Health, Women's Work, and Industrialization - Center for Gender in ...

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Despite the multiple demands on their lives, almost none of the
respondents have acquired such modern coping mechanisms as smoking and
drinking. There are a few respondents who reported taking sleeping pills -­
just as a few interviewees related about their friends -- but drug abuse is
apparently not a problem among these women workers. Caffeine intake in the
form of tea and coffee, however, is very hi gh, though thei r consumpti on is
definitely within the social norm. Malaysian workers who consume tea and
coffee regularly also reported more gastrointestinal and sleeping problems
than those who di d not consume caffei ne. Tea and coffee intake is much
higher among those working rotating shifts in Malaysia; this confirms the
findings reported in the shiftwork literature (e.g., Tasto et al. 1980;
Angersbach et al. 1980). It also helps to explain why shiftworkers report
more gastrointestinal and sleeping problems.
The food intake of workers is not always home-cooked or properly
prepared, as their demanding work schedule puts limits on available time.
One out of four workers in both countries does not eat regularly. One meal
in five is eaten out, most often at a hawker stall; and a quarter of thei r
snacks are taken at hawker stalls, while a third of their snacks are
packaged food. Depending on the family financial burden, some interviewees
report being able to buy meat only once a week.
Shift rotation is a major factor affecting meal intake. In both
Singapore and Malaysia, regular meal intake can be disrupted by the work
hours, as seen in Table 35. While the data are based on meal intake in the
24 hours previous to the survey, it is interesting to note that shiftwork
alters meal patterns, with the hours of work being more important than the
fact of rotation. This is supportive of the interviewees' responses -- that
they lose their appetites and skip meals when they are working the graveyard
shift.
Meal intake schedules are closely related to gastrointestinal
complaints. Table 36 shows that those who reported not eating regular meals
experienced more gastrointestinal problems.
Gastrointestinal problems are, however, also related to souce of food.
Workers were asked to indicate the major source of their meals and snacks in
the 24 hours previous to the survey. Table 37 shows that those who had
eaten at the factory canteen or at hawker stalls experienced more
gastrointestinal complaints. These findings suggest that food handling and
sanitation is most likely still a problem, especially in Malaysia. The data
al so i ndi cate that a consi derabl e proporti on of workers consumes packaged
"junk food."
In addition to understanding the factors that influence ill health, it
is also important to understand the coping mechanisms of the workers, since
the subjective outlook of workers has already been shown to be relevant to
their health. The patterns of spare-time activities, levels of job
satisfaction, and reasons for leaving the job expose these outlooks.
Spare-time activity patterns are related to their work, ethnicity, marital
status, and occupational history.