A controversial cause of poor mental health!? 😲
In our last discussion, we explored the distinction between genuine mental health issues and overwhelm caused by modern-day life. I promised to share my perspective on the controversial cause of this overwhelm.
I believe mental health has worsened significantly in our western culture, within the last few generations, but why?
…women went to work outside the home.
Controversial indeed! Not least because it comes from a working woman who absolutely believes women should be free to work outside the home, just like men (or any other orientation).
Women working outside the home has had positive impacts like improved financial independence and personal fulfilment. However, whilst I recognise that the traditional two-adult household model is diminishing and was never universal, I genuinely believe that women working outside the home has contributed significantly to many of the causes of overwhelm and modern-day mental health problems across society. But why?
The issue isn't about gender, and I am absolutely not blaming women.
Domestic work
When women went to work outside the home, there was a complete disregard for the fact that they were already fully occupied inside the home. Household responsibilities such as running the house, attending to and raising children, and meeting basic needs like buying and preparing nutritious food still need to be addressed. This is in addition to managing other aspects of life in our modern, fast-paced society.
Although mechanisation, like washing machines and dishwashers, has brought efficiencies, it hasn't freed enough time to account for a 35-40 hour working week plus commuting and overtime.
Our Building Blocks Model for Good Mental Health highlights where the problems lie. As a reminder:
We will look at what has driven these areas to go awry, and specifically the first three foundational blocks.
1. Nutrition and bodily ingestion
In previous times, women would prepare and cook food largely from scratch at home, using proper raw ingredients, without processing, manufacturing, heat treating, modern chemical preserving and packaging in toxic plastic. We may have even grown our own food. Indeed, until about 1945, these foods were conventionally organic, devoid of toxic pesticides.
As women went to work outside the home, less time was available to shop for, prepare and cook meals, so more ready-made and convenience foods (also known as ultra-processed foods) were bought. These are both less nutritious and also include additives, preservatives and toxic chemicals that are known to be damaging to our physical and mental health [1].
2i. Toxicological Environment
Toxic chemicals are everywhere in our environments including in most food and especially in convenience foods and processing. They also exist in the production of cleaning products, medications and also in our cosmetics.
Women going to work outside the home created a market for ‘time-saving’ cleaning products that have now crept into our everyday existence. As a result our environments have become more toxic. In the 10 year period between 1971 and 1981, more than 100,000 chemicals were produced in the European Community and they are said to have been poorly tested and controlled, in part due to competition with North America and Japan [2].
I believe we still don’t have the appropriate understanding of the impact on the human body and brain, however we do know they cause mental and physical health problems. For example, organophosphate insecticides are still in use, yet these chemicals are known to affect the human cholinergic system, which impairs brain and nervous system function, and therefore mental health. This has been confirmed by studies on farmers [3].
2ii. Physical Environment
Physically, our home environments may be more stressful because we have less time for making a low-stress household like having the time to tidy, organise and clean, to which some people are sensitive, as discussed here.
There is also often inequity in the division of responsibility. As many more families break down, the burden of care is often on the woman whilst also expecting them to work outside the home. This impacts their mental health and that of the children, which we will discuss in later blogs.
Due to advancing technology we are often able to work from anywhere at any time. As a result, there may be an expectation on women to do paid work online whilst children are at school. This often spills over into evenings and weekends, so psychologically there is no longer a divide between home and work. This can detract from family time or when we're trying to relax and recuperate after a busy day. This inability to separate from work and wind-down is extremely stressful and can affect mental wellbeing.
Finally, since women are now working outside the home, and the household tasks still need to be done, we all have less time. This reduces the time and energy available to exercise our bodies to stay healthy in body and mind. As we’ve discussed previously here, physical exertion is a useful tool to support our mental health.
2iii. Social environment
Partner and family relationships can become pressured when we feel that we have less time to spend with each other and to tend to everyday needs.
Since women went to work outside the home, they are no longer available to provide as much childcare, and therefore technology has taken the role of nanny or occupier. Both children, and adults, often become engrossed in television programmes or computer games. As we develop a better understanding of human psychology, these entertainments have been designed to harness and even manipulate our brain chemistry. They give us a dopamine kick, which over time will reduce our dopamine response to other stimuli, and require even bigger doses to obtain the same gratification, which we discussed here.
As children spend more time on devices, they have become less adept at social interactions. I’ve observed young people being unable to hold eye contact and conversations, which are important for social bonding. A lack of physical social contact can make it difficult to form relationships and increase feelings of isolation, negatively impacting mental health. We discussed here the human need for social contact and the resulting release of oxytocin, an essential hormone for optimal human health.
3. Psychology and mental state
I believe we have advanced significantly in our understanding of human psychology since the old-fashioned ways of raising children. However, since a parent is often not at home as much due to work, or they’re not available to parent due to demands on their time, they are also less able to provide psychological support for their children when they need it. A recent study of 2,000 people found that a third (35 per cent) of parents work when their children are at home, juggling workplace demands with their offspring’s requirements [4].
No wonder we’re facing a mental health crisis!
Since women went to work outside the home and household tasks still need to be done, everyone has less time to manage essential aspects of life including domestic responsibilities, caring for our bodies, maintaining positive and in-person social contact and relationships, supporting our psychological wellbeing and pursuing interests and passions.
Accordingly, a lot of what are considered mental health problems aren’t really true mental health problems at all. The changing roles in society and increasing demands on our time has led to overwhelm. This has been exacerbated by a hectic, stressful modern life that we have created, the resulting poor nutrition and lack of attendance to our physical and psychological needs, which are foundational for good mental and physical health. So it’s no surprise we face a mental health crisis!
It is impossible to do it all and have time for ourselves, which is partly why I believe many people no longer work. I am also seeing a general trajectory amongst young people towards considering themselves to have such poor mental health that they don’t work outside the home at all. The Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey found that, as at April 2024, 9.4 million people aged 16–64 in the UK were economically inactive, accounting for 22.3% of the workforce. Interestingly, this is more than 700,000 higher than before the pandemic [5].
The answer is that we must make use of the suggestions in the last blog, be kind to ourselves, prioritise and communicate with anyone this may impact. We may also wish to consider working fewer days.
An ideal world
In my opinion, the ideal model would be for people to work outside the home for three to four days a week. This would allow us time to contribute and achieve in an external work environment, which, in the right context is beneficial for human wellbeing and can satisfy the top part of our mental health pyramid, pursuit. It also allows us to attend to daily life requirements, such as eating properly, running a household, having positive relationships, raising healthy children, and engaging in physical exercise, rest, and personal interests.
This approach would provide one to three more days of economic contribution to the workforce more than the previous five days that one person per couple would have formerly contributed. It would also allow improved productivity since people would be less stretched, more energised and able to focus properly on their work. It would provide more time to allow for greater entrepreneurialism, further supporting our economy and mental wellbeing.
A shorter work week would also lessen the negative impact of poor mental and physical health on the economy, such as spiralling public health costs to support the economically inactive and those that are physically or mentally sick as a result of our modern ways. Indeed, it would also support the many on long-term sick leave to feel more able to manage employment, not to mention the generations of people that have never worked.
Interestingly, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) fiscal watchdog has reported that it now anticipates weekly working hours to fall to 31.7 by 2027 [6].
Self-refection
Why not spend a few moments considering what impact women going to work outside the home may have, or have had, on your immediate family or earlier generations. What actions can you take to manage the burden of modern day life and make yourself happier and healthier?
Well wishes,
Andie and The Mental Health Getaway Team. x
References
[1] Cena and Calder (2020). Defining a Healthy Diet: Evidence for the Role of Contemporary Dietary Patterns in Health and Disease. Nutrients,12(2): 334.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/2/334
[2] Rostislav Čihák (2009). REACH – an overview. Journal of Interdisciplinary Toxicology, 2(2): 42–44. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984102/
[3] Ong-Artborirak et al (Aug 2022). Potential Effects on Mental Health Status Associated with Occupational Exposure to Pesticides among Thai Farmers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(15): 9654
[4] Mahalia Mayne (Jun 2024). Two thirds of parents say their career is suffering because of wraparound childcare shortage, study finds. People Management. https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1878611/two-thirds-parents-say-career-suffering-wraparound-childcare-shortage-study-finds
[5] Office for National Statistics (April 2024). Economic inactivity - People not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last 4 weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next 2 weeks.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/economicinactivity
[6] Hermione Taylor (8 Jan 2024). The impact of covid furlough schemes still linger on. Investors’ Chronicle.