In Her Lifetime Female Morbidity and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa (1996) / Chapter Skim
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9 Occupational and Environmental Health
9 Occupational and Environmental Health
Pages 183-199
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From page 183... ...
As Table 9-1 shows, however, there are already indications of a substantial number of adverse occupational and environmental factors that burden female health status disproportionately in the region. These factors-which include increased exposure to indoor air pollution, toxic wastes, and organic dusts from food processing: ices overload; lack of job control; and ergonomic stressors, among others- are discussed in this chanter.
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From page 184... ...
for any reason biological, reproductive, sociocultural, or economic is different in its implications for females than for males. aOther includes: ill-fittin.~ personal protective equipment designed for men; working under recommended exposure limits for occupational hazards designed for healthy, well-nourished men in the developed countries working an eight-hour day; exposure to malaria prophylaxis and infection that pose serious risks for pregnant women; exposure to uncontrolled chemical and ergonomic hazards that pose risks for the fetus; effects of chemicals, indoor smoke, and injury hazards that extend to infants; work-time requirements that further compromise breastfeedin; and infant nutrition; and lack of sufficient off time" to allow for appropriate rehabilitation from injury or work-related disease, thus exacerbating hazardous exposures or increasing female work loads.
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From page 185... ...
Women's work begins at a young age. These factors have forced many women to engage in informal sector activities in the processing and sale of food products and to participate at high rates in petty commerce, especially in West Africa (Bukh, 19803.
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From page 186... ...
Such taskswhether they are farming, petty trading, processing of crops, or commercial sex work are typically small-scale activities with no access to capital, and yield little profit. The positive side of women's work, in both the formal and informal sectors, is that in addition to offering more flexibility in childcare, in many cases it affords opportunities for access to resources and allows women control over their own destinies, including economic survival for those fleeing oppressive marriages or without land.
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From page 187... ...
As noted earlier, the expansion of women's work loads beyond the domestic sector has served to shift the burden of domestic work to female children. Because of the dominance of agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, and because women play the largest role in subsistence agriculture, farm labor and food procurement are treated here as a distinct work category the agricultural food projection sector which includes both formal and informal, or domestic, activity (McGowan and Leslie, 1990; Raikes, 1989~.
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From page 188... ...
As a result of this paucity of data, the nature of the problem is difficult to articulate succinctly, although it must be of great magnitude if for no other reason than the universal necessity to work in some way to stay alive. For poor people, and for women in particular, work loads, however defined, are extremely heavy and may be expected to give rise to a multiplicity of health effects over the course of a life span and through at least one subsequent generation.
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From page 189... ...
LIFE SPAN APPROACH It is apparent from the age matrix for female health in Sub-Saharan Africa that environmental and occupational hazards produce a variety of effects throughout the life span, with, by definition, the most pronounced effect during the working years, between the ages of 10 and 49. There are problems with modeling a sequential life span approach quantitatively or epidemiologically because of multiple intermediate variables between initial causes and final outcomes.
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From page 190... ...
Reciprocally, adult morbidity and mortality of occupational and environmental causation will adversely affect the nutritional status of younger females and will considerably increase their work load. The effects of adult female morbidity and mortality for those in the informal and agricultural production sectors, as well as for those in female-headed households, have major health implications for female children.
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From page 191... ...
Patriarchal and male dominance and increased pressure for production are likely to lead to domestic violence and to sexual violence at work. Violence is also related to work in the informal sector such as commercial sex work, home brewing, and running a tavern.
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From page 192... ...
Nevertheless, there are absolute limits to an increased work load without the introduction of labor-saving technology in the domestic, subsistence, and informal sectors. Job load or demand is therefore a major and increasing stressor in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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From page 193... ...
, thus exacerbating hazardous exposures or increasing female work loads. Adverse Health Outcomes of Occupational and Environmental Hazards This section needs to be read in conjunction with the life span/life cycle outlined above.
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From page 194... ...
, but it should be borne in mind that even in developed countries female workers are infrequently studied. Health problems in the informal sector have been studied only in India (National Commission on SelfEmployed Women and Women in the Informal Sector, 1988)
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From page 195... ...
Since formal sector work for women is limited in Africa to service and clerical work and other "female work," the bulk of women's work falls within the zone of poor visibility or invisibility. Much of women's work is unpaid, whether in agricultural production, domestic work related to social reproduction, or informal sector activities.
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From page 196... ...
(age 45+) Maternal Indoor air Indoor air Indoor air Indoor air Indoor air exposures pollution pollution pollution pollution pollution to toxic substances Job overload Job overload Job overload Lack of job control Lack of job control Ergonomic stressors Ergonomic stressors Othera Othera Lack of job control Ergonomic stressors Othera aOther includes: ill-fitting personal protective equipment designed for men; working under recommended exposure limits for occupational hazards designed for healthy well-nourished men in the developed countries working an eight-hour day; work-time requirements that further compromise breastfeeding and infant nutrition; and lack of sufficient ~ off time to allow for appropriate rehabilitation from injury or workrelated disease, thus exacerbating hazardous exposures or increasing female work loads.
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From page 197... ...
· Respiratory damage, notably from chronic bronchitis, and reduced lung function across the life span. · Appropriateness of occupational exposure limits given gender and the multiplicity of other environmental stressors.
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From page 198... ...
1987. Malaria chemoprophylaxis to pregnant women provided by the community health workers in Saradidi, Kenya.
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From page 199... ...
National Commission on Self-Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector.
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