Autrefois, les soins aux ainé.e.saîné.e.s étaient surtout assurés par des femmes non rémunérées anonymes, chez elles. Celles-ci étant entrées sur le marché du travail, beaucoup de ces soins sont maintenant assurés par des préposés aux bénéficiaires (PAB), surtout féminins. Avec l'introduction massive de la gestion par indicateurs dans les organismes publics, c'est une forme de silence organisationnel qui apparaît : ce travail demeure invisible. Mais quel est le mécanisme précis de cette invisibilisation ? Nous avons observé le travail de 37 PAB de 6 résidences ontariennes et effectué des entrevues. Contrairement à sa prescription, le travail des PAB est en grande partie collectif et la documentation réalisée est très contraignante, entrant même en concurrence avec les activités de soins directs. Les PAB sont parfois forcées d'omettre des données démontrant la difficulté du travail, créant un cercle vicieux où elles n'obtiennent pas les ressources nécessaires, et doivent donc escamoter encore plus l'activité de documentation.
Résumé Le travail de serveurs(euses) de restaurant est peu abordé dans la littérature scientifique en santé au travail. La présente étude analyse ce travail à la suite d’une demande syndicale visant un meilleur respect de la profession. Les exigences du travail sont décrites ainsi que les stratégies utilisées pour maintenir l’équilibre entre la santé et la productivité et, surtout, pour obtenir le respect et la reconnaissance. La méthodologie utilisée consiste en des observations et entretiens préliminaires dans trois restaurants, suivis de 33,75 heures d’observations systématiques de neuf personnes affectées au service aux tables dans deux restaurants, ainsi que des entretiens individuels avec ces neuf personnes et une entrevue collective de validation avec cinq personnes qui n’avaient pas participé aux observations. Les serveurs(euses) font face à trois types de défi (physiques, cognitifs et émotionnels) et utilisent plusieurs stratégies pour les relever. Le travail de serveurs(euses) comporte une part très importante de travail mental et émotif, exigeant plusieurs compétences souvent invisibles telles que la gestion des émotions des clients. Dans le contexte de l’Amérique du Nord, où une part importante de la paie provient du pourboire, la plupart des stratégies visent aussi à augmenter la satisfaction du client, dans l’objectif de recevoir un meilleur pourboire et une reconnaissance des compétences. Mais ce pourboire dépend de plusieurs facteurs hors du contrôle de la serveuse, et l’enjeu du pourboire contribue à déséquilibrer les rapports de pouvoir entre la serveuse et son client.
Jobs considered as `naturally' women's in one situation are assigned to men a few years or miles away. We ask how a sexual division of labour which is so fluid when regarded in a historical perspective appears so rigid when observed at a given time. One type of factor which is variable historically but very solid and material in a given workplace is the physical installation which represents a considerable economic investment. Ergonomists and sociologists together studied the forces acting on the sexual division of labour in an industrial bakery in Quebec. Using direct observations, videotaping, questionnaires and interviews, we examined the physical characteristics of men's and women's jobs, cultural representations, and union and management practices. We found that physical difficulties were as important as organisational and cultural barriers in maintaining the division of labour, while the age of women workers, union support and economic impetus were significant determinants of change.
Standing at work has been associated with discomfort and cardiovascular symptoms. Because standing postures vary in duration, mobility, and constraint, we explored associations between specific postures and pain in the lower extremities.We used multiple logistic regression to analyze associations between work factors and pain in the lower extremities during the previous 12 months that interfered with usual activities. We used data from among 7757 workers who were interviewed in the 1998 Quebec Health and Social Survey.Among all respondents, 9.4% reported significant ankle or foot pain, and 6.4% had lower-leg or calf pain. Significantly more women than men had pain at both sites. Both leg or calf and ankle or foot pain were strongly associated with standing postures, whole-body vibration, psychological distress, female gender, and being aged 50 years or older. Constrained standing postures were associated with increased ankle or foot pain for both men and women and with leg or calf pain for women, compared with standing with freedom to sit at will.Freedom to sit at work may prevent lower-extremity pain. The effects of specific sitting and standing postures on cartilage, muscle, and the cardiovascular system may help explain discomfort in the lower extremities.
Globalization of economic markets has led to important changes in working conditions in many countries, often associated with an intensification of work. The authors describe epidemiological and ergonomic studies that highlight the complex relationships between work demands – physical, psychological and social –, psychological distress and musculoskeletal disorders in the context of economic and organizational changes affecting Quebec workplaces. Both studies allow for a better understanding of how macroeconomic changes influence work organization and can lead to an intensification of work demands. The authors also propose an explanatory model of these complex relationships.
Recently, researchers have suggested that it is important to include women and to integrate gender into occupational health studies. We analysed the annual report of Quebec’s Robert Sauve Institute for Research in Occupational Health and Safety (IRSST), and found that the professions and sectors involved in studies carried out in 1999 had an average of 15% women workers. The Quebec workforce is 45% female. Twelve of the 88 study populations were mixed or had a female majority and 76 were more than two-thirds male (Table 2). The former studies received an average grant of $86,339 compared to $114,480 for those on predominantly male populations (Table 1).Previously, we had examined the composition of the six employment groups ranked by the Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Commission (CSST) in order of priority for intervention and had noted that, as the priority level increased, the proportion of women decreased. We therefore examined the possibility that women workers were less often research subjects because their employment groups had lower priority for intervention. We did, in fact, find that many more grants are given for the study of workers in groups with high priority. Group I received $15.53 per worker in research grants while group VI received $0.91 per worker. However, even if the priority of the employment group is taken into account, women are underrepresented in research. In each priority group, there are fewer women in the professions and sectors studied than in the group as a whole (Table 3). A possible explanation for this is that women work in areas where there is little risk for their health. We have presented our arguments against this commonly-held idea elsewhere, but summarize these arguments here. In fact, rather than being absent, risks in jobs held by women are different from risks in other sectors, and are associated with specific health issues. For example, women are well represented in the helping and service professions, said to be at risk for mental health problems.We therefore consider some additional hypotheses. First, it is likely that the choice of research themes by the Institute’s research council (accidents, personal protective equipment, noise and vibrations, tool and machine safety, chemicals, musculoskeletal disorders) excludes some that are more relevant for professions occupied by women. It should be noted that no studies concern gender or the sexual division of labour and contacts by students with the IRSST suggest that such studies are unwelcome.Secondly, in order to appreciate the importance of considering occupations by gender, some training or interest in the social sciences is probably necessary, combined with a thorough knowledge of occupational health and safety issues. Such interdisciplinary studies are rather rare. A third possibility is that women are primarily studied by women researchers, who might receive few grants from the IRSST. An analysis of grants by sex of the principal investigator (Table 4) shows that only 18% of principal investigators (PIs) are women, and that they are more likely than male PIs to study mixed or female sectors and professions. Still, half of their studies involve predominantly male populations, and no evidence suggests that they receive smaller grants than their male counterparts. Studies by women PIs, especially of female populations, are concentrated in the themes of musculoskeletal disorders and accidents, reinforcing the idea that it is the choice of themes rather than any specific discriminatory practice that leads to the fact that women are understudied.We next consider the reason for the choice of themes, by comparing IRSST and CSST practices with those of sister organizations in Ontario. At the time of the report, there were many more women on the relevant Ontario boards of directors than in Quebec, and research themes supported were much more inclusive in Ontario. For example, women’s occupational health was specifically considered and there were studies of stress and of employment schedules. It is possible, however, that the range of Ontario research themes may be broader because the Ontario compensation commission is more loosely linked with the research function than is the case in Quebec. IRSST and CSST share a board of directors and it may be that the CSST is reluctant to sponsor research that has the potential of enlarging the scope of compensation by legitimizing new health concerns. We suggest that, if so, this may be an unwise and short-sighted approach, given the current trends in Quebec workplaces. We suggest that it would be important to study the sexual division of labour and its effects on health, in order to prevent illness and injury to workers of both sexes.
Résumé La posture debout prolongée, observée chez la majorité des travailleuses québécoises, est associée à des troubles cardiovasculaires et des douleurs au dos, aux membres inférieurs et aux pieds. En effet, dans deux des cinq professions où l’on retrouve le plus de travailleuses, on observe une posture de travail debout prolongée et relativement statique. Cette contrainte posturale est typique de certaines expositions professionnelles des femmes parce que l’effort demeure peu évident et ne produit pas d’effet visible à court terme. Malgré les rapports de douleur, il y a beaucoup de résistance au changement. Le présent article rapporte les résultats de plusieurs études sur les postures de travail des femmes, sur les conséquences physiologiques de la posture debout statique prolongée et sur les attitudes des femmes et des hommes face à la posture debout, le tout, afin de comprendre le pourquoi de cette résistance.
