Income Generation and Gendered Precarity among People who use Drugs

• In Event: 2151 - Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Roundtable
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Preventing, Using, Abstaining, and Selling Drugs

Abstract

Employment is a significant social determinant of health, yet for marginalized groups such as people who use drugs (PWUD), employment may be difficult to obtain due to discrimination, criminalization, and other barriers. To meet their basic needs, PWUD engage in alternate forms of income generation (e.g., sex work, recycling, drug dealing) that provide some economic stability, but the uncertainty of this precarious work can lead to increased stress, material deprivation, and exposures to health-related harms. Using two ongoing prospective cohort studies of PWUD in Vancouver, British Columbia (n=1883), we undertook the present study to determine the unique patterns of socio-structural vulnerability that characterize six major forms of income generation among PWUD and how this social positioning varies by gender. Results from generalized linear mixed models indicated similar patterns among women and men for employment and income assistance, which were associated with lower structural harms (e.g. homelessness) and for drug dealing and illegal activities, which were associated with higher drug-related harms (e.g. public injecting). However, patterns of substance use and social/structural risk differed between women and men for street-based and sex work—activities that are typically gender segregated. While individuals’ social position and drug use patterns can facilitate selection into certain income generating activities, these activities may also have reciprocal effects on individuals’ wellbeing through increased exposure to harm. Distinct configurations of vulnerability of each income generating activity and convergent and divergent findings for women and men suggest the need for employment interventions that consider gender, specific drug use patterns, and socio-structural locations.

Authors

• Kaitlyn Jaffe, University of British Columbia

• Hennady Shulha, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use

• Kanna Hayashi, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use

• M-J Milloy, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use

• Lindsey Richardson, University of British Columbia