Welfare state regimes and gender inequalities in the exposure to work-related psychosocial hazards

Background: Gender inequalities in the exposure to work-related psychosocial hazards are well established. However, little is known about how welfare state regimes influence these inequalities. Objectives: To examine the relationship between welfare state regimes and gender inequalities in the exposure to work-related psychosocial hazards in Europe, considering occupational social class. Methods: We used a sample of 27, 465 workers from 28 European countries. Dependent variables were high strain, iso-strain, and effort-reward imbalance, and the independent was gender. We calculated the prevalence and prevalence ratio separately for each welfare state regime and occupational social class, using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: More female than male managers/professionals were exposed to: high strain, iso-strain, and effort-reward imbalance in Scandinavian [adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 2.26; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.87-2.75; 2.12: 1.72-2.61; 1.41: 1.15-1.74; respectively] and Continental regimes (1.43: 1.23-1.54; 1.51: 1.23-1.84; 1.40: 1.17-1.67); and to high strain and iso-strain in Anglo-Saxon (1.92: 1.40-2.63; 1.85: 1.30-2.64; respectively), Southern (1.43: 1.14-1.79; 1.60: 1.18-2.18), and Eastern regimes (1.56: 1.35-1.81; 1.53: 1.28-1.83). Conclusion: Gender inequalities in the exposure to work-related psychosocial hazards were not lower in those welfare state regimes with higher levels of universal social protection policies.