Male v Female Differences in Stress - Essay Example

Introduction Stress is an individual response in any given situation but job pressures are supposed to be the largest source of stress for American adults (Rosch, ISMA 2001). This has increased progressively and continues to escalate. Job insecurity, workplace violence and workers’ abuse, cost factor and discrimination based on race, religion and gender are some of the major reasons of stress. Today stress has become so pervasive that it seems to permeate every being. Job stress is one of the top ten work-related health problems (Sharif, 2000) and is a serious problem in many organizations globally (Dewe & O’Driscoll, 2002). While stress is an individual response, it differs across gender. This paper will examine the reasons of difference and the coping strategies in stress in male versus female at workplace. Gender has been defined as the socially learned behaviors and expectations that are associated with the two sexes (Iwasaki, Mackay, & Mactavish, 2005). Thus being a male or a female is a biological phenomenon, being a man or a woman is a cultural process. Gender segregation directs the social relations with others. Under stress the body releases a lot of hormones including cortisol and adrenaline, which raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels and suppress the immune system (Eller, 2000). This puts the stressed people under greater risk ranging from ailments like cold to heart problems. Long term exposure to stress can also lead to weight gain due to cortisol. Research suggests that initially women have the same response to men but gradually women also begin secreting oxytocin from the pituitary glands. This leads to reduction in the levels of cortisol and adrenaline, thereby reducing the damaging effects. While men also secrete oxytocin, the level is much lesser than women. Besides, testosterone, the male hormone further reduces the impact of oxytocin in men. According to the Law of Stress, stress is the difference between pressure and adaptability of any kind (Dato, ISMA 2001). “The process of living is the process of having stress imposed on you and reacting to it”(Sarnoff, 1963). A stress produces or threatens to produce alteration in the homeostasis. Stress refers to widespread, generalized responses of the body to various environmental, physical or social situations. It is the force that effects our emotions and motives. It is called the disease of modern civilization. It effects people of all ages and can be both good and bad. Each person reacts differently to stress but we all need some stress in order to be active, happy and productive. “The better work men do is always done under stress and at a great personal cost” (Williams Carlos Williams). It is pattern of specific or non-specific responses an organism makes to stimulus events that disturbs its equilibrium and tax or exceeds its ability to cope. Response to stress Women today are increasingly entering the traditionally male dominated fields at the workplace. Study revealed that while both sexes had the same work pressure, time constraints, deadlines and responsibilities, women managers reported lack of communication, and conflict between work and home life, as causes of stress. Male managers did not report stress (ILO, 1999). On the other hand they reported job satisfaction. On the home front, while the women took care of the child and other strenuous chores, men had less demanding jobs like lawn-mowing. Workplace stress has also been related to smoking. More women adapt to smoking than do men. Amongst women, the salaried women are likely to have higher job stress than those on hourly or daily wages. Men and women behave and react differently in their roles at home and the workplace. This in turn affects their psychological and physical well-being (Choi & Chen, 2006). Man’s well being is determined by the workplace while women’s primary responsibility being the home and family, is said to be responsible for her well being. This gender-based role differentiation has been present in the work-family nexus and life stress. Recent trends show a difference in such assumptions. Studies show that stressors that influence the well-being of men and women have become similar. Women now take the same roles and responsibilities at workplace too. Occupational stress impact the costs in an organization associated with absenteeism, work days lost and health costs. Women have been found to be subjected to different type of stress than men. Women suffer from stress arising from work-home interface, discrimination and gender-based barriers at work and problems in managing sub-ordinates (Lim & Teo, 1996). Women are less able to cope with organizational politics than men. In the IT sector, while the women workforce is increasing, it has been found that the major source of stress arises from the fear of making mistakes. They undergo less training than the male counterparts and hence the fear is due to lack of knowledge and skills in performing work tasks. In male-dominated professions women lack the confidence in their ability to compete with men. Work-related stress leads to workplace violence and Sharif suggests that such stress is manageable if the employers can recognize the early signs of mismanaged stress. Technological and social changes have created stressful lifestyles. Mogavero and Sikorski (2004) indicate that gender-based differences in workplace values can create corporate culture of underlying stress and conflict. This impacts the physical and emotional well-being of both men and women. A positive corporate culture can result in a healthy workforce. Women at workplace lay more importance on the relationships, recognition, respect and communication, while men are more concerned about the pay and benefits, status, power and success. Corporate cultures have so far been centered on the male employees but now that almost fifty percent of the workforce comprise of women, the organizations have to restructure the culture and values. Knowing and managing these differences can significantly reduce the stress level at workplace. Research suggests that men and women respond differently to stress. While men on an average worry about three things on a daily basis, women worry over 12 things (Mogavero and Sikorski). Women, playing the additional role of taking care of the home and family, worries over the extended family, social issues and the education of the children in addition to the immediate family, job and money. Work behavior of men and women in organizations is shaped by the structural factors. In many organizations, men create and dominate gendered structures, processes and practices that limit the freedom of women (Hayes, Allinson & Armstrong, 2004). Women have to conform to the male stereotypic behavior to have the same organizational roles and remain eligible for promotions. Attempts in trying to play the male stereo type add to stress in women. Mounting pressures of work-family conflict creates increased stress in working adults, which impacts the costs to the organization as well as the individual. Increased work family conflict leads to increased job burnout. Burnout has been called a “psychological process”, caused by unrelieved work stress that results in emotional exhaustion depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment (Posig & Kickul, 2004). Emotional exhaustion is a key component of employee burnout which is the direct outcome of the demand stressors that employees experience. Strained relationship is a work environment stressor and may adversely affect an individual. Work family conflict has been found to be positively related to psychological burnouts for police officers, emotional exhaustion for nurses and engineers. Female teachers receive significantly more social support from co-workers than male teachers. This reduces the emotional exhaustion in the female teachers. Female military personnel experienced greater emotional exhaustion as they lacked supportive relationships. Research suggests that men do not utilize supports to cope with stress as women do. Low social support leads to higher distress across all categories of job strain and this results in distress for both men and women. Women found interpersonal conflict as a source of stress more often than men did. In sales job, men employed problem-focused approach while women talked their way through. Multiple roles are beneficial for both men and women. Women experience more conflict and stress from family domain while men from the work domain. Working women are physically more fatigued and sick than men. Stress at workplace leads people to addictions like alcohol, tranquilizers and mood elevators (Mogavero & Sikorski). The stress level increases when their values are not addressed by the culture of the organization. Stressful events like staff reduction can demotivate employees thereby increasing the stress levels. Managerial intervention to maintain a feeling of control among workers could lead to clarity of roles and responsibilities (ILO, 1999). This could bring about a positive perception rather than a feeling of loss. Coping with stress Differences in coping with stress between men and women could arise due to early socialization that promotes stereotypes in women as emotional, supportive and dependent (Iwasaki, Mackay, & Mactavish). Men on the other hand are promoted as independent, emotional and rational. Research also suggests that individuals who resist the gender stereotypes associated with their one sex category have the risk of being maligned at work place (Bird, 2003). To a large extent it depends upon the group in which the individual interacts. Women and men differ in the coping strategies in dealing with stress. Women talk to others and seek support while men cope with stress by changing to an engrossing non-work activity (Lim & Teo, 1996). Men also engage in problem-focused coping more often than women do. Despite this, women have been found to be more active in coping with stress than men. Women utilize coping skills like active planning and time management to maintain balance between work and home life (Iwasaki, Mackay, & Mactavish). This is the reason why working women have to work harder to survive in predominantly male-dominated careers. This is supported by the fact women have less resources for coping with stress and less control over work environments. Since they have low control and influence both at home and work place, it increases their role overload and depression. Women find difficulty in adapting to male values, norms and expectation in the corporate world and at the middle management level women have to suffer a male backlash. With the changes in workplace with more women in the work field, men now have to compete with a talented group of women while earlier they had only men to compete with. With equality rising in pay and benefits, men experience stress due to feelings of threat, failure and pressure (Burke, 2003). Work-life balance is no more only women’s concerns. As societal values change, men too have expressed interest in a balanced work life (Burke, 2002). Research demonstrates that even though men put in more hours of work, women show higher levels of job stress. At the same time, women indicating organizational values more supportive of balance also reported less job stress. Iwasaki, Mackay, & Mactavish further suggest that women encounter unique stressors both at workplace and at home. Career enhancements, discrimination in pay, sexual harassment are some of the stressors unique to women. At home they are stressed with the responsibility of taking care of children, spouse and aging parents. These have to be given preference over their own needs while men have the option of not taking care of any of these. A study published in the Psychological Review, suggests that differences in coping with stress depends not merely on personality styles but also owing to differences in gender as well (Eller, 2000). Females are more likely to deal with stress by tending and befriending. They would lay stress on communication and nurturing relationships. These protect them from the damaging effect of stress. Men prefer to initiate a confrontation. Research also reveals that the day women report highest levels of stress at work, their children reported mothers to be extra loving and caring. Fathers who were stressed at work also had conflicts at home the same day. They remained withdrawn from their family on stressful days. Soares (2006) quotes that women are susceptible to developing stress related anxiety and depression as compared to men. Their capacity for tolerating stress is greater but they have so much more to cope with that they get worn out faster. Women are exposed to situations that are chronic and repeated in nature. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence. Women are exposed to domestic situations which can be devastating. With changed scenario at work and at home, women juggle between obligations, with few breaks, and this leads to stress. While social support networks are used most often by women, task strategies help in organizing and planning schedules. Men tend to adopt the logic measures by remaining unemotional and having a rational approach (Lim & Teo). Women involves the non-working time to distress to balance the work-home interface while time management can help in setting priorities and delegation of tasks. Any individual has to be cautious that job commitment and acceptance of the situation is the most essential in addressing stress. Conclusion Since stress is considered to be an individual response managers tend to ignore the risks associated with organizational stress (Dewe & O’Driscoll). Managerial intervention has been found to be essential to help women cope with stress. Managers need to understand the subordinates’ family demands which can have a positive impact on job satisfaction. Women should be equipped with interpersonal skills to help them cope with organizational politics. Fotinatos-Ventouratos and Cooper (2006) conclude that stress is a complex process where several variables interact the same time. Reactions to the same stressors vary across individuals, gender and even different sectors in the organization. Work environment and the socio-economic environment are equally important to be considered. A general approach to gender and organizational stress has left a gap in knowledge and less effective prevention. Men and women have been found to have both similarities and differences in the stress process. Downsizing leads to increased workload expectations. Corporate culture dictates the work family balance. Flexi time, onsite or near-site child care facilities could help alleviate the work family conflict. Although the number of dual-career couples is on the rise, not much of literature is available on gender differences and coping strategies in job stress. Role conflict, role ambiguity, work place environment are the greatest job stressors. While different coping strategies may be adopted by men and women, the level of coping with stress is not significantly different between genders. Situations may differ, professions may differ but the stressors remain the same. While women are learning to cope with the work family conflict, organizations too are supportive in providing facilities. The biological differences cannot be ignored which determines to a great extent the response to job related stress. Women being emotional and sensitive prefer to de-stress through social support or networking while men prefer to engage in non-work activity. Organization should also place more emphasis on training the women in coping with different stressors like development of interpersonal skills and job-related training as fear and insecurity have been found to the key component of stress. Women have to be adequately equipped to cope with stress and emotional exhaustion in the traditionally male dominated professions. References: Bird, S. R. (2003), Sex Composition, Masculinity Stereotype Dissimilarity and the Quality of Men’s Workplace Social Relations, Gender, Work and Organization. Vol. 10 No. 5 November 2003 Burke, R. J. (2002), Organzaitional values, job experiences and satisfactions among managerial and professional women and men: advantage men? Women in Management Review Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2002 · pp. 228–236 Burke, R. J. (2003), Do gender proportions matter? Women in Management Review Volume 18 · Number 5 · 2003 · pp. 267–275 Choi, J., & Chen, C. C., (2006), Gender Differences in Perceived Work Demands, Family Demands, and Life Stress among Married Chinese Employees, Management and Organization Review 2:2 209–229 Dewe, P. & ODriscoll, M. (2002), Stress management interventions: what do managers actually do? Personnel Review, Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Page: 143 - 165 Eller, D. (2000), Stress and Gender, Read More