Housewife: The Face Of Invisible Women
Due to cultural heritage, personal choice or circumstantial issues, our society has a large number of women who dedicate their lives exclusively to the care of the home and family, playing the role known as “housewife”.
Sometimes this work overlaps with other paid work, moments in which the woman becomes a “housewife” in parallel. Be that as it may, being a housewife is hard work without recognition, which to this day is almost exclusively performed by women.
In this article, we will refer to housewives as the collective of women who dedicate, exclusively or not, their professional and personal life to taking care of the home and their family, preparing food, cleaning and caring so that every day family needs are met.
Your invisible face, your emotional charge
A woman who owns her house has no remuneration, nor is she usually socially recognized. It’s a 24-hour job that lasts 365 days a year, that doesn’t have vacations, that requires knowing everything, being a cook, teacher, nanny, coach, bodyguard, GPS, doctor, secretary, night and day guard…
The workload is determined by the size of the family, the location of the house, the social status it has, etc. Also, the hours of most work are extremely fluctuating, but never stop.
It is not a paid job and is practically exempt from true recognition, as although it can be emotionally valued, it is very common that there are stages or family and social nuclei that do not consider the importance and difficulty of leading a family every day.
Cleaning, ironing, shopping, taking care of the wedding, children or children when they are older, preparing meals to perfection, preserving equality and peace in the kingdom… All this without blinking and even reaching the point of leaving in the background, taking care of herself.
In this sense, failing to take care of oneself is a very common mistake that often generates not very positive consequences for a woman’s mood and feelings. This can give rise, along with lack of recognition, to problems of anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms. Let’s look at this more closely.
Housewife’s Anxiety, Depression and Somatic Symptoms
Assuming that depression and anxiety are more common problems among women, they are greater in the case of women who do not have a paid job and away from the family environment. That is, several studies have shown that women who work at home suffer more from chronic diseases, have more acute symptoms and less self-worth of their health status.
This role is traditionally devoid of structure and social contact, as at certain times and frequently the tasks can be very demanding and frustrating, in addition to involving enormous uncertainty.
A woman who is a housewife has less control over her work pace; in the same way, your possibility of rest and detachment is smaller and, at times, nil. Seeing yourself every day and every moment “obliged” to comply with the requirements that accompany this work can reduce your alternative sources of satisfaction, thus undermining your good mood and your general health.
Therefore, structuring this work, giving it social and economic weight from the governments, granting the value that corresponds to it in the family nucleus, providing these women with social and emotional support and fostering satisfaction in the performance of this work will help this darkened face to gain visibility.
Housewives are one of the most forgotten social sectors in our culture. Therefore, it is time to grant them the power and recognition that corresponds to them because, without a doubt, it is one of the hardest, most essential and most dedicated jobs that exist. Never forget that.
