"I have no other job
after the silence of loving you,
than this job of tears, hard
that you left me."
Gabriela Mistral.
Just like other sectors that have a clear risk to the health of workers, in "housework" there are all kinds of risks for the people who perform them. Every minute, more than one hundred domestic accidents occur in the countries of the European Union, and the home is where most of the accidents suffered by Spanish women occur. But also, housewives often suffer from back and leg pain, dizziness, persistent headaches... It also happens that many times these ailments do is draw attention to the state of mental health of the person.
In Spain there are more than six million housewives in the strict sense of the word, that is, women who only dedicate themselves to "housework". But to this figure we must add the four million employed women who, at the same time, assume the functions of housewives.
The work of these millions of Spanish women is, therefore, in all cases, unpaid, repetitive, and generally very ungrateful and without any social recognition. It is increasingly clear that housewives constitute a risk group for suffering from depression, anxiety, nervousness, manias, gambling addiction and other health alterations. And while it is true that the states of depression or anxiety of the housewife do not generally require hospitalization, it is no less true that they are not detected in time and become chronic or over-medicated, which carries another risk: that of resorting to continuous medication.
There are two critical moments in the lives of housewives that are susceptible to the appearance of depressions: the first is centered around 35-40 years and coincides with the stage in which the children enter adolescence and need less of their mother.
The second critical moment for depressions is around fifty years old, when the children have generally left home, the home is literally empty and free time increases significantly.
When symptoms of depression are perceived, you should see a doctor. It has been found that exercising the role of housewife is decisive for suffering certain alterations. Such alterations never become known if the woman does not go to the doctor to express her concern.
Specialists usually recommend that housewives undertake a parallel activity and chat with other people, friends or friends, and look for a job. And if they don't find a job, let them look for an activity that keeps them out of the house for a few hours a day. And above all, let them become masters of their own world. Not in vain, the poet said: "Woman, do not despair / that someday will come / when you are who you are".
Francisco Arias Solis
