Health and working conditions of women in farming households in the central part of Shizuoka prefecture.
10.2185/jjrm.34.166
- VernacularTitle:静岡県中部地域における農村婦人の労働負担と健康調査に関する研究
- Author:
Akira OKA
;
Yasutaka ISHIOROSHI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine
1985;34(2):166-175
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Blessed with a mild climate and located conveniently, Shizuoka Prefecture is the nation's leading tea and orange growing center. It also produces rice, vegetables and melons in large quantities.
This paper reports on the findings obtained in an investigation of the role of women in farming, their amount of work, and living and health conditions in the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture.
For the sake of comparision, this region was divided into the three areas different from each other in production structure and living environment.
The area in and around Shizuoka City, the capital of the prefecture was designated as Area A, where tea, orange and rice are principal products. Area B is a flat-land district where mixed farming is dominant and rice, tea and vegetables are grown. Area C is a hilly, wooded area. The major farm products are tea and mushrooms.
More than 80% of women are engaged in farm work, and espeically in the tea-pricking season 90% work out in the terraced fields.
It was found that about 3% of the women surveyed are suffering injuries caused by farm implements and machinery. More than 90% said they have engaged in the spraying of pesticides, and 8 to 19% of them said they had subjective symptoms of intoxication after spraying.
The findings of medical examinations for anemia, cardiovascular disease, liver function, stomach cancer, uterine cancer and so on will be discussed in this report.
