Housewife’s Invisible Face
In our society we find a large number of housewives who are a result of our cultural heritage, personal choices or a result of other circumstances. These are women who dedicate their entire lives to taking care of their house and family. Sometimes this work is combined with paid work, and the woman becomes a double worker.
Whatever the reason, being a housewife is a hard job that does not give recognition and something that to this day is mostly done by the woman.
In this article , we refer to the housewives as a collection of women who dedicate, exclusively or not, working life and private life to taking care of the house and the family, where she cooks, washes and cares that all the family’s needs are met.
The housewife’s invisible face and her emotional strain
A woman who is a housewife has no allowance and usually has no social recognition. This is a 24-hour job that lasts 256 days a year, without holidays or the opportunity to be fired, which requires that you know a little about everything such as cooking, being a teacher, nanny, trainer, bodyguard, GPS, doctor , secretary, night shift and day shift…
How tough this job is depends on how big the family is, where they live, social status, etc. The workload is also fluctuating, but it never ends.
This is not a paid job and is practically deprived of real recognition. Although the job is emotionally valued, there are families and social cores who do not see how important and difficult it is to lead a family every day without rest.
Washing, ironing, shopping, taking care of the relationship, the children when they are young and when they are adults, having the food ready, maintaining equality and peace in the kingdom… All this is done without blinking. Not only that, but the housewife puts her own care second.
Stopping to take care of oneself is an all too common mistake that is made and that has negative consequences for the mood and the feeling of being a woman. In the absence of recognition, this can lead to problems with anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms. Let’s take a closer look at this.
Anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms in the housewife
Based on the fact that depression and anxiety are more common problems among women, these are greater for those women who have not paid work and are far from the family environment. This means that in various studies it has been found that women who work at home, suffer from more chronic diseases, have a more acute symptom anthology and poorer self-assessment of their own state of health.
This role is traditionally devoid of structure and social contact. At times, the tasks can often be demanding and frustrating, as well as involving great uncertainty.
An invisible job
A housewife has little control over her pace of work. The possibility of rest and to disconnect is therefore small and sometimes non-existent. Being forced to comply with the requirements of this work may backfire in order to reduce alternative sources of self-satisfaction, and in this way they can undermine their state of mind and their overall health.
We must therefore structure this job by giving it more social and economic weight from the government and giving it the value it deserves within the nuclear family. By giving social and emotional support to these women and encouraging satisfaction in the performance of this work, it will help make this dark face visible.
The group of housewives is one of the most forgotten social sectors in our culture. It is therefore time that we give them the power and recognition they deserve as this is without a doubt the toughest, most important and most dedicated job there is. Let’s never forget this.
