Women’s Stress Loads

I was reading up on Affects of Stress and all.

And I found this, it reminded me of FloatsonClouds also and her entry about working moms and all. So just wanted to post this……

From this website on Affects of Stress

http://www.amwa-doc.org/publications/WCHealthbook/stressamwa-ch09.html

Why Women Are So Vulnerable

——————————————————————————–

While it is true that men may face more immediate life-threatening occupational hazards, women appear to be more vulnerable to stress-induced illnesses, for a variety of reasons. First, they are socialized to being caretakers, and as such they almost automatically take on responsibilities that men might not even consider. This alone adds to the stress loads they carry. Second, women as a whole are less likely to be in positions of power and are not as able to control what’s going on in their environment as most men. If you can’t say no, the stress you feel can be doubly disastrous because you don’t see any escape. The less power you have over the circumstances of your everyday existence, the heavier the stress load.

It may be obvious that what complicates a woman’s stress is work. Men who are stretched thin at their work places often go home to relax. Women, on the other hand, go home and keep on working. In spite of the increasing number of women with careers and jobs, traditional roles in their homes still take precedence for many women. They can expect to be in charge of everything from child care to laundry, food preparation, social calendars, and runny noses. Delegating these duties to others in their households helps, but in the long run most women are still in charge. Given this situation, their minds as well as their bodies work overtime. When they become angry about too much to do in too little time with too little help, the anger only adds to their overstressed physical condition. Even women who sense their own need to slow down are programmed toward overcommitment because they feel guilty about not being able to be everything to everyone in their lives. Time spent alone or nurturing their own mental and physical well-being might be construed as selfish, so they push even harder on all fronts — home, work, and social. Sociologists speculate that many women today may be disadvantaged because they have incorporated a male standard for achievement in the work world with an old-fashioned female standard for perfection at home.