Towards a history of the health of working women in Italy

The paper reviews historical documents pertaining to the occupational healt h of women in Italy, from the time of Ramazzini to the present day. The wri tings of major authors are examined focusing on the health of women working in specific "female" professions. Ramazzini mentions midwifes, launderers, wet-nurses, textile workers and nuns, providing evidence of occupational d iseases related to these professions. Pieraccini focused on workers in the tobacco-, rice- and silk-manufacturing business. The early part of the century witnessed an important social movement for th e improvement of the occupational health of women. This movement was also s upported by governmental inquiries on work conditions and followed by prote ctive legislation. One such inquiry, undertaken in 1901, concerned women wo rkers specifically. The occupational health community in Italy followed up the issues of women' s health during the first International Congress on Occupational Health (Mi lan, 1906) and in it's national scientific congress in the first part of th e century. Research interest in the occupational health of women was renewed only in m ore recent times, following the workers and women's movements for health in the 1970s. Occupational hazards and diseases could be gender specific, therefore, prev entive strategies need to be gender sensitive if they are to be effective.