Gender roles, affect Mental Health???

While discussions about men and women equality are all around, have you thought if there could be any relation between gender roles and mental health? Is there relation between one’s mental state/health and the role one plays/has to play in the society?

Gender is considered to be one of the common ways in which people classify self and others. Our society has certain set of ideas about how men and women are expected to behave, dress and present themselves.

Gender roles are something that is personal and culturally framed. They are norms set by society that dictates how and what type of behaviour is considered acceptable, appropriate and desirable based on one’s actual or perceived sex. WHO defines gender roles as “Socially constructed role, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women’’.Certain factors that influence gender role are Family, Society, Environment and the Media. However there are several debates around the topic.

Mental health includes one’s emotional, social and psychological well-being. It affects how one thinks, feels and behaves, also helps in understanding how one handles stress, makes decisions and also how one relates to others. It is considered an important aspect of every stage of life. WHO stresses that “mental health is not merely the absence of mental disabilities or disorders’’. Looking after one’s mental health involves the effort to strike a balance between one’s life activities and responsibilities to achieve psychological resilience.

Thus ,let us understand the relation between gender roles and mental health.Gender is considered to be a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness. Studies have shown evidence of gender-based differences contributing significantly to the higher prevalence of depression and anxiety, eating disorders, Dementia in girls and women as compared to men and boys. While men are more likely to have substance dependency, antisocial personality disorder. Mental health issues affect both men and women equally but some are more common in one gender than the other.

Certain social factors that have been identified to be influencing gender roles and mental health;

• The multiple roles that a woman is expected to play such as that of a partner, mother, career roles. Doing both paid work as well as household work.
• Physical and sexual abuse on girls and women can have a long term impact. Especially if there is lack of available support.
• Socialization of men to act strong, be less vulnerable and less emotional. Although in recent times there is awareness about the importance of expressing ones emotions, irrespective of gender.
• More women are the primary care giver for their children, family, relatives who are in need of constant care. Can affect the mental health.
•  Over representation of women in low income, low status jobs leading to more poverty than men.

These few social factors are commonly understood to have an influence on each gender role and their mental health. As mentioned before, these mental health issues are very likely to be equally occurring in both the gender. Roles played by individuals in the society that one lives in and is brought up in can be considered one of the major factors contributing to mental health issues. Studies have seen that women are more likely to internalize their emotions typically resulting in withdrawal, loneliness and depression. While men on the other hand tend to externalise their emotions leading to aggressive, impulsive reactions and displaying coercive and noncompliant behaviour. Whether we accept it or not culture does play a major role on the expectations one has from girls, boys, men and women and any gender that individuals identify themselves with. This expectation on how people must behave based on their gender is likely to hinder their mental health and their willingness to seek help.

Glennon Doyle, an author and blogger are of the opinion that femininity and masculinity make it impossible for men and women to be fully human. She believes that women can be angry, fierce and strong and men can be tender and vulnerable if needed- and if they are not allowed to be these things, they hide from one another.