Female exhaustion syndrome: what is it?

For many decades now, the movements for equality and for the liberation of women have made a dent in Western countries.

Thanks to them, women are less and less forced to stay at home and sacrifice for a family life in which, years ago, they were supposed to invest all their strength. However, full equality has not yet come to pass, and gender roles continue to make women are required to have a double responsibility: work to earn money and take care of the house and the family. This is how the call is born female burnout syndrome.

What is female burnout syndrome?

The first thing to keep in mind to understand this concept is that it is not a disease. As can be read in this article on the difference between a syndrome, a disorder and a disease, the first is simply a set of symptoms and signs that often occur together. That means that in female burnout syndrome there doesn't have to be a biological cause that causes the person's entire body to malfunction.

In fact, it is most likely that this syndrome is not caused by something that occurs in the woman's body, but precisely the opposite:

what is around you. Specifically, a cultural model that causes many women to become exhausted by having to dedicate their time outside of work to most of the household tasks.

In other words, what generates the female exhaustion syndrome is the way in which the woman and her environment (including the people who live in it) relate to each other.

Causes of female burnout syndrome

One of the factors that makes female burnout syndrome so persistent is that its causes have been culturally normalized. This means that, because of the way of thinking that we tend to for the simple fact of belonging to a culture that for centuries has strongly defended the segregation of roles depending on gender, many of the customs that produce the exhaustion syndrome seem normal and "expected" to us female.

A clear example of this can be found in family dinners, in which, at the end, the women automatically get up to collect the plates and cutlery, wash the dishes and clean the table while the men rest or remain seated on the table. table.

Another classic example is that of cleaning the home. These types of activities are still carried out mostly by women, something that is significant considering that a single floor has many parts that can be cleaned. Carrying out this activity is not just mopping: you also have to vacuum, put the washing machine on, hang and iron, dust, etc.

A broader problem

Examples like these are just small plots of the same reality: housework continues to be a responsibility associated mostly with women, while the professional field that was previously reserved for men is now also a sphere of tasks that women have to tackle. Taking into account that the job market is increasingly competitive, this translates into a strong exhaustion.

In this way, the syndrome of female exhaustion arises as a consequence of this crossing of responsibilities by the woman: she is still required to take care of the home, and now she also needs to dedicate several hours a day to compete in the market for job.

An economic problem and high demands

Thus, female burnout syndrome is partly a social and economic problem.. Before, life was not so expensive, and with the paid work of a single person, a home could be maintained. However, if now the woman also develops professional tasks, it is not only because she has promoted a pro-equality movement: it is because now both husbands and wives are forced to work for money. However, this level playing field has not reached housework, which is still something women are expected to do.

The other facet of the problem is psychological: the woman is prone to make her self-esteem and self-image As a mother or wife, she depends on satisfactorily fulfilling all the tasks that are required of her, without realizing that on many occasions she must work more hours than her husband. That is why psychology must adapt to this new reality and offer solutions.