Is Working With Too Many Men Bad For Your Health?

A new survey says yes...

According to a new report, working in a male-dominated work environment could be seriously bad for your health.

Researchers from Indiana University Bloomington analysed the stress hormones of 440 women who work in offices where at least 85% of the workforce are men. The results were pretty shocking.

The report revealed that women working in these types of environments - for example, in science or engineering - displayed high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

'We find that such women are more likely to experience exposure to high levels of interpersonal, workplace stressors,' researcher Bianca Manago explained before adding:

'We found women in male-dominated occupations have less healthy, or “dysregulated”, patterns of cortisol throughout the day.’

These 'dysregulated' patterns can have a serious and long-lasting effect on your health, putting you at risk of depression and insomnia. A serious cause for concern for any 'token women' out there working in industries still woefully gender-tipped in favour of men.

According to a WISE report published last year in the UK, 'Women make up nearly half of the UK workforce but only about a fifth of those working in science, technology and engineering industries.'

The same survey reports that the percentage of women in STEM occupations is still only at 13%. It's just not good enough.

Construction supervisors, scientists, engineers and coders: more needs to be done to address a gender-imbalance that is - according to this report - actually harming women's health. And fast.