Desigualdad de género y riesgos laborales en Enfermería

Nursing, a professional setting formed by women in its majority, still represents today a working group exposed to gender inequality. Recently, there has been a gradual increase in the rhythm, requirements, demands, and workload of professional nurses, and the same occurs in other professions with female prevalence. The responsibility­ of balancing work and domestic life lies heavily upon nurses, a situation­ which represents a work overload, and leads to a reduction in quality of life and, occasionally, forces to reduce the working day to part-time. Moreover, nursing professionals form a group with known occupational risks, primarily exposed to physical, biologic, chemical and psychosocial risks. All these variables must be taken into account in order to prevent complications, and to improve the health levels of nurses.