WHITE PAIN, BLUE EXPERIENCE: WOMEN AND RSI

Abstract

This thesis is a study of women who have been diagnosed with repetitive strain injury (RSI). The purpose of the study was to give women a voice in their experience with the disease. Research has shown that women have often been omitted in occupational health and safety research. Therefore it was decided to interview women workers from two distinctly different workplaces. One group was located in the white collar sector. They performed essentially clerical duties in a library in Southern Ontario. The other group consisted of blue collar workers. They worked on an assembly line in a manufacturing plant. The women performed repetitive tasks which caused them crippling injuries with a great deal of pain. Most of the injuries affected their hands, arms and shoulders. Their story is largely told in their own voices and reflects the perceptions of their suffering. The work- relatedness of their condition was more readily accepted by the assembly-line workers than by the clerical workers. One possible reason for this could be that the union in the library had placed less importance on occupational health and safety issues than the union in the manufacturing plant. Hence, the women in the library were caught between competing medical discourses. Furthermore, both groups struggled with their identity as mother/wife and homemaker, since they were not able to perforin many of their caregiving duties after their injury. This became a great source of stress for the sufferers. It also reflected their identity as they perceived it to be within the limits of patriarchy.