Work Stress, Coping, and Gender

Abstract

Women constitute an increasingly large segment of the paid workforce. Nevertheless, investigators of work stress have focused predominantly on men and, largely, have ignored possible gender differences. This has led to findings, based on the study of male workers, being incorrectly applied to females. Further, the limited amount of research into work stress and coping that has been published has been vulnerable to criticisms. An analysis of research in this area suggested that gender moderates work stress in three ways: men and women are vulnerable to different stressors relating to work; they utilise different coping strategies to cope with these stressors, and they vary in their perceptions of the resources that they have available to help them to cope. It is important to direct research resources to further investigation of gender differences in these three dimensions. Such research is necessary for the development of effective preventative and treatment programs for occupational stress.