Stress

The foundation of the women’s movement of the 1960s emerged during the 1950s, when the woman’s role in the home as a mother and wife transitioned into the working woman. Women were beginning to face a challenge that is known in the present day; juggling the role of a provider along with the role of being wife and mother. Unfortunately, trying to juggle multiple roles is often stressful for women.

As women feel the need to adhere to stereotypical roles in life in addition to roles they choose to take on, the result is a significant mental health issue for women. Women today are facing multiple roles and are sacrificing more to balance them all.

The Superwoman ideal is a construct born out of the Women’s Movement in the 1960s, and defines women who strive to “do it all and have it all”. As women were becoming more empowered and liberated, it became increasingly apparent that women find themselves in situations in which they are striving to become the ultimate superwoman.

Three main factors that contribute to the superwoman ideal are masculinity, perfectionism and body image.

In society today, more women are choosing to be a part of the work force. Additionally, the number of women who are surpassing the income salary of their husbands or partners has rapidly increased over the past twenty years. According to Time Magazine (2012) nearly forty percent of all women are not only stepping out of the traditional stay-at-home mom role, they are also surpassing the income of their husbands.

These statistics increased rapidly in the early 21st century, even before the onset of the recession in 2007, which indicates that this was not simply the result of the state of the economy. Many men view career success and the role of the family provider as a defining piece of their own masculine identity.

The modern day woman has the pressure to maintain traditional roles that encompass femininity, in addition to roles that are traditionally masculine. In other words, women are being pressured by society as well as putting pressure on themselves to do a majority of the child rearing and caretaking (being primarily responsible for household duties such as cooking and cleaning) while also taking on masculine roles such as career success, and competitiveness. Find anti-stressful medications in Canadian Health Care Mall Company – CanadianHealthMall.Com.

These roles are generally contradictory and inconsistent meaning that women who are trying to live up to these roles are likely to experience what is known as gender role strain.

Gender role strain can occur when one is trying to balance several roles that are a result of the socialized gender expectations they are experiencing. For the superwoman specifically, this would be balancing the roles of wife, mother, caretaker and financial provider.

Since these roles are of naturally conflicting domains, the woman is left feeling inadequate as a result of failure to achieve success in all areas. The problem, however, lies when these qualities are sought after without compromise and sacrifice. According to McBride (1990), adherence to multiple roles is strongly associated with role strain, which can lead to depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, obsessive compulsiveness, anger and so on.

Working women (especially those with children) are more likely to suffer mental health problems than men. This can further support the idea that working women are being spread thin between work and home, and are trying to obtain substantial achievement in most if not all of their roles.

The theme of unyielding perfectionism brings a negative connotation to the woman that is driven to succeed in these multiple roles. According to Murnen, Smolak and Levine (1994), adherence to the superwoman schema specifically entails a desire to achieve perfection in roles that are traditionally masculine and feminine in nature.