Sigh… you’re so close and yet so far… you get so close to the actual problem and then pivot and blame women.
Yes, women who are solely responsible for the financial health of the their household experience increased stress and anxiety… because having to do everything for a household is stressful! Yes, women experience depression and anxiety when having to send their kids to daycare… because we live in a society where women are shamed for doing things for themselves. Our choices are constantly questioned by every from family and friends to complete rando strangers.
What the Uninformed Housewife doesn’t mention is what the husband/male partner is doing in these “bad” situations. When a woman is solely responsible for the financial health of the household, it’s usually because of one of these reasons:
a) she got abandoned by her male partner and is forced to do all of it on her own. While this may be an individual woman’s fault (if she was abusive, etc) it’s mostly the fault of a system where men can just walk away from their families without much care.
b) She is in an abusive situation where hubs does whatever he wants with his money and forces his female partner to be responsible for all the household and childcare expenses. I was in this situation. We didn’t have kids, thankfully, but we had a dog and I was forced to pay for the groceries, the household expenses like repairs, our water and heat bill, and for our dogs food, veterinary care, etc. My ex did pay the mortgage but that was all. And he acted like he paid for everything.
c) Hubs/boyfriend/whoever is out of work, and the female partner is forced to take up the slack.
This is almost always in addition to doing all housework and cooking and child rearing. So no wonder the women in these situations are anxious and depressed. I was anxious and depressed when I was in that situation. I felt like the weight of the world was on me.
Now that I’m single and it’s just me and the Ratso I feel much better. So much less stress!