By cultural heritage, personal choices or circumstantial problems, our society has a large number of women who dedicate their lives exclusively to the care of the home and family, playing the role of “housewife”.
Sometimes this work overlaps with other paid jobs, at which point the woman becomes “housewife” at the same time. In any case, being a housewife is hard work without recognition, which to this day is carried out almost exclusively by women.
- In this article we will refer to housewives as the community of women who dedicate.
- Exclusively or not.
- Their professional and personal life to the care of the home and their families.
- Preparing food.
- Cleaning and worrying that every day the needs of the family will be met.
A woman who owns her home is unpaid and generally has no social recognition, is a 24-hour job that lasts 365 days a year, who has no vacation, which requires everything, being a cook, teacher, nanny, coach, bodyguard, GPS, doctor, secretary, day and night watchman?
The workload is determined by family size, home location, social status, etc. Also, overtime is extremely fluctuating, but never forever.
Household chores are socially invisible. From the moment these women engage in it, they are considered inactive in censuses and statistics.
It is not paid work and is practically free of real recognition, because while it can be valued emotionally, it is very common that there are familiar and social stages and nuclei that do not consider the importance and difficulty of taking a family on a day-to-day life. Base.
Cleanse, iron clothes, shop, care for marriage, children or children, when they are older, prepare meals perfectly, preserve equality and peace in the kingdom?All this without blinking and until you get to give up personal care.
In this sense, not taking care of yourself is a very common mistake that often results in unexpected consequences on a woman’s mood and feelings, which can lead, with lack of recognition, to problems of anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms. .
Assuming that depression and anxiety are more common problems for women, these are more important for women who do not have paid employment and are far from the family environment, that is, several studies have shown that women who work from home suffer more chronic diseases, have more acute symptoms and lower self-esteem in their health.
An explanation for this is the assumption of the role she plays in life, as well as the injustices she must live in the face of a traditional routine, a stressful and unasteful role as a housewife and mother.
This role has traditionally been devoid of structure and social contact, because sometimes and often tasks can be very demanding and frustrating, while implying enormous uncertainty.
A housewife has less control over her pace of work; Also, its possibility of rest and disconnection is less and sometimes zero. The fact that they are seen every day and at any time, meeting the requirements that accompany this work, can diminish their alternative sources of satisfaction, thus undermining their good mood and overall health.
In short, the lack of recognition and invisibility of domestic work can significantly reduce the self-esteem of women who take care and household chores with or without assistance.
Thus, structuring this work, giving it social and economic weight on the part of governments, giving it its rightful value in the family nucleus, providing social and emotional support to these women and promoting satisfaction in the execution of this work will help this dark face gain visibility.
All housewives are one of the most neglected social sectors of our culture, so it is time to give them the power and recognition that suits them because, without a doubt, it is one of the most difficult, essential and formidable jobs ever to exist.