The health care system for female workers and its current status in Japan

Menstrual cycle and menstrual pain problems and related risk factors among Japanese female workers

Women's employment in Japan has increased substantially in recent decades, however little large scale research has been done on the impact of various types of working conditions on women's health. The aim of this study was to assess the menstrual cycle and menstrual pain problems of female workers and to investigate the factors that relate to them. The questionnaire was distributed to 8,150 women and 2,166 responded (26.6%). An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used to get information about demographics, menstrual cycle status, the degree of menstrual pain, and employment and environmental factors. Irregular cycle menstruation was experienced in 17.1% of responded workers. We discovered the relationship between irregular menstrual cycles and stress, smell of cigarettes, age and smoking habits. Some degree of menstrual pain was experienced in 77.6% of responded workers. This study showed the relationship between menstrual pain and stress, high temperature and humidity, age, BMI, and number of births. In conclusion, we found that stress is thought to be an important factor related with menstrual cycle irregularities and menstrual pain among Japanese female workers.

‘Period Problems’ at the Coalface

Menstruation leave for women workers brings into the public domain of mining ongoing debates around protective legislation for women. It brings into focus the presumed tensions between gender equity and gender difference with regard to women's economic citizenship. Large-scale mining in East Kalimantan in Indonesia has offered some opportunities to poor and unskilled rural women to find formal jobs in the mines as truck and heavy equipment operators. This paper presents a case study of women in mining occupations, considers the implications of current menstruation leave provisions on the employment of women in the mines and raises serious issues related to gender equity in the workplace. The involvement of women in a non-conventional workplace such as the mine pits, providing a novel site for contestation over the rights of women workers, illuminates a less-debated area in feminist studies, especially in view of the significant ongoing changes in the Indonesian framework for industrial relations.