Women and work: the more, the better?

An increasing number of women work outside the home, and one might think that the resulting strain would have an adverse effect on women's health. However, studies conducted up to now have disclosed no evidence of harm. Rather, working outside the home often appears to benefit women. However, such results could be due to the `healthy worker effect', whereby the least healthy people do not enter the work force in the first place. When their skills are underutilized and superiors are indifferent to their accomplishments, women show as much vulnerability to stress as men do. Far more research is needed to confirm or disprove these preliminary results, and to understand the various factors involved.