Gendered bodies: Recruitment, management and occupational health in northern Thailand's electronics factories

Theobald, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9053-211X (2002) 'Gendered bodies: Recruitment, management and occupational health in northern Thailand's electronics factories'. Women & Health, Vol 35, Issue 4, pp. 7-26.

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Abstract

This paper explores workers' experiences and understandings of occupational health hazards in the electronics industries of northern Thailand. Women form the bulk of the lower-level workforce as operators responsible for assembling the parts that make up microchip components. Drawing data from 16 months of research in workers' dormitories, formal and informal interviews and questionnaire surveys, in this paper I explore how gender relations are central to the organization and experience of work in these industries. I identify "work process" health hazards resulting from the physical working environment, and "workplace" health hazards relating to the organizational and social pressures of the working environment. Musculoskeletal pain, eye strain, chemical exposure, stress, improper use of safety equipment and accidents all impact upon women workers' health. Additionally, risk behaviors such as amphetamine and alcohol use, and unprotected sex, are associated with the social context of factory work.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > WA 100 General works WA Public Health > WA 20.5 Research (General) WA Public Health > Statistics. Surveys > WA 950 Theory or methods of medical statistics. Epidemiologic methods
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1300/J013v35n04_02
Depositing User:	Lynn Roberts-Maloney
Date Deposited:	02 Apr 2014 08:43
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2021 17:19
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/2995

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