Work and health among rural women: Perceived effects of multiple roles on health status

• Main Author: Lapitan, Avelita V.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Women farmers—Health and hygiene—Philippines—Batangas; Sex role—Philippines—Batangas; Women's Health
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6061; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/13170/viewcontent/CDTG004818_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aimed to describe the multiple roles and health status of farm women in Brgy. Abung, San Juan, Batangas. It also sought to elicit the women’s perceptions on the health-related risks involved in these roles and their effects on health. This study is descriptive in nature and employed a survey using an interview schedule to gather data among 60 women who were randomly selected from the barangay. After the survey, the researcher chose six women from the pre-selected respondents – 3 of which have the most number of tasks while the other 3 have the most number of illnesses – and were further interviewed for the Time Allocation Study. The data gathered were later processed using SPSS and analyzed using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations. Findings revealed that although the women still perform typical reproductive and community roles, the kinds of productive activities majority of respondents are engaged in changed from farm to non-farm related sources of income. Moreover, reproductive activities remains to be predominant and were consequently identified by the respondents as main sources of health-related risks among their multiple roles. Doing the laundry was specifically reported by the women to have the most number of health-related risks including prolonged staying in one position, heavy workload, use of repetitive motion and long hours spent on task. Most popular physical effects of these health-related risks include body aches and pain, fatigue, and numbing of a particular body part. Generally, the women reported heavy workload as a main cause of physical, mental and reproductive health consequences including body pains, fatigue, spotting and worrying too much among others. To reduce the health effects of their multiple roles, curative strategies such as resting and massages were mostly reported while reduction of workload and avoidance of conducting overlapping tasks were identified as preventive mechanisms.