Does self-employment better protect women's heart health?

Free Malaysia Today

24-06-2025

US research reveals self-employment literally transforms women's health. (Envato Elements pic)
PARIS : Female entrepreneurship is often associated with insecurity and stress. Juggling difficult clients, irregular income, and domestic responsibilities is the supposed daily reality for self-employed women.
But beyond these very real challenges, a new US study reveals an unexpected benefit of self-employment: it claims that women who work for themselves have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease than their salaried counterparts.
This study, conducted by Dr Kimberly Narain and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, sheds new light on female self-employment through a novel methodological approach. Rather than relying on subjective questionnaires, the researchers analysed biological data from 19,400 adults from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Forget vague statements about stress or sleep – here, the research is based on objective markers that speak for themselves: cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI, blood sugar. This method gives the results remarkable scientific validity.
The findings are striking: self-employment literally transforms women's health. White women see their obesity rates drop by 7.4 percentage points, their physical inactivity decrease by 7 points, and poor sleep duration decline by 9.4 points.
For women of colour, the benefits are just as notable, with a 6.7-point decline in poor diet, a 7.3-point decrease in physical inactivity, and an 8.1-point decline in poor sleep duration.
'There is a relationship between self-employment and heart disease risk factors and this relationship seems to be stronger in women relative to men,' Narain noted. The reason? Women carry a particularly heavy burden of stress, constantly juggling professional demands and family obligations.
This pressure seems to be considerably alleviated by self-employment, as professional autonomy appears to offer women valuable flexibility in managing multiple constraints.
Gone are the rigid schedules that are difficult to reconcile with school pickups or doctor's appointments. No more endless meetings that encroach on family time. Self-employment allows people to regain control over their schedules and, in turn, their health.
For men, the benefits are more modest. Self-employed white men see improvements in their diet and blood pressure, but men of colour do not derive any benefits from their self-employed status.
Improving women's well-being at work
Published in BMC Public Health, this study challenges our understanding of the link between work and cardiovascular health. It is already known that stressful jobs contribute to high blood pressure and heart disease. Self-employment seems to offer an escape from these constraints, at least for certain segments of the population.
Given the correlation between self-employment and heart health, companies could explore measures such as allowing more hybrid remote work and flexible hours. (Envato Elements pic)
For Narain, these findings call for a complete overhaul of our approach to work. 'It is imperative to increase our understanding of how the work environment gets under our skin, so we can come up with ways to ensure everyone has access to a healthy work environment,' the expert said.
This is especially urgent at a time when cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide.
The correlation between self-employment and cardiovascular health opens up concrete avenues for improving health at work, without the need for salaried staff to go it alone. Companies could, for example, make hybrid remote working and flexible working hours the norm, particularly for employees with family responsibilities.
Introducing a genuine 'right to switch off' and limiting meetings to times that are compatible with family life would be simple but effective measures.
In terms of public policy, strengthening support for women entrepreneurs and developing cardiovascular prevention programmes tailored to women's specific constraints would amplify these benefits.
It should, however, be noted that this study does not establish any causal relationship. Other factors could explain these findings, such as certain personality traits that may favour both the choice of self-employment and better health.
Despite these limitations, this research provides perspectives for rethinking the organisation of work. If professional autonomy does indeed help women's cardiovascular health, integrating greater flexibility into traditional work environments becomes a major public health issue.