Sunday, October 6, 2019

Women Are Burning Out

I don’t know how this could possibly have happened. Today’s modern women have charged into the workplace, but still do the lion’s share of household work. They have been liberated to have careers, but they still take on most responsibility for caring for children and for their parents.

The result: burnout. 

Apparently, the promise of women's liberation has not produced the desired results. I am sure you find that shocking, but the Meredith Corporation and the Harris Poll crunched the numbers:

A new study published Thursday found that American women are experiencing "burnout" and stress at an alarming rate.

The study, conducted by the Meredith Corporation and The Harris Poll, found that women across generations feel more stressed, tired, overwhelmed, anxious and burned out across every aspect of their lives than in the past — and significantly more so than their male counterparts. The study surveyed 2,015 U.S. adults, including 1,036 women, spanning four generations, including Gen Z, Millennials, Gen Xers, and Boomers.

Half of the respondents said that “work-life balance” is a myth. 

One understands that the fault lies with men. Doesn’t it always? In principle, and according to liberation theology, men were going to share equally in household chores and in caregiving activities. Apparently, that is not working out as expected.

The study found that men and women feel similar levels of burnout at work, but women are much more likely to experience burnout at home, with their social lives and as parents. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of women said that after handling all of their family's needs in the morning, "I feel like I've worked an entire day before getting to the office." And an alarming 73 percent of the "Sandwich Generation" agreed with that statement (women who are responsible for children and an older parent at the same time).

Taking care of family members plays a huge role in the burnout rate of women, the study found. 

Of course, no one asked men what they thought of the new regime. And no one much cared about whether men were adept at caring for others. 

As the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and women gang aft a-gley… which means, oft produce unintended consequences. Lucky that men are still around, not to pick up the slack and to care for granny, but to shoulder the blame.

5 comments:

whitney said...

I think they're leaving out a big part of the burnout which is women are more likely to be on social media and place a lot of importance in it.

Stuart Schneiderman said...

In fairness, they did not leave out social media. I did... oops.

UbuMaccabee said...

My wife can outlast me with sex, but I can outlast her on housework. It is still uneven, yes, but it does help even the playing field.

BobJustBob said...

Maybe women shouldn't have taken life and career advice from lesbians and bored' rich white women.

Deana said...

Bob -

Indeed. I am 50 so I missed the early part of 2nd wave feminism (I believe that was what happened in the 1970-1980s). But I am quite sure many women of the WWII generation were warning their daughters that it was impossible to have it all. But too many did not listen.

I love that I can vote but I vote like a male in the 19th century.
I love that I can own land and other property.
I love that I can testify in court.
I love that make the same as a man. And most women do, or they put earn them.

But the rest of it is just hideous. It is destroying women and families. And while all women are not to blame - some of us didn’t want all of this to begin with- it is fair for blame to be cast on women in general.

It’s a mess and what’s worse, most women don’t have a clue with what is wrong.