Employers need to be better at recognising, and supporting, the differing physical and mental health needs of women throughout their careers, research has suggested.
The analysis from GRiD, the industry body for the group risk sector, has come ahead of International Women’s Day tomorrow (8 March).
At the same time, the charity Versus Arthritis is urging employers to be more aware of what it has termed ‘the gender pain gap’, especially in the context of musculoskeletal health conditions such as arthritis.
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GRiD has argued, from a poll earlier this year of 1,250 employed adults, employers should be wary of providing one-size-fits all employee benefits for their female staff, as their health concerns can be quite specific.
Female employees’ concerns about their physical health increase with age, but mental wellness-related issues peak earlier in life, it has said.
When asked about their biggest health concerns, 21% of female baby-boomers cited serious ill health such as cancer or heart disease, which reduced to 17% for Gen X women, 16% for millennial women and 5% for Gen Z women.
Similarly, ‘living with long-term chronic illness’ was a concern for 17% of baby-boomer women, reducing to just 10% of those in Gen Z.
However, when asked about their mental wellbeing, just 7% of female baby-boomer employees were concerned about stress and anxiety related to work, increasing to 8% of Gen X women, 14% of millennial women, and 24% of Gen Z.
However, the research also showed that other types of stress and anxiety, namely those relating to finances and home life, are amplified in mid-life for female millennials and Gen X, but are less likely to affect Gen Z and Baby-boomer women.
In short, there is a straight-line correlation between the age of women and their concerns about physical health, whereas mental health concerns peak in the middle working years. As their concerns differ with age, the support they require at different ages needs to match, GRiD has said.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said: “Women are typically provided with lower-value benefits than men because of the gender pay gap. Employers can actively take steps to redress this balance by ensuring their female employees are fully supported and encouraged to make use of all the benefits available to them throughout their entire working lives.”
Versus Arthritis, meanwhile, has highlighted musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions affect more women than men, yet research shows that women are more likely to say their pain is dismissed or ignored.
It has cited its State of Musculoskeletal Health 2024 report, which showed that women are more likely to experience chronic pain, with 38% of women having chronic pain compared to 30% of men.
A total of 14% of women have high-impact chronic pain compared to 9% of men. Yet despite this, women often find that they are not listened to when talking about their pain, the charity has said.
It has also highlighted research by pharmaceutical brand Nurofen in its Gender Pain Gap Index Report, which found that 81% of women aged between 18 and 24 said their pain had been dismissed or ignored compared with 73% of similarly aged men.
Out of those who felt their pain was ignored or dismissed, nearly one in four women said no one took their pain seriously, compared to one in six men.
“Musculoskeletal pain is the most common form of pain in the UK, for both women and men,” said Professor Lucy Donaldson, director of research and health intelligence at Versus Arthritis.
“Women are much more likely to experience more severe musculoskeletal pain, and they are more likely to seek help and treatment. However, research shows women’s voices are too often unheard, diminished and dismissed – because they are female.
“For many women, this slows the time for them to get the right diagnosis, and the help and treatment they need, leading to wasted years, and worse outcomes,” she added.
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