[Shift-work and housekeeping interference]

In Italy, within the last ten years, an increasing number of women have been involved on shift and night-work not only in the tertiary sector, but also in the industrial one. This has been made possible by the promulgation of Law 903/1977, concerning parity in treatment of both men and women in questions of employment. The work agreements for women night-work have gradually increased over the period 1980-1986 passing from 194 in 1980 to 357 in 1986, with approximately 10000 more women involved each year. The sectors mostly involved in these last years have been the textile, food and mechanical ones. The present study reports the major problems complained by the women shiftworkers as concerns their difficulties in family and social life, and refers the case of a group of women abruptly introduced to night work in a food industry, where they had been previously engaged only on day-work for many years. During the first year of night-work the absenteeism among this group tripled (29.8 days per year on average) with respect to the previous years. The impact on shift and night-work appeared to have been the most disruptive of the whole condition of this group of women, with negative effects on their personal, family and working life. High absenteeism, increasing psychosomatic complaints, worsening of the subjective health status, sleep disturbances, difficulties in family relationships were the main consequences. The women with heavier family commitments, namely those married with children, showed the worst effects.