Al-Yagon, M., & Cinamon, R. G. (2008, May). Work-family relations among mothers of children with learning disorders. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23(2), 91-107.
The study examined conflict and facilitation in work-family relations among working mothers of children with learning disorders (LD) or with typical development. The study also focused on three maternal personal resources (maternal anxious/avoidant attachment security, affect and sense of coherence) as antecedents of these work-family relations, and examined outcomes of such conflict and facilitation between the two life domains, as they affected patterns of close relationships within the family (child attachment and family cohesion). The sample included 96 mother-child dyads: 48 mothers and their children with LD; and 48 mothers and their typically developing children. Children’s ages were 8-12 years. All attended public elementary schools in urban areas of central Israel. Significant group differences emerged on mothers’ family to work conflict and on mothers’ work to family facilitation. Findings indicated that several maternal personal resources were antecedents of these relations and also contributed to differences in mother-child attachment relationships and family cohesion. Discussion focused on understanding work-family relations among these mothers of children with LD, as well as the influence of maternal personal resources on patterns of close relationships (i.e., child attachment, family cohesion).
The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide job-protected leave, but little is known about how these leave rights operate in practice or how they interact with other normative systems to construct the meaning of leave. Drawing on interviews with workers who negotiated contested leaves, this study examines how social institutions influence workplace mobilization of these rights. I find that leave rights remain embedded within institutionalized conceptions of work, gender, and disability that shape workers’ perceptions, preferences, and choices about mobilizing their rights. I also find, however, that workers can draw on law as a culture discourse to challenge these assumptions, to build coalitions, and to renegotiate the meaning of leave.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 replaces AFDC, the largest means-tested cash assistance program for low-income families, with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. Unlike AFDC, assistance under TANF is limited to five years in a lifetime, and states are required to move families from the assistance rolls into jobs. But not all adult welfare recipients can easily move to work because either they themselves are disabled or they have a child with disabilities requiring special care. This article examines the extent and impact of disability among families on AFDC to gain insight into the potential impact of changes under TANF. Using data from the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we find that in nearly 30 percent of the families on AFDC either the mother or child has a disability. Furthermore, we find that having a disability significantly lowers the probability that a woman leaves AFDC for work but not for other reasons, such as a change in living arrangements. Finally, we find little evidence that having a child with a disability affects the probability of leaving AFDC for any reason.
This paper analyses the circumstances under which providing informal care has an adverse impact on paid employment, using data from the 1990 General Household Survey which identified 2,700 informal carers. The relationship between informal caring and employment participation is complex and differs by gender and marital status. Paid employment is lowered for adults providing care within their household. The effect is greater for women than for men, and varies with the closeness of the kin relationship between carer and care-recipient. Women caring for a handicapped child are least likely to be in full-time work. Care for a spouse depresses both men’s and women’s employment. The effect of caring for a co-resident parent is least for married men and greatest for married women. The assumption that women’s increased labour force participation will reduce their availability as informal carers for elderly parents is largely unfounded. This care is mainly for elderly parents living in another household, and is associated with reduced hours of employment but not lower overall rates of employment. The norm of combining paid work and informal caring results in very high total hours of informal and paid work.
The authors examine through quantitative research the extent of wage discrimination and the employment effects of wage discrimination against women with disabilities. None of these women had severe disabilities that are usually subject to high levels of prejudice. The authors found that the wage differentials attributed to disability discrimination were relatively small, perhaps because the women in the study had disabilities that were subject to little prejudice. However, they point out that the total burden of discrimination is large because these employees also experience gender discrimination. Despite this, the authors do not show that gender related discrimination is worse for women who have a disability.
This article focuses on how young people with special educational needs have made the transition into working life. At 23–24 years of age, the young women have, to a lesser extent than the young men, succeeded in finding a permanent job. This finding reflects the fact that young women and young men follow different paths. Many young women with special needs give birth to children at an early stage in their life course, which consequently delays their gaining a foothold in the labour market. However, what occurs during their schooling also affects their adaptation to a job situation. Formal competence improves the young men’s chances to get work, whereas the organization of the teaching is more important in the case of the young women. To a large extent, the young women benefit from an education that includes a job placement contract in a company. This article is based on a longitudinal study of 494 former special needs students from six Norwegian counties.
Study using qualitative methods to examine the experiences of U.S. women with visible, physical disabilities conducting a job search after obtaining a college degree. Data are from interviews with 8 women. Participants were asked about their experiences conducting job searches, support from the feminist and disability movements, and career motivations. The study concludes with policy recommendations and recommendations for future research.
Article comparing factors associated with better employment and educational outcomes for young women and young men with disabilities. Data are from interviews with 422 Oregon and Nevada high school students with disabilities and their parents. Participants were interviewed in their last year of high school and again one year later. It was found that 3 factors predicted better outcomes for both young women and young men (self-esteem at time of school exit, no continuing need for personal/social instruction, and no continuing need for vocational instruction). Three factors predicted outcomes for young women only: they were less likely to be engaged in productive work or educational activities one year after high school if they had parenting responsibilities or came from a family with a low annual income, and they were more likely to be engaged in productive work and education activities when they and their parents agreed on the students’ postschool goals.
This study examined placement outcomes for 133 individuals (most aged 17 to 21) with mental retardation or severe learning disability. Nearly 50% of the men but only 1% of the women were competitively employed. Results suggest the need for more rehabilitation training for women, focusing on self-determination skills (assertiveness, self-advocacy, communication); specific vocational skills; and sexuality training.
Because traumatic brain injury affects between 1.5 and 2 million individuals per year and results in long term vocational and financial difficulties, there is growing interest in determining those factors that predict successful outcomes for specific groups of individuals with TBI. An NIH consensus panel on TBI has suggested that women are one group that needs more attention, particularly given the studies indicating that men and women experience different cognitive [14], emotional [19], and vocational outcomes following TBI [5]. The current study evaluated differences in injury severity, demographics, neuropsychological abilities, and vocational and financial outcomes for 78 persons with TBI (55 male, 23 female) who received services from a state Vocational Rehabilitation Division (DVR). Despite similar injury severity, neuropsychological and demographic characteristics, more men (43.6%) received Maintenance services from MO-DVR than women (21.7%). Of note, only 4.4% of the women were successfully employed through DVR, compared to 23.6% of the men. In addition, 73.9% of the women had services terminated after being accepted by DVR but before services were initiated, compared to 56.4% of the men. The significance of these results is discussed, as are the limitations of the current project.
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Presents the findings of a questionnaire sent to nine occupational groups where women predominate such as healthcare, teaching and childcare, together with other forms placed in day-care and women’s centres in Ontario. Looks at disability, personal demographics, the work situation, workplace stress, physical demands, psychosomatic symptoms, job satisfaction, insecurity, harassment and family pressures. Discusses findings suggesting that disabled women tend to have more negative work experiences, possibly due to previous education problems, discrimination and the nature of roles offered which lead to lower income levels in lower status roles.
This study examines the distribution of federal employees with disabilities with regard to occupation, race, gender and department through an analysis of the recent demographic data on full-time disabled employees in the federal civil service. With regard to race or gender, the occupational distribution of federal employees with disabilities is not significantly different from that of federal employees without disabilities. Like employees without disabilities, disabled employees appear to be linked to racial or gender stereotypical roles and occupations in the federal civil service. Additionally, a certain racial, ethnic or gender group with disabilities continues to be overrepresented or underrepresented in a certain occupation. Furthermore, disabled white-collar employees or applicants do not necessarily seem to have an advantage over disabled blue-collar employees or applicants.
Purpose. The purpose of this article is to explore women with disabilities’ experiences of government employment assistance in Canada.
Method. The article draws on the results of an online survey conducted in 2006. Data were coded and analysed according to key themes.
Results. The results indicate that many of the women with disabilities who responded to the survey regarded the employment assistance they have received as of very limited importance to their abilities to find and keep paid work. Their comments suggest that existing forms of government employment assistance, such as the provision of wage subsidies to employers, may be of limited effectiveness in enabling at least some women with disabilities to find and keep paid work. The women’s comments point to the limitations of existing employment assistance strategies including the need to shift program emphases away from individualistic models aimed at ‘reforming the worker’ and toward systemic barriers to employment.
Conclusions. The article concludes by discussing the implications of survey results for future research and strategies for improving the types of employment assistance available to women with disabilities.
Chouinard, V., & Crooks, V. A. (2005, January). ‘Because they have all the power and I have none’: State restructuring of income and employment supports and disabled women’s lives in Ontario, Canada. Disability & Society, 20(1), 19-32
We examine the connections between neo-liberal forms of state restructuring and intervention in disabled people’s lives, looking in particular at how these have affected disabled women’s experiences of an income support program, the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), in Ontario, Canada. We first outline why and how state programs have been re-designed and implemented in increasingly harsh ways as a result of such neo-liberal forms of state restructuring. Even groups formerly considered among the ‘deserving poor’ have found their access to social assistance diminished. We then argue that this is an outcome of state programs, policies and practices which are re-asserting and more deeply entrenching ‘ableness’ as a necessary condition of citizenship, inclusion and access to justice. Finally, we illustrate how disabled women’s lives and well-being have been altered as a result of changes in the provision of these forms of state assistance using in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 women in Ontario.
Despite the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities in the U.S.A., much of the care for children with disabilities is performed at home, where care work is largely women’s work. Thus, the gender division of labor in the care for children with disabilities, in the absence of greater institutional or state support, is one mechanism for the reproduction of gender inequality more broadly. Using new data on disabilities from the 2000 Decennial Census, we test for an association between the presence of children with disabilities and the division of paid work between husbands and wives. The results are consistent with other evidence that when care work is to be done within families, it falls disproportionately to women–undermining women’s career mobility and contributing to gender inequality in the labor market as well as within families.
“This article examines how Canadian women with disabilities aged 25 to 54 describe their level of life satisfaction across three main dimensions: daily activities, quality of relationships with family and friends, and health. Using the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS), we identify some of the elements that are associated with a greater sense of well-being. In order to focus on the social dimensions of this issue, we discuss women’s satisfaction with their daily activities and the quality of their relationships first. Women’s feelings about their health are addressed separately at the end of the article” (p. 26).
Crow, K., & Foley, S. (2002, September). A common path: Navigating your way to successful negotiations in the workplace. Boston, MA: Working it Out Together, Institute on Community Inclusion. Retrieved April 7, 2005 from http://www.communityinclusion.org/publications/pdf/women2.pdf
Provides tips to help women with disabilities be proactive in successfully negotiating a job accommodation or workplace modification. Three expert panelists presented these tips during a seminar held by Working It Out Together, a project aimed at understanding the experiences of women with disabilities in the workplace. Includes a list of resources for additional information.
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a contributory insurance program designed to be universal for all working Canadians, originally intended to replace a portion of lost income for workers at retirement or disablement. Currently, women (and men) with disabilities who show the capacity to earn income are generally disallowed CPP disability benefits because of the strict definition of “disability” and administrative inconsistencies. This research uses existing quantitative data and new qualitative data gathered in focus groups of disabled women in four cities across Canada, including qualitative data from a focus group with CPP administrators who were consulted on how the CPP currently works before developing cost-effective recommendations to “enable income.” These alternate disability pension policies would distribute resources equitably and respond to circumstances in the lives of women with disabilities, such as fluctuating health and ability to work. Although it is recognized that any policy reforms would affect both women and men with disabilities, this research focuses on women because of the inordinately adverse impact of current official federal definitions of work and disability, and thus policy, on the lives of disabled women. The report contends that, by eliminating the penalty for working, the CPP could empower women, provide incentives for returning to work by removing the threat of losing CPP disability benefits, generate needed income for the CPP and increase taxable dollars for general revenue. The proposed changes extend recent (1995) policy changes focused on creating “work incentives” for people with disabilities and would allow disabled women (and men) to return to work when they are able, without penalty, until such time as they can sustain themselves financially. Suggested policy reforms also address the need to redefine “disability,” aligning it more closely with the complex reality of being a woman living with disability. Themes emerging from these women’s experiences of the CPP demonstrate the difficulties they experience, including the fear of losing secured CPP disability pension income if they engage in paid employment.
Young women with disabilities are more likely to experience poorer postschool employment outcomes than young men with disabilities. This study explores factors associated with better employment outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities, and factors associated uniquely with better outcomes for young women. Findings indicate that two factors predict better outcomes for both young women and young men with disabilities: having two or more job experiences while in high school, and having used the self-family-friend network to find their postschool job. Females who came from a family with a low household annual income, who had low self-esteem at the time of exit from high school, and who fit both of these characteristics were much less likely to be competitively employed out of school than females who did not fit these characteristics. These variables did not affect the employment status of males in the study. Implications for both practice and research are discussed.
“This article reports on a study of women with chronic illnesses and their relationship to the workforce in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Workplace accommodation for disabilities is posited as a key concern, and new paradigms for work that would allow the women to participate without marginalization are explored” (p. 125).
This paper discusses the microgeographies of unemployed women with Multiple Sclerosis, as they manage the physical, social and economic consequences of their illness. Recent directions in the geography of health and health care draw attention to the relationships between space, place and health experience, and in this paper a focus on the everyday lives of women with Multiple Sclerosis reveals the complex interweaving of space, physical impairment and gender in how they experience place. In-depth interviews were used in the study to investigate how women occupied and used home and neighbourhood space after leaving the paid labour force. The majority of women were found to experience shrinking social and geographical worlds which rendered their lives increasingly hidden from view as patterns of social interaction changed and use of public space diminished. The paper discusses the women’s residential and household changes, mediated by marital and socio-economic status, and presents two brief case studies to illustrate the remapping of the meanings of work and place as women renegotiate their lifeworlds. The focus of the study on the spatio-temporal settings of the women’s everyday lives revealed an interplay of biomedical discourse, policy structures, sociocultural norms and local sets of social relations that shaped the strategies the women used in reconstructing their lives. The women showed a diversity of responses, but these were all characterized by a restructuring of home and neighbourhood space, a recordering of personal relationships and increasing interpenetration of the public sphere in their private lives. The findings suggest that attention to the body in its geographical as well as social context provides an avenue for investigating the links between subjective experience and the broader social relations and processes which shape the illness experience.
Article examining employment issues and workplace experiences of women with multiple sclerosis (MS), with analysis focused on the social and institutional dimensions of the environment. The analysis draws on data from a mixed method study using in-depth interviews and a survey. Findings indicate that although severity of symptoms affects employment status, women’s ability to work is also affected by non-medical factors such as a supportive work environment, modification of work conditions, and a supportive home environment with the possibility of delegating household tasks.
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This brief makes recommendations to foster the employability of women with disabilities, with a view to improving their economic security and ensuring that Canada benefits from their contributions. The brief reviews persuasive evidence for the continued economic and labour market difficulties confronting women with disabilities and makes recommendations.
People with disabilities, especially women, suffer from appallingly high rates of poverty, and paid work is frequently cited as a primary route out of poverty. I draw on feminist analyses of work and disability studies to reflect on the Canadian federal government’s Employment Equity Act. I use the example of the ‘Big Six’ banks to investigate the numerical representation and occupational distribution of women and men with disabilities compared to their counterparts without disabilities. However, social justice in the workplace is at least as much about the quality of social relationships as it is about statistical effects. Reaching workplace equity also involves the creation of a workplace climate where people with disabilities experience supportive and responsive supervision, along with a sense of being respected and valued. I assess the banks’ progress towards identifying and eliminating discriminatory disabling barriers. I close with a discussion of workplace climate and locate the Act in the context of a broader network of change that includes challenging ableism.
“This report provides the most up-to-date statistics available on working-age women with disabilities. Of particular interest to those who work at the community level are the statistics at the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) level within Ontario. Integrating quantitative research with qualitative research, this report provides insights into the complex interplay of factors that create employment barriers for women with disabilities. While women and men with disabilities are typically both affected by the same barriers to employment, they are not always affected to the same degree or in the same way. Because of both their gender and their disability, women often face a unique obstacle course when trying to navigate their way through the world of paid work.”
Since the end of World War II, women worldwide have been participating in the labor force. The increase has been most marked among married women, as well as those with children, suggesting that a woman’s work life is now less likely to be interrupted by child rearing. Despite these improvements, however, women with disabilities often have with fewer employment opportunities than both women without disabilities, and men with disabilities. According to some researchers, women with disabilities are more likely to experience poor post-school employment outcomes, consistently earn less money, have more negative employment experiences, and are routinely assigned to stereotypically “female” jobs.
Women consistently earn less than men. This holds true for individuals with and without disabilities. Women with disabilities, however, have more negative employment experiences than do men with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to explore the less than desirable conditions that women with disabilities face in employment. Studies dealing primarily with the employment outcomes of females and males with disabilities are reviewed, followed by recommendations for the field of special education. We suggest that women with disabilities are dually disadvantaged in employment when gender interacts with disability. Studies dealing primarily with the employment outcomes of females and males with disabilities are reviewed, followed by recommendations for the field of special education. We suggest that women with disabilities are dually disadvantaged in employment when gender interacts with disability.
Empirical research has highlighted the constraints on mothers’ workforce participation when children have disabilities, but the policies and associated strategies needed to address these issues have received less attention. Greater attention to explanatory theory and associated research is needed. The authors’ paper identifies major explanatory concepts in studies of women’s workforce participation, and examines the extent to which these have been tested in studying the workforce participation of mothers of children with disabilities. They also identify constructs and empirical research findings from the latter body of research that have implications for theories of all women’s workforce participation. The analysis demonstrates that there are many potentially relevant constructs from theories of women’s workforce participation that have not been applied to studies of mothers of children with disabilities. Similarly, some findings about the influence of disability-related factors on mothers’ workforce participation have implications for operational constructs associated with theories of women’s workforce participation. The authors’ examination of theoretical frameworks and empirical research underscored the importance of exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas between disability-oriented research and that concerned with women’s labor force participation.
“Failure to recognise the potential (economic or otherwise) of disabled persons within the labour market has left this segment of the population with few alternatives for gaining access to essential goods and services…. Disabled women face additional…role complexity owing to assumed private domestic and parenting duties, coupled with public gender role expectations.”
Employment is considered a key element in full citizenship and is strongly linked to both disability-related supports and incomes. Employment provides a sense of fulfillment and self-worth. It is also the best defense against poverty. With the lowest rate of labour force success and one of the highest rates of poverty in Canada, women with disabilities are the most employment challenged of any adult group. This interaction of gender and disability is further pronounced by racial, cultural, and sexual orientation.
The researcher uses her twenty years of experience of working with women with disabilities to construct fictionalized accounts of the vocational rehabilitation experiences of women. This collection of short fiction highlights the economic, psychological, attitudinal, and systemic challenges that women with disabilities experience as they attempt to enter or re-enter the paid work force.
The stories cover a number of themes: self-confidence and relationship to reality is undermined without the authentication of a disability; the prevalence of abuse, both as the etiology of a disability and the vulnerability for abuse for a women with a disability; the interconnections between abuse dynamics and vocational development patterns; the impact of the social construct of women as caregivers; income support polices that contribute to the feminization of poverty; negative societal attitudes toward women and the resulting lack of support; and gender bias in career counselling. These accounts are intended to challenge and transform the rehabilitation praxis.
Purpose. To explore disability in women with fibromyalgia with a focus on their work situation.
Method. Review of literature on work status of women with fibromyalgia.
Results. Major differences exist between studies in reported disability and in the percentages of women working. Limitations caused by pain, fatigue, decreased muscle strength, and endurance influence work capacity. However, 34–77% of the women work. Individual adjustments in the work situation are reported. When the women find a level that matches their ability, they continue to work and find satisfaction in their work role. Many factors besides degree of impairment or disability influence whether clients with longstanding pain can remain in their work role or return to work after sickness leave.
Conclusion. The total life situation, other commitments, type of work tasks, the ability to influence the work situation, and the physical and psychosocial work environment are important factors in determining whether a person can remain in a work role. More knowledge is needed about how to adjust work conditions for people with partial work ability to the benefit of society and the individual.
The purpose of this study was to document the work status, rehabilitation practices, and barriers to work re-entry for women who have undergone mastectomy (MRM). Three independent groups of subjects included 31 female patients who were post-modified radical mastectomy (MRM),18 physical or occupational therapists working in cancer centers, and 5 employers who represented a diverse group of businesses. Patients and therapists completed written surveys regarding the post-operative rehabilitation process. Employer interviews focused on company policies and procedures related to work re-entry. Descriptive statistics documented patients’ pre- and postoperative work status and types of problems experienced postoperatively. Responses to open-`ended questions were triangulated among the three groups to identify common barriers to work re-entry.
Only 20% of women in this sample did not return to their preoperative employment, and most cited physical impairments as the reason. Nearly half of these women received no postoperative exercise instructions. Employers seemed willing and able to accommodate employees who return to work following mastectomy surgery when given specific information regarding their physical and functional limitations. These preliminary findings indicate the need for additional research that reflects the experiences of a more generalized population of patients, therapists, and employers.
Presents a comprehensive review of women in the world of work, and then considers how disability affects women’s work and home roles. Describes career development, labor market utilization, occupational and career mobility, achievement and attainment paths of women and disabled women as workers.
Purpose. To gain an understanding of how women with spinal cord injury (SCI) experienced human encounters in occupations and how these influenced their participation.
Method. The data were collected through two or three in-depth interviews with 13 women (age 25 – 61 years) with SCI. Data analysis was carried out by using a paradigmatic analysis of narrative data, followed by an interpretation based on a narrative theory.
Results. The results showed a complexity where the women’s experiences and acting in human encounters changed over time. In these human encounters the women struggled with conflicts, supported other persons that were insecure and revaluated their apprehension about persons in their social network. These multidimensional human encounters thereby enabled them to regain participation in occupations.
Conclusions. This shows that human encounters are important for persons with disabilities so they can restructure their occupational identity and their needs for participation in occupations. The study also showed that the use of narratives as a tool within rehabilitation could lead to an increased understanding of the subjective changes that occur over time for a person with a disability.
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Using data from the 2002 LFS, we examine the impact of disability on labour market outcomes by gender. Our results indicate that substantial differences in both the likelihood of employment and levels of earnings exist, despite several years of operation of the Disability Discrimination Act. Significant heterogeneity within the disabled group is identified: those suffering from mental health forms of disability fare particularly badly. Wage decompositions suggest the “penalty” for disability is greater for women than for men. Using the Baldwin and Johnson (1992) methodology, we find the employment effects associated with wage discrimination against the disabled are very small.
Wales exhibits high rates of disability and inactivity, and a higher incidence of mental health problems than other parts of Britain. Using data from the Welsh Local Labour Force Survey 2001, our results indicate that the low participation rate of the disabled in Wales is partly attributable to their having fewer qualifications; marginal effects suggest education could be a potent remedy for improving their labour market status. In terms of the pay differential between disabled and non-disabled individuals, it would appear that disabled women in Wales suffer disproportionately to disabled men.
Using UK LFS data, we examine the impact of disability on labour market outcomes by gender since the Disability Discrimination Act. Substantial differences in employment incidence and earnings continue to exist, especially for those with mental health problems. Distinguishing between work-limiting and non-work-limiting disability, the unobserved productivity effect of disability can be separated from discrimination. Limited evidence of wage discrimination against the disabled exists, but the `penalty’ for work-limiting disability, while falling for men, has increased for women. The improvement for disabled males is largely `unexplained’, possibly reflecting the impact of the legislation; this is not the case for females.
Article examining the experiences of unemployed women with multiple sclerosis (MS) with 3 income support programs: the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, long term disability insurance, and social assistance. Data are from ethnographic interviews with 23 women. Difficulties the women have experienced with the programs are discussed, including the low level of benefits in 2 of the programs, the earnings-based component of 2 of the programs, and requirements in eligibility criteria that applicants be defined as permanently unemployable. The consequences of these policies for economic status and employment reentry are discussed, along with implications for occupational therapists.
Level of occupation and salary earned were examined in 227 adults in Israel with mental retardation to explore the correlation between gender and employment among people with mental retardation in the workplace. Women were found to be employed mainly in sheltered workshops and lower levels of occupation, and earned significantly less than men. Closer examination of each work place revealed that within each level of occupation there were no significant gender differences in salary. The findings suggest that while women with mental retardation earn lower salaries than men, this is mainly the result of their lower level of occupation.
This study examines the distribution of federal employees with disabilities with regard to occupation, race, gender and department through an analysis of the recent demographic data on full-time disabled employees in the federal civil service. With regard to race or gender, the occupational distribution of federal employees with disabilities is not significantly different from that of federal employees without disabilities. Like employees without disabilities, disabled employees appear to be linked to racial or gender stereotypical roles and occupations in the federal civil service. Additionally, a certain racial, ethnic or gender group with disabilities continues to be overrepresented or underrepresented in a certain occupation. Furthermore, disabled white-collar employees or applicants do not necessarily seem to have an advantage over disabled blue-collar employees or applicants.
This study investigated employment status, desire to return to work, and health outlook among 148 women and 184 men with major disabling health conditions. Disabled women’s need for job retraining and the importance of improved employer education about disability were recurrent themes during the interviews. No significant differences were found in women’s and men’s return to work or in desire for job retraining following disability onset. Perceived health status was significantly higher among employed women than among non-employed women, and the data suggest that employment contributes to improved health outlook among disabled women.
Kutner, N. G., & Gray, H. L. (1985). Toward a model of factors influencing the hiring of women with a history of breast cancer. In M. J. Deegan & N. A. Brooks (Eds.), Women and disability: The double handicap (pp. 117-132). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
This chapter is a study of what influences employers’ decision to hire women who have had breast cancer. While most former studies have examined the experiences of job applicants, this study examines the perspective of the employer. The authors surveyed a random sample of personnel directors from an industrialized North Carolina county and found that the majority of them had personal experiences with breast cancer patients and had had mastectomy employees leave work. The study suggests that the following five factors explain much of the hiring practices: size of the company, level of sick leave benefits, company involvement with employees’ medical insurance, employers’ education, and personal experience with breast cancer. The level of knowledge about cancer did not predict the hiring decision. Thus, many of the hiring practices were determined by organizational factors and the personal characteristics of the employer. The decision to hire or not to hire former breast cancer patients was not based on medical factors. Most of the factors which determined the decision to hire women with breast cancer had nothing to do with the individual woman, instead the decision to hire was more likely to be determined by the employers’ personal experiences with women who have had breast cancer. These findings suggest that the decision whether to hire women with breast cancer can have discriminatory overtones.
This study examines the prevalence of disabilities among mothers and children and analyzes how these disabilities influence mothers’ work participation. Analyses focus on differences between single and married mothers. The effect of social support coming from family configurations and living arrangements by including the age structures of children with and without a disability, and the number of other adults in the family, are also considered. This research was supported by a Census Bureau Research Development Grant through the Joint Center for Poverty Research at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
2002_EC_Article_5.pdf
This study investigates the career development process for young women with learning disabilities. Case study methodology was utilized to understand the key elements influencing career choices for young women with learning disabilities who had graduated from high school and entered the workforce. Case study findings revealed three distinct phases of career development that were labeled (a) unsettled, (b) exploratory, and (c) focused. Phases of career development varied along two dimensions—stability of employment and clarity of career goals.
Key elements that seemed to influence the phases of career development included individual motivation and personal determination, family support and advocacy, opportunities for career exploration, on-the-job or postsecondary vocational training, and supportive work environments.
The Career Connections curriculum is a specialized curriculum for young women with disabilities who are in transition from high school to the adult world. The curriculum, which focuses on the four modules of self-awareness, disability awareness, gender roles and issues, and career planning, was developed over four years and was field tested with 102 young women in four rural high schools. Sample activities from each of the modules are provided.
Purpose. This study aimed to explore, and obtain increased knowledge of, the strategies used by working women with fibromyalgia regarding control of pain, fatigue and other symptoms.
Method. Qualitative methods with an emergent design were used. The informants were women with fibromyalgia who had participated in rehabilitation 6–8 years earlier, and were still in work. Diaries, focus groups and individual interviews were used for data collection. Content analysis and grounded theory were used for the analyses.
Results. A model with three categories emerged. The core category `constant struggle’ contains eight sub-categories: enjoying life, taking care of oneself, positive thinking, setting limits, using pain as a guide, creative solutions, learning/being knowledgeable and `walking a tightrope’. The category `grieving process’ was a prerequisite for managing the struggle and the category `social support’ contained what facilitated the struggle.
Conclusion. The informants fought a constant struggle against the symptoms and the consequences of their fibromyalgia. Their strategies were action-oriented and evinced a positive spirit. To have grieved and accepted their situation was a prerequisite for managing, and support from the family was a help in the struggle.
This paper sets out the results of a Spanish study of the experience and meaning of work among disabled women of two generations, with three types of disability (physical, visual and hearing). Performing a socially recognised activity such as a job is a source of emotional welfare and self-esteem. Moreover, it confers a certain social status. For the participants in this study the kind of work involved, whether productive, paid and ‘extra-domestic’ or ‘reproductive’, unpaid and done at home, acquires different meanings, since for disabled women, sexist stereotypes – already more or less accentuated in the culture – social attitudes towards disability and personal factors introduce relevant differences, while leading to conflicts and dilemmas that these women have to solve. At any rate, their sense of responsibility in performing all types of work should be emphasised as evidence of their sense of independence and personal competence, forming a keystone in their construction of a sense of identity and social integration
Lusk, S. L., & Cook, D. (2009). Enhancing career exploration, decision making, and problem solving of adolescent girls with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 31(3), 145-153.
This study investigated the effects of an intervention designed to address the career exploration, decision-making, and problem solving needs of girls with learning disabilities. The sample consisted of 120 9th grade girls with and without disabilities. The intervention group consisted solely of girls with disabilities who participated in an eight-session program over a two-week period. All students completed the Career Maturity Inventory-Revised (CMI-R), which measures career exploration and decision-making abilities. They all also completed the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). At pre-testing, there were statistically significant differences found for girls with disabilities as a whole for these constructs when compared to girls without disabilities. Girls with disabilities who participated in the intervention had significantly better scores at post-testing on the decision-making and problem solving variables.
Lustig, D. C., & Strauser, D. C. (2004, April/June). Employee benefits for individuals with disabilities: The effect of race and gender. Journal of Rehabilitation, 70(2), 38-46.
This study investigated the impact of race and gender on access to typical employee benefits for individuals with disabilities. The authors analyzed data on the proportion of employers offering specific benefits. The study focused on two areas: (a) Males with disabilities were compared with females with disabilities and males and females with disabilities were compared with workers in the general population, (b) Caucasians with disabilities were compared with Non-Caucasians with disabilities and Caucasians and Non-Caucasians with disabilities were compared with workers in the general population. The results show that there were (a) no differences between males and females with disabilities, (b) minimal differences between Caucasians and Non-Caucasians with disabilities, and (c) significant differences between individuals with disabilities and workers in the general population. Implications for rehabilitation counselors is discussed.
A look back, after a decade, at the issues surrounding women and work. Work options, childcare and family concerns, the glass ceiling, sexual harassment, women entrepreneurs, race and poverty, unpaid work, and women with disabilities are discussed.
This paper examines gender differences in the impact of paid and unpaid productive activities on well-being. Using recent Canadian data, we examine the time spent by prime-age women and men (25–54) on paid work, childcare, eldercare, household work, volunteering, and education, and then assess its impact on stress and work-life balance.Using multivariate analyses, we show that women’s greater hours of unpaid work contribute to women experiencing more stress than men, and of that work, hours spent on eldercare and housework are more stressful than those spent on childcare. We also examine the influence of job characteristics and spouses’ paid and unpaid work time on stress. Neither spouse’s unpaid work nor most job characteristics alleviate stress, once work hours are controlled. However, the evidence suggests that women, more so than men, use strategies such as self-employment to improve work-life balance.
The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how debilitating diseases or accidents can influence occupation and identity. Ten women facing disabilities as adults were interviewed. Data are analysed with a phenomenologic-hermeneutic approach, and indicate that changed or reduced everyday occupations influence their interaction and presentation of self, which again has consequences to their identity. Early in the process of redefinition, a variety of occupational strategies help keep the identity as disabled at a distance. The women are keeping their jobs as long as possible, they hold on to their usual routines, they avoid places where they have to struggle doing, they barely talk about their occupational problems, avoid technical aids and membership in an interest organization for people with a disability. After some time the strategies change, making it possible to invest time and energy in meaningful occupations, to join interest organisations for disabled people, and engage in occupations tied to their role as women as well as leisure activities. Involvement in meaningful occupations tended to influence the way in which the women viewed themselves and brought about a redefinition of the meaning of disability.
We review findings from our programmatic research on adult daughters who are simultaneously involved in the roles of employee and care provider to an impaired parent. Two opposing theoretical perspectives on the health effects of occupying these two roles are described, and empirical findings that bear on each perspective are presented. Our review reveals that, consistent with the competing demands perspective, parent care and employment often conflict with one another. Consistent with the energy expansion perspective, however, there is evidence that holding these two roles can be beneficial for the health of adult daughters.
In this well-crafted ethnographic study of disabled women’s relationship with work, Mary Grimley Mason describes the viewpoints, struggles, strategies, and triumphs of eighteen women with a range of physical and sensory impairments. She relates how each came to terms with her disability and achieved self-identity and self-sufficiency in an able-bodied world.
Drawing on thirty extensive interviews, Mason skillfully interweaves her own experience of childhood polio with the voices of impaired women across generations and from diverse race, ethnic, class, and work backgrounds. Although each woman’s story and perspective are unique, the compelling narratives in this illuminating and teachable volume reveal shared concerns and feelings about the ways in which the disabled see themselves, how others perceive the impaired, and how our workplace culture perpetuates the double hindrance of gender and disability discrimination. The women profiled here express in their own words the process of claiming their disability and integrating it into their identity, the adjustment to various dependencies and caregivers, and approaches to coping with social discrimination and marginalization. They also discuss overcoming such obstacles in the workplace as an employer’s refusal to grant an interview, lack of accommodations after employment, and negative stereotyping on the job or in job placement.
In these accounts we meet, for example, Debbie, born with cerebral palsy, who struggled to get her family to accept her as she is; Barbara, born with orthopedic problems, who confronted her mother’s fear that she would not be employed or find a husband; and Adrienne, blind from birth, who aggressively confronted discrimination in the workplace through litigation.
Taken together, the stories of these ordinary yet remarkable individuals build a sense of community. Working against Odds tells disabled women that they are not alone in grappling with the tremendous barriers to independence and helps able-bodied readers understand the challenging life choices and work experiences of those with impairments. As a whole, the insightful book offers an intimate view of disability history and issues in America.
Examines effects of functional limitations, the labor market, life stage, and family responsibilities, on whether or not a woman is able to be gainfully employed; based on data relating to women aged 20-64 from the household component of the 1986 StatisticsCanada Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS).
The Rehabilitation Act is explicit about non-discrimination and intends that both men and women with disabilities obtain vocational rehabilitation services that will lead to their optimal economic and personal independence. The problems of gender equity in access, services and benefits from vocational rehabilitation do exist, however. These problems are discussed.
Objectives: (1) Evaluate the impact of the patient characteristics of disability, gender and employment status on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in multiple sclerosis (MS) and (2) Characterize the functional relationship between HRQOL and disability overall, and by gender and employment status. Methods: We assessed the HRQOL of 215 MS outpatients in our clinic using the MSQOL-54 and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and that of 172 healthy controls, using the SF-36 (a subset of MSQOL-54). We compared QOL between MS subgroups defined by disability, gender and employment, and computed the linear and non-linear relationships between disability level measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and MSQOL-54 dimensions.
Results: QOL of MS patients measured by SF-36 is lower than controls, varying by QOL dimension with the greatest difference emerging for physical aspects of the disease. The relationship of physical disability, measured by EDSS, and all 14 MSQOL-54 dimensions and FSS is negative; for 12 of the 14 dimensions and FSS it is also non-linear. Non-linearity is most pronounced among women, who show a weak EDSS/QOL relationship at higher levels of physical disability, suggesting women better able to “psychologically buffer” the debilitating aspects of MS. While employed have higher QOL than unemployed, the former are more affected by physical disability.
Conclusions: Multiple attributes, including disability, gender and employment status, affect QOL. QOL’s relationship with disability is complex, displaying non-linearity and interacting with patient characteristics. This has implication for QOL research methodology and provides insight into factors affecting patients’ perceptions of well-being.
Disabled women suffer socio-labour discrimination because of both their gender and their disability. The situation is gradually improving, thanks to the national and supranational organisations, which in the past few decades have made considerable progress in improving the legislation, providing financial resources and encouraging social awareness. Despite this, few studies quantify this double discrimination in order to permit the evaluation of the socio-labour situation of this group of people. This scarcity is even more pronounced for rural areas, where many other factors hinder the integration of disabled women into the labour market and generate some specific problems that the specialist literature seldom addresses. The current work presents the results of a survey on the socio-economic situation of disabled women in a strongly rural area: the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha. It stresses the fundamental difficulties of these women in integrating into the labour market and the most urgent political measures needed to help this group
Moore, C. L., Feist-Price, S., & Alston, R. J. (2002, January/March). Competitive employment and mental retardation: Interplay among gender, race, secondary psychiatric disability, and rehabilitation services. Journal of Rehabilitation, 68(1), 14-19.
Rehabilitation outcomes of persons with mild/moderate mental retardation were analyzed. Seven variables were used to predict one dichotomous and one continuous criterion variable: work status at closure and level of income, respectively. Findings indicated that consumers with mild/moderate mental retardation who received job placement services achieved competitive jobs at a significantly greater rate than those who did not. Results are presented for each criterion variable and the implications of the findings for service and research are discussed.
The purpose of this investigation was to explore the ways that women with severe work disabilities (SWDs) attributed meaning to their lives, experiences, and decisions. The author used qualitative research methodology and grounded theory procedures to analyze data obtained from videotaped interviews, discussion of videotaped interviews, and prolonged and persistent participant observations to shed light on the lives and experiences of women with SWDs, a previously understudied group. Implications for counseling are discussed.
The recent call for the reorientation of analysis in medical geography to more critical approaches has been met with both enthusiasm and caution. Critical theories of health and health care services are emerging, which complement the well-developed focus on the spatial aspects of disease and service delivery. Yet in reconceptualising the links between place, space, and health, care must be taken in theorising in context experiences of health and illness. By context we mean the richly textured social formation wherein social relations are threads of a tapestry woven together. One topic which lends itself to such an inquiry is how material and discursive bodies combine to create identities for women with chronic illness around issues of gender and (dis)ability within the context of the wider social political economy. In this paper, we propose a feminist political economic analysis of environment and body as an addition to the critical frameworks emerging in medical geography. We first discuss what a radical body politics entails conceptually. Then we make suggestions with regard to undertaking such inquiry, using in illustration empirical work on women’s reshaping of their environment in response to chronic illness. This type of investigation extends previous work on the formation of women’s identities, experiences of chronic illness, and the materiality of everyday life. Last, we recast the concepts of environment, body, and identity formation while maintaining a commitment to the fluidity of conceptual and material boundaries.
This study explored possible gender differences in the self-management of chronic illness as predictors for self-disclosure to line managers. A survey, sent to participants at a university, found 461 women and 273 men reporting a chronic illness. Findings suggest that women reported more symptoms of their illness and were more likely to perceive receiving emotional support from others as being important in managing their illness. In contrast, men were more likely to have higher sickness absence and report their symptoms as being more frequent. Despite the difference in the experience of illness between the two genders, findings suggests that the importance of receiving emotional support from line managers is the strongest predictor for disclosure of illness for both genders.
“This report provides an overview of a research project that examined the experiences and perspectives of unemployed, underemployed, and employed women with disabilities, and their knowledge of and need for adaptive technology… We found that despite education, work experience, and involvement in various training programs the majority of women with disabilities were unable to find sustained employment with a living wage. Although most women with disabilities have improved access to education, policies to advance use of adaptive technology in the labour market have not kept pace. Consequently, women with disabilities are demonstrably and significantly excluded from employment.”
Purpose. This study replicated the one that was conducted 30 years ago to determine systematic gender differences in access and outcomes of vocational rehabilitation services (VRS).
Methods. Unlike the original study that was confined to Region V, this study examined case management data from 653,206 cases that were closed by State VRS in 2004 in all states. It used a t-test to analyse gender differences in access to VRS and intervention outcomes in education, employment, earnings and dependence on public support. The study also conducted multivariate analysis to determine the effects of gender on VRS intervention outcomes.
Results. The study found differences similar to those found 30 years ago. Although women had better educational outcomes, they had lower employment and earnings and greater dependence on needs-based public support than did men. A disturbing finding is that the gender employment and earnings gaps were wider after VRS interventions than before. After controlling for other factors, the study found that gender is a significant predictor of earnings and employment outcomes.
Conclusion. These findings suggest that men with disabilities stand a better chance of escaping poverty than do women. There is a need for changes in VRS service provision that ensures equity in quality of services which might translate into more equitable employment and earnings outcomes.
National Center for Family Literacy. (2000, February). Learning disabilities and gender bias in an employment context. Momentum: NCFL’s Quarterly Newsletter. Retrieved April 6, 2005 from http://www.famlit.org/Publications/Momentum/
February2000/ld.cfm
This short article discusses how family literacy programs are more involved with women with learning disabilities and discusses the relationship between learning disabilities in women, especially with undiagnosed or unidentified learning disabilities and the difficulties often faced in moving from a welfare program to gainful employment. Throughout they offer resources on learning disabilities especially for literacy programs.
This qualitative study investigates the everyday lives of college educated deaf women in their family, educational, mothering and activism, and paid work experiences. The study is based on life history research with ten deaf women in two different cities in the northeast. The data reveal the seemingly “invisible” and often visible work involved as these women negotiate places for themselves and resist various obstacles in their paid and unpaid work lives. The women develop strategies to negotiate being part of the deaf world, hearing world, or somewhere, as they describe, “in between.” Despite being educated orally and usually forbidden to learn sign language in their early years, the women are often tracked into working in deaf work environments, specifically into teaching professions. As part of their mothering and activist work, the women also make political decisions about their identities as well as those of their children when they make decisions about how to communicate in their families. The study also shows how institutions such as schools, families, and workplaces shape the women’s work experiences and their identities. By uncovering the life experiences of these deaf women, these findings have implications for our education programs and hiring procedures.
In this paper we examine the role of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the workplace lives of women. Classified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the secrecy associated with the disorder makes it invisible to everyone except the women who suffer from it. Left untreated and without appropriate forms of support and accommodation, OCD often creates difficulties in the working lives of women. However, with appropriate treatment, education, and support, women with OCD are successful and bring unique and valuable assets to their jobs. Case studies and a recent court case are used to illustrate our recommendations.
This qualitative study examined the career development experiences of 17 highly achieving women with physical and sensory disabilities. Interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using modified grounded theory strategies (A. L. Strauss & J. Corbin, 1998). The emergent theoretical model was conceptualized as a system of influences organized around a core Dynamic Self, which included identity constructs (disability, gender, racial/ethnic/cultural), personality characteristics, and belief in self. Myriad contextual inputs included Developmental Opportunities (education, peer influences), Family Influences (background and current), Disability Impact (ableism, stress and coping, health issues), Social Support (disabled and nondisabled communities, role models and mentors), Career Attitudes and Behaviors (work attitudes, success strategies, leadership/pioneering), and Sociopolitical Context (social movements, advocacy). Implications for theory, research, practice, and policy are discussed.
Bodies in Revolt argues that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) could humanize capitalism by turning employers into care-givers, creating an ethic of care in the workplace. Unlike other feminists, Ruth O’Brien bases her ethics not on benevolence, but rather on self-preservation. She relies on Deleuze and Guattari’s interpretation of Spinoza and Foucault’s conception of corporeal resistance to show how a workplace ethic that is neither communitarian nor individualistic can be based upon the rallying cry “one for all and all for one.”
O’Brien contends that, to instigate such a revolt, disability must be viewed as an integral part of life, an ever-evolving, indeed, almost universal aspect of the human condition. This recognition transforms the ADA from a narrow civil rights law into the most revolutionary labor/civil rights law that the United States has ever seen. Its employment provisions would do nothing less than undercut capitalism by making employers provide reasonable accommodations on the basis of human needs instead of profits. Accommodating one person sets precedents for all. Absent a divide between individual rights and collective action, persons with disabilities become Foucauldian agents of resistance or “bodies in revolt,” undermining the standardization and dehumanization of the post-Fordist political economy.
O’Brien discusses about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) employment provisions that will make employers take into account the ongoing needs of their workers with traditional and nontraditional disabilities alike. She stresses that the ADA transforms disability into a nonessential socially constructed category, defining a disability by virtue of what a person cannot do rather than in terms of a specific medical condition or disease.
This article examines wage discrimination during the initial stages of employment using panel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Women with disabilities are twice disadvantaged in the labor market: They face possible discrimination based on both gender and disability status. This article focuses on transitions into new employment. Two key variables indicate the circumstances in which a woman starts working at a new employer: (a) a planned employment transition or (b) finding employment after leaving a former employer for an unplanned reason or after being unemployed. The empirical evidence suggests that wage discrimination is prevalent; discrimination occurs across personal and employment characteristics. Although employment transitions resulted in lower wages, reasonable scenarios that involve personal choices as opposed to discrimination could not be eliminated. For instance, a worker with disabilities may change employers and accept a lower wage if she gains nonwage benefits (e.g., accommodations or health insurance).
Article reviewing the literature on supported employment for women with developmental disabilities. The experience of women with developmental disabilities is compared and contrasted with that of women with physical disabilities. Topics include: developmental disabilities and employment; disability and minority group membership; special needs and concerns of women with disabilities; attitudes toward the sexuality of women with developmental disabilities; impact of gender and disability on self-concept; gender and vocational outcomes. Concludes with recommendations for change in supported employment.
Questions about gender equity have been asked in many aspects of the disability field and have resulted in findings that women with disabilities have significantly different experiences than do men. We analyzed an existing database of information on supported employment and natural supports to ascertain whether gender plays an important role in the employment of people with mental retardation. The findings suggest that there are several important differences. Although women were perceived as being more socially appropriate on several dimensions, they worked in jobs traditionally stereotyped by gender. Women also typically worked fewer hours than did men and, therefore, earned less money, although not statistically significantly so. The pattern of findings suggests parallels with the broader society.
Purpose. To analyse the determinants of part-time employment and examine the impact of having a disability on the probability of working part-time. Our dataset allows us to take into account the heterogeneity within the disabled collective and identify the incidence of part-time work, for example, by type of disability and compare the results obtained.
Method. Using data from the ad hoc module on disability of the Spanish Labour Force Survey 2002 (which contains detailed information on key characteristics of disabled population), we used a bivariate probit model to estimate the probability of disabled women working part-time and of being employed.
Results. The results show that disabled women have a higher probability of working part-time as compared to non-disabled women, especially those with progressive illnesses, digestive and stomach disorders and chest or breathing problems. In addition, there is a positive relationship between longer disability durations and levels of part-time employment.
Conclusions. Part-time employment can be used as a means to increase the levels of employment of disabled women, especially for those who face important barriers and difficulties as they try to enter into the labour market (e.g., those with epilepsy, mental, emotional conditions and other progressive illnesses or having long-term disabilities).
“Why is work important to women with disabilities? Well, for the women profiled in this Impact there are a lot of reasons. Among them are feeling successful and important, earning money, being independent, having a reason to get up in the morning, making a meaningful difference in the lives of others, learning new things, following a sense of calling, and achieving goals. At the same time, it is also true that fewer women with disabilities participate in the workforce than men with disabilities or women without disabilities. All the reasons for this difference are not entirely clear. One of the things we do know is that the expectations that people have of women with disabilities play a role in their participation in the workforce. We also know that awareness of a range of employment strategies and options on the part of professionals opens up possibilities that may otherwise be overlooked. And we know that having role models and mentors makes all the difference in the world for girls and women with disabilities as they think about what they want to do with their adult lives. Because having meaningful, valued work is such an important part of life, we hope through this Impact to encourage readers to hold an expansive vision of what’s possible for women with disabilities in the employment arena, and to offer strategies, resources, and inspiration to realize that vision” (p. 1).
This study used a sample of single & married mothers with children under the age of 20 drawn from the 1992 & 1993 panels of the Survey of Income & Program Participation to examine one facet of the economic implications that a child with disabilities brings to a family. Specifically, the choice of women with children to work full time, part time, or not at all was estimated as a function of individual & family characteristics, including the number & ages of children with disabilities. The presence of young children, with or without disabilities, has a significant negative influence on the work choice of both single & married mothers. However, once children enter elementary school, single mothers with disabled or nondisabled children & married mothers with nondisabled children are significantly more likely to enter the labor market or increase their labor market hours than are married mothers of school-age children with disabilities.
Women with disabilities face simultaneous oppression in employment due to discrimination with regard to disability and gender. This article investigates the potential disparity in participation in employment for women, particularly women with disabilities. We analysed weighted data from disability surveillance programs and the Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) on over 47,000 respondents. The disability BRFSS was a telephone survey in 11 states and Washington DC. Logistic regression analyses produced adjusted models of the association between gender and employment. Compared with people without disabilities, there were disparities found for people with disabilities, and women with and without disabilities, with the larger discrepancy for women without disabilities. Additional detail about level of employment is needed to make conclusive statements; however, it is clear that disparities in employment continue to exist for women, regardless of their disability status.
Article about the psychosocial needs of women with disabilities in relation to employment reentry, and how vocational and career development programs can respond to these needs. Discusses psychosocial barriers including social isolation, sociocultural stereotypes, perceived lack of self-efficacy, role perceptions, and loss of perceived personal control. Identifies career development strategies that can be used by service providers.
Discusses political, theoretical, and methodological issues in defining and measuring paid and unpaid work disability. Presents results of study analyzing disability in paid work and unpaid family work among 206 women with rheumatoid arthritis, demonstrating feasibility of measuring disability in family work and showing that women experience significant limitations in homemaker functioning and in paid work roles.
Men and women with different levels of perceived severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) completed a survey eliciting their employment concerns. Results indicated that adults with MS were dissatisfied with 6 types of employment services and policies: (1) employer support, (2) program knowledge, (3) external support, (4) service provision, (5) work potential, and (6) prescriptions and health care. Findings also indicated gender and severity interaction, which are discussed in terms of implications for rehabilitation.
Study examined gender differences regarding consumer involvement in vocational rehabilitation counseling programs and the employment outcomes of that program. Employment status was measured two months after participants completed their programs. Results indicated that while women reported being more involved in their counseling programs than men, the men reported being employed more than the women.
“This article describes some of the barriers I have encountered as a woman with a disability employed in professional positions within the social service sector, and my strategies to overcome these challenges. The experiences related herein reflect my perception of actual events. I do not believe that these themes are unique to my circumstance, nor to the field in which I worked. Nor do I believe that my experiences reflect the experiences or values of all women with disabilities” (p. 101)
Russo, N. F., & Jansen, M. A. (1988). Women, work, and disability: Opportunities and challenges. In M. Fine & A. Asch (Eds.), Women with disabilities: Essays in psychology, culture, and politics [Health, Society, and Policy Series] (pp. 229-244). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
This chapter examines the employment of women with disabilities in the context of the changes in women’s labor force participation in general. The past few decades have seen a revolutionary increase in women’s participation in the paid labor force, especially noticeable has been the increased number of working mothers, and this has significantly influenced the national employment policy. The authors argue that women with disabilities have not been a part of the women’s employment revolution and that employment policies still assume that working women are able-bodied. Very little attention has been devoted to the disadvantaged employment status of women with disabilities. While men with disabilities have serious employment problems, women with disabilities are significantly worse off. For example, compared to men, women with disabilities are less likely to receive quality training for competitive employment. The authors also demonstrate how the economy in general, and the specialized disability services in particular, restrict the employment opportunities and lives of women with disabilities. The chapter also addresses opportunities and challenges for research, education, and rehabilitation strategies designed to change the situation.
One of the most noted social trends in recent decades is the dramatic increase in women’s labor force participation. This chapter examines what implications this may have for women’s mental health. Because women have been heavy users of mental health services some authors have suggested that women’s increased labor force participation, especially mothers with young children, might increase stress and result in more mental health problems. Others have suggested that because work is central to adult adjustment and a major source of satisfaction, women’s increased labor force participation should have the opposite effect; it should improve their mental health. After a thorough review of the literature on the topic the authors conclude that the evidence regarding the mental health consequences of work for women shows many positive relationships while few negative effects have been found. They state that work is clearly a source of self-esteem and satisfaction for most women. They also point out that the group of women who are most at risk of having mental health problems are non-white, nonmarried, nonemployed women, and women who lived in social isolation with limited roles. This suggests that the women who may most need mental health services may be those not in the work arena, especially women who are isolated or homebound because of young children or limited social roles.
Background: Fibromyalgia is a significant health problem for women of working age. However, little is known about the long-term effects of fibromyalgia in everyday life or on work ability.
Methods: A narrative interview study was conducted to explore the experiences of work ability and functioning of patients with a long history of fibromyalgia. Twenty women, aged 34-65 years, were purposively chosen for the interviews, to reach a wide range of patients with different social and professional backgrounds.
Results: Four types of experience concerning work ability were identified in the narratives: confusion, coping with fluctuating symptoms, being in between and being over the edge of exhaustion. Severe pain and fatigue symptoms, combined with a demanding life situation and ageing, seemed to lead to substantial decrease in work ability and functioning over the long term. In the narratives, vocational rehabilitation or adjustments to work tasks were rarely seen or were started too late to be effective.
Conclusions: Exploring the life stories of women with fibromyalgia can reveal the perceived causes and consequences of fibromyalgia related to work ability or disability, which can be utilized in developing client-centred rehabilitation approaches and effective interventions to support work ability and avoid premature retirement in fibromyalgia patients.
Sim, F. G. (1999). Integrating women and girls with disabilities into mainstream vocational training: A practical guide. Bangkok: ILO East Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved March 4, 2005 from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/ability/
download/wwd.pdf
“This guide is intended primarily for instructors and administrators in vocational training institutes in both the public and private sectors, and It will also be useful to policy-makers in vocational training as well as in employers’ and workers’ organizations. The guide discusses the main issues relating to the seriously disadvantaged position of women with disabilities and provides basic information about disability. It suggests practical actions for vocational training institutes to increase the enrolment, participation, and integration of women with disabilities into their training programmes. By doing so, it is hoped that instructors and administrators of vocational institutes will be better informed to promote equality of opportunity for disabled women in training, and in subsequent employment. While most disabled persons can participate in mainstream training, this guide is geared primarily to those who require minimum support in the learning environment.”
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative case study of the quality of life of three women with developmental disabilities. In-depth interview data were collected from the women who had previously worked in a sheltered workshop environment and were, at the time of study, working in supported employment in the community. Interviews were also conducted with each woman’s job coach and a family member or close friend. Onsite observations of the women in their supported employment environments were also undertaken. Results show that the women’s own perceptions about their quality of life were not always as family members and job coaches expected, and that the purported benefits of supported employment for the three women with developmental disabilities were not always realized. Occupational therapists have an opportunity to facilitate the occupational performance of adults with developmental disabilities but they must be willing to engage in wider health and social policy change if they are to make significant gains.
A survey involving 449 women with disabilities in nontraditional careers was conducted to determine what factors contributed to choice and what factors contributed to success. The results of the survey are discussed.
Among working aged adults (18–64) with disabilities, three out of 10 (32%) work full or part-time, compared to eight out of 10 (81%) of those without disabilities [9]. In addition, 24.7% of women with a severe disability and 27.8% of men with a severe disability are employed, while women with a non-severe disability have an employment rate of 68.4% and men with a non-severe disability have an employment rate of 85.1% [14].
This study examined data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey from 1995–2002 to determine whether or not disparities exist in the rate of unemployment for women with disabilities, compared to men with disabilities and women and men without disabilities. In addition, regression analysis looked at the how disability and gender predict the outcome of unemployment. Results showed that there has been essentially no change with regard to employment for any of these populations.
In addition, disability and gender were found to be the strongest predictors of unemployment for women with disabilities. Possible explanations were discussed as to the reasons for the results and issues were presented for future research.
Purpose. The relationship between the employment status of women with disabilities and the incidence of physical and sexual abuse in the United States was examined.
Method. Data from the 2005 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were analyzed using descriptive analysis and proportional analysis to determine the significance of the relationship between the experience of abuse and employment status for women with disabilities. Due to the large sample size, effect size was examined through Cohen’s h. Logistic regression analysis was also used to examine the risk of unemployment for women with disabilities who are abused.
Results. Women with disabilities who have been abused have higher levels of unemployment than women without disabilities who have not been abused. In addition, women with disabilities who have been abused have higher levels of unemployment than women without disabilities who have not been abused. Finally, experiencing physical and sexual abuse increases the risk of unemployment for women with disabilities.
Conclusion. Unemployment increases the disadvantage for an already vulnerable population and potentially prevents women with disabilities from being able to break the cycle of violence they are experiencing. Recommendations are discussed with regard to intervention by rehabilitation professionals to assist women with disabilities who experience abuse.
Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore how contextual factors affect the everyday activities of women and men with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as evident in their life stories.
Methods: Fifteen people with RA, who had retired early due to the disease, were interviewed up to three times, according to a narrative biographic interview style. The life stories of the participants, which were reconstructed from the biographical data and from the transcribed told story were analysed from the perspective of contextual factors, including personal and environmental factors. The rigour and accuracy of the analysis were enhanced by reflexivity and peer-review of the results.
Results: The life stories of the participants in this study reflected how contextual factors (such as gender, the healthcare system, the support of families and social and cultural values) shaped their everyday activities. In a society such as in Austria, which is based on traditional patriarchal values, men were presented with difficulties in developing a non-paid-work-related role. For women, if paid work had to be given up, they were more likely to engage in alternative challenging activities which enabled them to develop reflective skills, which in turn contributed to a positive and enriching perspective on their life stories. Health professionals may thus use some of the women’s strategies to help men.
Conclusion: Interventions by health professionals in people with RA may benefit from an approach sensitive to personal and environmental factors.
Szalda-Petree, A., Seekins, T., & Innes, B. (1999, June). Ruralfacts: Women with disabilities: Employment, income, and health. Missoula, MT: Developmental Disabilities Health Promotion Project, The University of Montana Rural Institute. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from http://rtc.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/RuDis/DisWomenFact.htm
This fact sheet provides statistics and briefly discusses how employment and health can be more difficult for women with disabilities to access in rural communities.
Tataryn discusses the fate of women with disabilities with regards to employment in North America. She calls for a need to overcome disabling attitudes and to promote employment among disabled women.
Article reporting on a national survey of directors of the Business Enterprise Program or BEP, also called the Vending Facility Program or the Randolph-Sheppard program, regarding the representation of women who are legally blind among licensed facility managers. Responses were received from 40 of the 50 directors contacted (the state director in each of the 49 states with a BEP, and in the District of Columbia). The study documented the level of inclusion of women in the BEP, and investigated the relationship between the percentage of female facility managers in the program and such variables as type of facility, race-ethnicity, and stages of training. These empirical data are augmented by suggestions from the BEP directors regarding the strategies they use to recruit women into the program and the strategies they believe that state licensing agencies could use to recruit more applicants.
Objectives. Although employment among welfare mothers increased substantially following the 1996 welfare reform, some former welfare recipients failed to find stable employment. We review the extent to which low-income mothers are without work and cash welfare for long periods of time and seek to understand the correlates of becoming chronically disconnected.
Methods. We analyze data from a 1997–2003 panel study of single mothers who received cash welfare in an urban county in Michigan in February 1997. We develop a new measure of the extent to which former recipients are “chronically disconnected” from both employment and cash welfare and estimate regression models of the correlates of this economic outcome.
Results. About 9 percent of respondents became chronically disconnected, defined as being without employment and cash welfare during at least one-quarter of the months during the 79-month study period. Important correlates of becoming chronically disconnected include having a physical limitation, having a learning disability, using illegal drugs or meeting the diagnostic screening criteria for alcohol dependence, and having no car or driver license. The chronically disconnected are more likely to have lost a job than to have lost welfare benefits and are more economically disadvantaged than those with regular sources of economic support.
Conclusions. To reduce the number of women who fail to make a successful transition from welfare to work, more attention should be given to programs and policies that attempt to reconnect disconnected women to regular sources of economic support.
Women’s Bureau. (1992). Women with work disabilities [Facts on Working Women No. 92.2]. Washington, DC: Department of Labor.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) should provide disabled working women with better employment prospects and greater earning capacities. The ADA prohibits discrimination in all terms and conditions of employment against qualified disabled persons who can perform the essential functions of a given job with or without reasonable accommodation. More disabled working women are employed today than 10 years ago, and they are more likely to be employed full time; however, women with work disabilities are still three times as likely as nondisabled women to be unemployed. Black women workers are much more likely to be disabled than white women workers (13.8% versus 7.7%). The incidence of work disability increases with age. The percentage of disabled women working in service occupations is higher than the percentage of nondisabled women, and the disparity in the earnings of disabled and nondisabled working women widened significantly during the 1980s. A number of government organizations will assist disabled persons seeking employment, and the General Services Administration provides special electronic equipment to disabled employees of the federal government.
In the last few years, issues concerning women and disability have expanded not only in terms of research devoted to them but also in terms of the responses of women and girls with disabilities. Many have formed various approaches to breaking down the barriers and therefore addressing their distinct needs. This report contains selected information on a variety of topics, including perspectives on employment.