Sykefraværsparadokset – The Sickness Absence Paradox

Why is sickness absence so much higher among women, and what can we do about it?

For more than a century, the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association has been an important advocate for women’s health and for bringing greater attention to health issues that have long been overlooked. Women’s health also provides an important backdrop to Unn Therese Omdal’s book Sykefraværsparadokset (The Sickness Absence Paradox).

Why is sickness absence significantly higher among women than among men? And what happens if, instead of looking for explanations solely at the individual level, we examine the connections between women’s health, working life and women’s lives more broadly?

In this talk, Unn Therese draws on research, social analysis and the experiences of women she has interviewed about health, work, sickness absence and their encounters with the systems around them.

She explores how biological differences and women’s health, the organisation of working life, caring responsibilities and pressures during different stages of life interact. She also challenges some common assumptions about sickness absence. Perhaps the solution is not primarily about individuals becoming better at simply pushing through, but about creating workplaces that better accommodate the people who work in them.

The talk also considers what we can do as a society, in our workplaces and in our interactions with one another to create a healthier and more sustainable working life.

About the speaker

Unn Therese Omdal is a political scientist, author and speaker from Egersund. With a background in politics and employment inclusion, she has worked for many years on issues relating to working life, health and society. She is the author of Sykefraværsparadokset and Diagnose: Flink pike, and currently works as an employment consultant alongside her work as an author and speaker.

Please note: The talk will be held in Norwegian.