"A middle-aged, medium-build, able-bodied native Italian-speaking adult male with at least basic secondary education: this stereotype is the worker on whom assumed health risks and prevention policies are based. This means that everything from assessments of exposure to hazardous chemicals, machine parts etc. through job and safety provision design to research into the links between diseases and work is calculated and patterned on this “standard” worker. For those who do not fit that model – especially women – standards of workplace prevention are alarmingly low. This “male-centric” approach to prevention puts little focus on women's work-related diseases, and this is clear to see both in compensation and prevention of occupational diseases. Disorders suffered by women workers are often dismissed as “women's problems” rather than production issues. In many cases, the women workers themselves may not be aware of the linkages between certain disease entities and their work. ..."

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