Back to work? Gendered experiences of rehabilitation

Abstract

Gendered experiences of rehabilitation were studied in a strategic sample of young people with work-related disorders. Thematic interviews were conducted with seven women and four men, and analysed from a gender perspective using grounded theory. In comparison with women, men were more likely to receive specific diagnoses, to demand actions, and to strive for full-time waged work. Women experienced more often than men that doctors distrusted them, and that social insurance officers made decisions for them. The outcome of rehabilitation was better for men, whether they adapted to the offered measures or not. Gendered structures in the rehabilitation system, the construction of gender in the meeting between the client and the doctor/social security officer, as well as the division of domestic duties within marriage, strongly influenced the outcome of the rehabilitation process in favour of men.