Blood Work: Managing Menstruation, Menopause and Gynaecological Health Conditions in the Workplace

Katherine Sang, Jen Remnant, Thomas Calvard and Katriona Myhill
Additional contact information
Katherine Sang: Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
Jen Remnant: Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
Thomas Calvard: Business School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JS, UK
Katriona Myhill: Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: The menstrual cycle remains neglected in explorations of public health, and entirely remiss in occupational health literature, despite being a problematic source of gendered inequalities at work. This paper proposes the new concept of blood work to explain the relationship between menstruation (and associated gynaecological health conditions) and employment for women and trans/non-binary people. We build on and extend health and organisational literature on managing bodies at work by arguing that those who experience menstruation face additional work or labour in the management of their own bodies through the menstrual cycle. We discuss how this additional labour replicates problematic elements that are identifiable in public health initiatives, in that it is individualised, requiring individual women and trans/non-binary people to navigate unsupportive workplaces. We present findings from an analysis of qualitative survey data that were completed by 627 participants working in higher education, revealing that employees’ blood work comprises distinct difficulties that are related to the management of painful, leaking bodies, access to facilities, stigma, and balancing workload. We suggest developing supportive workplaces and public health policies, which refocus the responsibility for accessible, equal workplaces that accommodate menstruating employees, and those with gynaecological health conditions.

Keywords: blood; body work; gynaecological health; higher education; menstruation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1951/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1951/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1951-:d:500916

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().