piko, b., & Fitzpatrick, K. M. (2001). does class matter ses and psychosocial health among hungarian adolescents. Social
Science & Medicine, 53, 817–830.
reinhardt, p., Madsen, M., & Kohler, l. (2005). does financial strain explain the association between children’s morbidity
and parental non-employment Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 59, 316-321.
sleskova, M., salonna, F., geckova, a., nagyova, i., stewart, r., van dijk, J. et al. (2006a). does parental unemployment affect
adolescents’ health Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(5), 527-535.
sleskova, M., tuinstra, J., Madarasova geckova, a., van dijk, J. p., salonna, F., groothoff, J. w., et al. (2006b). influence of
parental employment status on dutch and slovak adolescents’ health. BMC Public Health, 6, 250.
Case study 46. Interaction between gender, social class, and work in health inequalities. - lucía artazcoz, Joan benach
and carme borrell
research on health inequalities has often considered work as an essential element of conceptual frameworks
that differ by sex. whereas among men the analysis has been focused on social class (often measured through
occupation), among women it has been dominated by the role framework, emphasising women’s roles as
housewives and mothers, with paid employment seen as an additional role (sorensen & verbrugge, 1987). the
dominance of the role framework in studying ill health among women contrasts with the paucity of attention to
family roles (and their associated burdens) and their influence on men’s health.
on the other hand, studies about the social determinants of women’s health have often neglected the
importance of social class. these different approaches are consistent with the traditional sexual division of society,
which assigns men a primary role in the public and labour spheres, while women occupy a primary role in family
life. nowadays, in a context of transition from the traditional gender roles to more equal positions for men and
women in society, a framework which integrates both approaches is needed in order to fully understand workrelated
health inequalities. For example, one study reported a higher impact of unemployment on men’s mental
health among married manual workers, whereas for women, being married, and particularly living with children,
acted as a buffer. it also found that the mediating effect of social class on the impact of unemployment on mental
health differed by gender and family roles (see figure) (artazcoz, benach, borrell, & cortès 2004). it has also been
reported that the negative impact of the domestic workload on female workers’ health is restricted to those of low
job status (artazcoz, borrell, & benach, 2001). Moreover, it has been found that the impact of flexible employment
on mental health depends on the type of contractual arrangement, gender and social class, and it is restricted to
less-privileged workers, women and manual male workers (artazcoz, benach, borrell, & cortès, 2005). these
results illustrate the importance of analysing work-related inequalities in health in a framework which integreates
the social class and gender inequalities approaches.
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