Gender Differences in Exposure to Pesticides amongst South African Farm Workers

Introduction: Exposure to pesticides is major public health hazard for rural populations in many developing countries. However, risks for women workers and for female spouses of agricultural workers are poorly characterised. We extracted data on gendered risks from a cross sectional study of farm workers on vineyards in the Western Cape Province of South Africa conducted in 2002 to examine neurobehavioral impacts of pesticide exposure.  

Objectives: To characterise gendered risks posed from pesticide exposure amongst farm workers.  

Methods: Job histories describing exposure activities were recorded. We identified associations of job activities and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) with gender.   Results: Of 817 vineyard workers included, 41% were women workers. Only 5 out of 227 tractor drivers (2%) and 1 out of 138 head spray operators (1%) were women, reflecting a very low presence of women in jobs traditionally viewed as high exposure. However, 29% of women reported jobs involving any spray activity, and women reported comparable levels of pesticide exposure to men for bystander exposure in a sprayed vineyard (70% compared to 77% of men), and for domestic spray drift (64% compared to 63%). Women were less likely to be provided with PPE than men (Mean of 2.1 items, SD 1.4; versus 2.5 items, SD 1.5; p<0.001). Multivariate analyses suggest that within different tasks, women experienced high and comparable risks to men.  

Conclusion: Hazards for women workers and spouses are likely to be under-estimated in typical methods of exposure characterisation. Environmental routes may be important hidden sources of pesticide exposure for women farm workers.