ABSTRACT
In many countries, women in the paid labor force work at a small number of jobs. Researchers have suggested that, far from respecting men’s and women’s biology, the sexual division of labor may have adverse effects on health. In the course of an ergonomic analysis of train cleaning in France we found a rigid sexual division of labor. This chapter presents the results of the analysis and some reflections on the health implications of this sexual division of labor. Men’s and women’s jobs in train cleaning were not compared. The sexual division of labor is often justified by the estimate that women average two-thirds of men’s physical strength, based on laboratory tests using psychophysiological testing, in which subjects are asked to lift objects whose weight is increased until the subject reports feeling uncomfortable; biomechanical testing; or physiological testing, in which energy consumption is monitored in relation to exertion.
