RIGHT NOW, WOMEN IN AUSTRALIA ARE MORE LIKELY TO LIVE WITH PHYSICAL PAIN IMPACTING ON THEIR ABIILITY TO WORK
20 JUNE 2022
New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistic show that women in Australia are more likely than men to experience physical pain that impacts on their ability to work.
The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Painaustralia, Mrs Giulia Jones, said this was the central finding of the ABS report. ‘Stressors and bodily pain”.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics report found that:
• 73.9% of women aged 18 years and over experienced bodily pain compared to 68.2% of men
• 63.2% of women aged 18-24 years experienced bodily pain compared to 47.8% of men
• 66.1% of women aged 18 years and over experienced interference with work compared to 58.4% of men.
“Statistics show that pain affects women more than men and it is interesting to note that pain affects all age groups, not just the elderly,” she said.
“These figures confirm the findings of a report Painaustralia commissioned in 2020. The Deloitte Cost of Pain in Australia report estimated that 1.8 million women lived with chronic pain compared to 1.5 million men. It also found there were 168,000 women of working aged between 45 and 49 who were suffering from chronic pain.
Mrs Jones said while we do not know the exact reasons why more women live with pain; we do know many women are affected by endometriosis and pelvic pain.
“What we do know, is that women face a lot of hurdles in the workforce.
“I think these figures underline yet again the need for understanding and compassion in the workplace.
“It is a simple fact that more female workers are suffering from pain on the job. We need to be aware of that.
“As with all long-term pain, we need to gain more knowledge through clinical research on the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments needed.
“We need governments of all levels to fund practical solutions for pain management to ensure that we address this issue and support women to grow their financial strength in the workforce.
“We also know that pain can lead to many Australians being forced to leave the workforce, with 40 per cent of early retirement in Australia due to long-term pain.”
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