Giang Huong Le will defend her thesis for the PhD program in Social Sciences, with specialization in Social work and social policy, with the title "Gender, Health, and the Role of Working Conditions. Evidence from Norway’s Gender-Segregated Labor Market".
The title of the trial lecture is "Do women or men have the less healthy jobs?”.
The ordinary opponents are:
The leader of the public defense is professor Anne Britt Djuve, Leader Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet.
This thesis examines how working conditions are associated with gender health disparities in Norway's gender-segregated labor market. Based on the work environment hypothesis, the research question is: How are mechanical and psychosocial working conditions associated with health-related outcomes, encompassing both health status and labor market attachment, among men and women in the Norwegian labor market?
Using Norwegian survey and register data, this thesis developed a gender-specific occupational Job Strain Index (Study I) and examined associations between working conditions and health-related outcomes among health-challenged populations: individuals with prior specialized healthcare contact (Study II) and cancer survivors (Study III).
Findings provided partial support for the work environment hypothesis while revealing complexities. Gender-specific, exposure-specific, and context-dependent patterns suggested that working conditions alone may not fully account for gender health disparities. Results point toward gender-responsive policies addressing distinct occupational health challenges and highlight the need to integrate the work environment hypothesis with other explanatory mechanisms.