Previous research on the relationship between workplace stressors and physical health symptoms in men has generated such important insights as the importance of job demand or overload to physical health. However, research on women, work and health raises several necessary additions to the paradigm: (1) a focus on the positive aspects of the workplace; (2) possible gender differences in the model; and (3) attention to the impact of family roles. This paper addresses these considerations using data from a disproportionate random sample of 403 employed women ages 25 to 55. Subjects were interviewed in their homes or offices about their major social roles, psychological distress, well being, and physical health. The results indicate that work rewards as well as work concerns are related to physical health symptoms; helping others at work is an important work reward for this sample which has not been identified in men; for employed mothers, satisfaction with salary is directly related to physical symptoms; and for women in troubled marriages or relationships, deriving reward from helping others at work reduces the impact of relationship problems on physical health. It is important to recognize that men and women operate in the worlds of work and home and that these two worlds affect each other. (Author/ABL)