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In this issue of OEM, Johnson et al1 report on occupational risks to menstrual health. This is an original study of data collected during the 1990s comparing work demands and menstrual cycle irregularity of flight attendants and teachers from three cities in the USA. Although flight attendants’ characteristics and working conditions have changed considerably over the past 30 years, for example, because smoking is now prohibited on aeroplanes, this article is exceptional and instructive as part of a tiny body of work on occupational risks to menstrual health such as cold exposure,2 schedule irregularities, physical workload,3 some chemicals4 5 and perhaps radiation.
Historically, women’s occupational health experiences have been understudied, and studies on workplace effects on female sex-related outcomes are rarer still.6 7 There are several determinants of this neglect. One important reason we still tend to underplay female-specific risks is that women must reconcile their access to equality at work with their need to protect their health, in a context where pointing out any difference from men’s biology can be used to support discrimination against women. Until the 1970s, most women were excluded from paid employment, and especially from jobs that looked difficult or dangerous. Arguments about women’s ‘nature’ abounded, and limitations were placed on women’s (and children’s) work schedules and job options. Thus, in my province of Quebec, Canada, women were not fully included in occupational health and safety legislation until 1979.
Accordingly, most scientific studies of women’s occupational health before the 1980s concentrated on whether and when women should be excluded from working. A considerable literature emerged on chemical exposures dangerous to foetuses, and potentially pregnant women …
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Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
Author note Additional references to the literature and to court decisions can be obtained from the author.