Psychosocial risks at work: Women’s invisible reality

According to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, (3) psychosocial factors are identifiable, measurable and modifiable risks related to work organization, management practices, employment conditions and social relations. The psychosocial factors likely to affect women in the workplace include:

Women usually shoulder more family responsibilities than men. Planning and organizing family affairs can involve so many tasks that they end up taking a toll on work life: phone calls from the daycare centre because your child is sick, appointments with the pediatrician, visits to the pharmacy, etc. Add to this already heavy mental load the pressure to be productive and available and to perform in the workplace, and you can understand why work-family balance is difficult for women.

Despite all of the advances women have made toward breaking the glass ceiling, pay inequity persists. In 2021, the hourly wage of women workers in Quebec was still 10% lower than that of men (4). Although it is slowly closing, the current gap is the equivalent of working for free one month a year! (5)

According to Statistics Canada, 60% of women between the ages of 25 and 34 admit to having been a victim of harassment or sexual assault at work. That is 54% more than men in the same age group. Quebec’s 2024 Act to prevent and fight psychological harassment and sexual violence in the workplace (6) is a more than welcome step in the right direction.

Psychosocial risks can cause various physical health problems, including trouble concentrating, sleep disorders, nervousness, fatigue, palpitations and many more. (7) They can also cause mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and burnout. (8) More than 60% of working women in the United States say that stress is their number one problem at work. (9)

Employers would do well to be aware of the impact of these risks on their company’s performance, because they can lead to:

• absenteeism and presenteeism
• loss of productivity
• early retirement
• accidents, incidents and delays
• customer dissatisfaction

According to section 51 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety, employers must protect not only workers’ physical safety, but their mental well-being as well. (10) In addition to these legal responsibilities, implementing effective preventive measures in the workplace helps ensure companies’ economic success. (11)

Read the other two articles in the “Women’s health and the workplace” series for more information:

• Beyond the bikini: A holistic approach to women’s health
• Solutions for improving women’s health in the workplace