Public Health (1989), 103 (3): 189-198. doi:10.1016/S0033-3506(89)80074-5 The Employment of Mothers and the Outcomes of their Pregnancies: an Australian Study J. M. Najman, J. Morrison, G. M. Williams, M. J. Andersen and J. D. Keeping Departments of Social and Preventive Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia One of the more dramatic structural changes in a number of western industrial societies has involved the increased participation of women in the paid labour force. Little is known about the health consequences of this change. This paper reports the findings of a prospective longitudinal study of 8,556 pregnant women who were interviewed on three occasions; early in their pregnancy, shortly after the birth of the baby and some six months later. Additional data were derived from the medical record of the delivery. The findings suggest that employed women and housewives differ in their health behaviour (e.g. number of missed appointments, attendance at antenatal classes, smoking) and emotional health in pregnancy, but that there are no significant differences between employed women and housewives in their physical health or pregnancy outcomes. Although none of the differences was statistically significant, virtually all of the indices of outcome were slightly more favourable for the housewives than for the employed women. Introduction Changes in the structure of the workforce in many of the developed countries in the last four decades have been dramatic. Increasing numbers of women are entering most sectors of the workforce. In view of these changes it is of some considerable importance to determine whether the health of pregnant women or their progeny have been consequently compromised. There have been few published papers, using adequately controlled data, which have addressed this issue,[1] though Saurel-Cubizolles and Kaminski [2] have reviewed the available literature. There are no previously published Australian research reports on the health consequences of employment for women. The majority of the available papers fail to control for potentially confounding variables such as social class and lifestyle. In this report four possible associations between work and health are assessed. Firstly, we determine whether employment status and health related behaviours are associated; secondly, we examine the health of employed women and housewives; thirdly, we assess the association between employment status and the health and well-being of the baby at delivery and finally, we determine whether a baby’s chances of surviving and without a disability is related to the employment status of the mother. Health Consequences of Work by Pregnant Women The recent and substantial increase, particularly in married women workers (in Australia up from 6.9% of the labour force in 1954 to 18% in 1971 and 22% in 1977,[3,4] raises important questions about the consequent health of mothers and their children. The hypothesis that women’s increased work participation may have significant health consequences is based upon two types of observations. Firstly, women generally do not shed their housekeeping and childrearing responsibilities when they enter the workforce. It has been suggested that married employed women work substantially more hours than their partners and that such an