What are women managing while working?
- symptoms and symptom patterns
- diagnosed and undiagnosed health issues
- treatment, recovery and reproductive transitions
- chronic, episodic and changing health experiences
The Global Women and Work Study
We need to understand what happens between women's health and work.
Women's health research often examines conditions, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Workplace research often examines absence, productivity, participation and retention.
But women's working lives happen between those two systems.
The Global Women and Work Study is being developed to investigate that space.
Health & healthcare on one side.
Working life on the other.
And in between: the decisions, delays, conversations, consequences, support, uncertainty and turning points that shape what happens next.
Why this study needs to exist
Because the outcome of a woman's health journey can become a work outcome too.
A woman may still be working while she is experiencing symptoms, seeking answers, undergoing treatment, managing uncertainty or trying to recover.
Her hours
Her performance
Her income
Her relationships
Her opportunities
Her ability to remain employed
She may still be working while symptoms are changing what she can do.
She may still be working while trying to get someone to believe that something is wrong.
She may still be working while appointments, scans, medication or treatment become part of everyday life.
She may still be working without a diagnosis — or with a diagnosis that later changes.
And somewhere during that journey, work can begin to change too.
Yet we rarely study that journey as one connected experience.
That is why the Global Women and Work Study exists.
What we already know
The evidence is substantial — but fragmented.
We already have research into individual conditions, symptoms, healthcare experiences and workplace outcomes.
A woman's life isn't divided into research categories.
Neither should our understanding of her working journey be.
EndometriosisMenopause & perimenopause
MenstruationPCOS
Fertility & reproductive healthPregnancy & pregnancy loss
CancerChronic pain
Mental healthAbsenteeism
PresenteeismWorkforce participation
Healthcare accessDiagnostic delay
The woman does not experience these as separate datasets.
Symptoms, healthcare seeking, uncertainty, diagnosis, treatment and work can all be happening at the same time.
The missing middle
What happened at work while all of this was happening?
Women Working Well calls this the space between. The Global Women and Work Study is being developed to investigate the journey across that bridge.
Health & healthcare
- Symptoms
- Healthcare seeking
- Diagnosis
- Misdiagnosis
- Treatment
- Medication
- Surgery
- Recovery
- Ongoing management
The space between
THE BRIDGE
What happened along the way?
Working life
- Attendance
- Performance
- Hours
- Duties
- Relationships
- Career progression
- Income
- Retention
- Leaving work
We are not only asking whether women's health affects work. We are asking how it happens, where the journey changes, and what could have changed the outcome.
What are we trying to understand?
The whole journey — not one moment in time.
What happened when they tried to get answers?
- feeling heard — or dismissed
- symptoms minimised or attributed elsewhere
- diagnostic delay or misdiagnosis
- repeated healthcare seeking
- diagnoses that were later revised
What happened while this was occurring?
- working while unwell
- reduced hours or changed duties
- leave and absence
- lost opportunities
- changing jobs or leaving employment
What happened when health and work collided?
- whether women disclosed — or chose not to
- why they made that decision
- how managers responded
- what support was offered
- what helped and what made things worse
What was the longer-term impact?
- income and reduced earnings
- career progression and opportunities
- extended leave
- income protection or similar financial protection
- workers' compensation where relevant
How did treatment change the journey?
- medication or hormonal treatment effects
- surgery, procedures and recovery
- new or changing symptoms during treatment
- appointments and time away from work
- whether treatment improved, worsened or changed work impact
What did continuing to work cost elsewhere?
- caring and parenting
- relationships and household responsibilities
- sleep, exercise and social participation
- study, finances and independence
- the energy left after maintaining employment
Where did the journey lead?
- remaining employed
- changing roles or jobs
- reducing hours
- leaving the workforce
- returning successfully
- what the woman would do differently now
How did the experience affect psychological wellbeing?
- distress, anxiety about work and loss of confidence
- psychological safety and fear of disclosure
- stigma, isolation or feeling unsupported
- bullying, conflict or poor workplace relationships
- job insecurity and fear about continued employment
- whether workplace responses improved or worsened wellbeing
Why healthcare experience belongs in the study
Sometimes the workplace story begins long before the workplace knows anything is wrong.
A woman may spend months or years seeking answers while continuing to work. Workplace impact can begin long before diagnosis.
Symptoms→
Healthcare seeking→
Uncertainty→
Work impact→
More healthcare→
Diagnosis / no diagnosis→
Treatment→
Workplace response→
What happened next
Workplace policy often starts with “employee has a medical condition.”
Women's lived experience may begin much earlier. The study is designed to capture that earlier part of the journey too.
Before healthcare begins
Self-doubt may be part of the diagnostic journey too.
The study should not assume the journey starts at the first medical appointment. A woman may spend time questioning, normalising or minimising her own symptoms before seeking care.
What should the study ask?
Did you initially think the symptoms were normal?
Did you compare your experience with other women?
Did you worry you were overreacting?
Did work or caring responsibilities delay seeking help?
Did you keep pushing through before seeking care?
How long passed before you first sought medical help?
This creates a clearer model: symptom onset → self-doubt / normalising symptoms → decision to seek help → first healthcare contact → diagnosis.
Diagnostic delay
The study should capture the time before diagnosis too.
A diagnosis can be the end of a long healthcare journey. WWW needs to understand what happened to work during that delay.
Measure the journey in stages.
Symptoms → deciding to seek helpDecision to seek help → first healthcare contactFirst healthcare contact → diagnosisNumber of professionals consultedMisdiagnosis / revised diagnosisWork and life impact during each interval
Then connect those stages to attendance, presenteeism, hours, income, disclosure, psychosocial impact, personal-life impact and employment outcome.
Communication, empathy & psychological safety
What happened in the conversation may shape what happened next.
Rather than asking whether somebody was “emotionally intelligent”, the study can investigate observable behaviours and the woman's experience of the response she received.
What did the response feel like?
Did they listen?Did you feel believed?Were you interrupted or dismissed?Were assumptions made?Did you feel respected?Did they respond calmly?Did they ask what would help?Did you feel safe continuing?
Disclosure → first response → psychological safety → access to support → subsequent work experience
Psychosocial impact & mental wellbeing
Health experience, work pressure and workplace response can interact.
The study should examine not only physical symptoms and work outcomes, but also the psychological impact of navigating health, healthcare and work at the same time.
What should we investigate?
Distress & anxiety
Loss of confidence
Psychological safety
Fear of disclosure
Stigma & isolation
Bullying or conflict
Job insecurity
Feeling believed & respected
Workload & job demands
Job control & support
Health experience → healthcare experience → work pressure → workplace response → psychosocial impact → employment outcome
Treatment, recovery & life beyond work
Remaining employed is not the same as remaining well.
A conventional workplace measure may record that a woman stayed employed. The study also needs to understand what maintaining employment required from the rest of her life.
Treatment can become part of the work story.
- Did treatment create side effects or new limitations?
- Did surgery or recovery temporarily change capacity?
- Did medication improve work participation — or make it harder?
- Did support needs change as treatment changed?
What happened outside work matters too.
- Was household or caring capacity reduced?
- Were relationships, social life or exercise affected?
- Did sleep, finances, study or independence change?
- Was almost all available energy being used simply to keep working?
What did continuing to work cost elsewhere in her life?
This is an important part of understanding the true impact of women's health on working life.
One survey. The whole journey.
What the Global Women and Work Survey will explore.
01
About you
Who is participating, with sex and gender identity captured separately.
02
Your working life
Industry, occupation, employment type, current status and employment status at the time of the experience.
03
Your health experience
Symptoms, conditions, diagnosis, treatment, treatment effects and recovery.
04
Seeking healthcare
What happened while trying to obtain answers or treatment.
05
Health & work
Impact on attendance, performance, hours, duties, participation and psychosocial wellbeing.
06
Speaking at work
Disclosure, non-disclosure and the reasons behind those decisions.
07
Workplace response
What happened after somebody at work knew — including whether the response reduced or increased psychological pressure.
08
Support & adjustments
What was available, what helped and what did not.
09
Career, financial & personal impact
Income, progression, leave, employment changes, financial protection and what maintaining work required outside work.
10
What happened next
Where the journey led and what could have changed the outcome.
We are not only asking whether women's health affects work.
We are asking how it happens, where the journey changes and what could have changed the outcome.
We are asking how it happens, where the journey changes and what could have changed the outcome.
What we hope to learn
From individual stories to patterns we can act on.
The purpose is not simply to document harm. It is to identify where change is possible.
Where women fall through the gaps.
Where healthcare experiences affect working life.
Where workplace responses change outcomes.
Which forms of support actually help.
Why some women remain at work while others reduce hours, change jobs or leave.
Where managers need greater organisational support.
Where policy and lived experience diverge.
What happens to the findings?
Research should lead somewhere.
The intention is to turn what we learn into practical evidence, resources and future research priorities.
Global Women and Work reports
Clear public reporting of major findings and patterns.
Evidence summaries
Accessible summaries for women, managers and organisations.
Resources for women
Practical guidance informed by what women say they needed.
Manager resources
Tools that help managers respond more confidently and consistently.
Organisational tools
Guidance to close the gap between policy and practice.
Workplace guidance
Practical approaches informed by real workplace experiences.
Future research questions
Identify where evidence is still missing or incomplete.
Awareness & advocacy
Use the evidence to support better conversations and better systems.
Research integrity
Research should earn trust.
The survey is being developed carefully. Before launch, the study will establish the appropriate participant, privacy, governance and research safeguards.
Participant information
Informed consent
Privacy & data handling
Data minimisation
Withdrawal arrangements where applicable
Research governance
Survey integrity requirements
Data analysis methodology
Reporting principles
Separation from marketing contact
Participation in the research is intended to remain separate from marketing or commercial contact. Participant information, consent, privacy, data handling and reporting arrangements will be finalised before the survey opens.
Current status
The Global Women and Work Study is in development.
We are building the survey to capture women's experiences across health, healthcare and work — from symptoms and seeking answers through workplace impact, support and what happened next.
SURVEY NOT YET OPEN
We cannot change what we do not understand.
The study will investigate what happens in the space between.
The study will investigate what happens in the space between.
How the survey is run
Voluntary participation. Responsible research.
The study is designed around voluntary participation, responsible research practice and clear separation from commercial activity.
01
Voluntary participation
The Global Women and Work Survey is a voluntary Women Working Well initiative. Inca Safety supports the initiative by contributing time, resources and infrastructure at no cost to participants.
02
Responsible research
The survey is not a commercial lead-generation activity. Participant information, privacy, data handling and responsible reporting remain central to the way the study is designed.
03
Multilingual participation
Women Working Well also intends to support multilingual participation progressively, with translated survey versions reviewed and tested to preserve the intended meaning of questions across languages.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STUDY?
The practical questions,
in one place.
Want to know more about the Global Women and Work Study, participation, when the survey will open, how the research is intended to work, or what happens to the findings?