Sociology of Women`s Mental Health

Society the Mental Health of Women The gender roles placed on women are far more harmful than they seem Women are expected to have communal traits whereas men are expected to be agentic . Communal traits are things that maintain strong relationships like being nurturing or compassionate , and polite . Men are generally expected to be assertive and competitive (White , pg 58 When these gender roles are violated society tends to discriminate . In the work place , when a woman is especially assertive she is often referred to as a bitch or masculine because others

believe she is not very feminine ' but if a man were to do the same he would simply be seen as a go-getter (White , pg 59 . This is a Western society norm , and it obviously puts women at a serious disadvantage professionally , because in for her to achieve success as defined by society she must maintain relationships and not sacrifice them for advances in her career . As a result , women hold lower positions , don 't get paid as much as men , and don 't get as many promotions . This prejudice is the core cause to mental health problems for women , as well as an inherent trait of western society

At every level of education , it has been proven that women make less than men (Judith , 52 . Women are less likely to ask for raises because they don 't like to self-promote , and they also don 't want to create any animosity between her and her supervisor which would violate her role as a woman . As a result of these professional setbacks women tend to be in lower economic classes . Anyone with financial problems is at a higher risk for depression , but women have lower paying jobs , so they are more liable (Judith , 52 . Poverty definitely plays a big part in the development of depression , among other diss . Not having enough money to eat is severe stress and not having enough money to feed your children is twice as bad

One major problem in society that is mentally affecting our women is this culture of thinness . There is an immense amount of pressure placed on women to be attractive and thin through the media and the stick-thin models regularly gracing magazine covers . As a result , women are more likely to develop eating diss . Anorexia , an eating dis that involves drastic fasting , and Bulimia , which consists of binge eating followed by any compensatory behavior , are virtually xistent in men (White , pg 62 . Both of these diss lead to serious health problems but anorexia ultimately leads to death by starvation . It is thought that these diss are caused by a perceived lack of control in their lives which is balanced by these women having complete control over their looks . Discrimination against unattractive or overweight women is an unspoken prejudice . This epidemic of attaining physical perfection is actually an unnecessary and harmful setback for women

Women are more likely to seek therapy (Judith , 52 . There is an over-diagnosis of women and...