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<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Women report more occupational ill-health and are more sick-listed than men. Exploration of women's working conditions would therefore seem to be valuable. In this study we investigated the prevalence of work-related stress and its association with self-perceived health and sick-leave in a population of employed, working Swedish women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional population study comprised 424 employed, working women who answered questionnaires on work-related stress, self-perceived health and sick-leave. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated in order to analyse the association between the exposure variables of work-related stress and outcome variables of ill-health symptoms, self-rated health and sick-leave.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten percent of the group reported high <it>perceived stress owing to indistinct organisation and conflicts</it>, and 25% high <it>perceived stress owing to individual demands and commitment</it>. Twenty-two percent reported low <it>influence at work </it>and 33% reported work interference with leisure time. All categories of overall work-related stress were significantly associated with increased odds of high level of illness symptoms, with the highest OR for high <it>perceived stress owing to indistinct organisation and conflicts </it>and high <it>perceived stress owing to individual demands and commitment </it>with an OR of 3.17 (CI = 1.51–6.62) and 4.53 (CI = 2.71–7.56) respectively. High <it>perceived stress owing to indistinct organisation and conflicts </it>and low <it>influence at work </it>were significantly associated with sick-leave with an OR of 3.85 (CI = 1.59–9.30) and 2.54 (CI = 1.17–5.48) respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study showed an association between, on the one hand, work-related stress, and on the other hand, illness symptoms and sick-leave. Distinguishing between the occurrence of negative work characteristics, and the immediate perception of stress because of these, resulted in a broad view of women's working conditions and expanded knowledge of work-related stress in women.</p>