Women’s mental health is deeply interconnected with societal structures, cultural expectations, and access to healthcare. Despite progress in gender equality, many women still face unique mental health challenges that often go unrecognized or unsupported. Advocacy plays a crucial role in breaking these barriers, ensuring that every woman has access to the care, resources, and support she deserves. 

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The Mental Load of Women: Understanding the Invisible Weight

In many households and workplaces, women are not only responsible for completing tasks but also for managing, organizing, and remembering everything that needs to be done. This constant cognitive labor is known as the mental load, an often invisible yet exhausting responsibility that impacts women’s mental health and well-being.

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Women face unique mental health challenges, often compounded by societal expectations, discrimination, and systemic barriers. Here’s why urgent action is needed:

• Women are disproportionately affected by anxiety, depression, and trauma.

• Gender-based violence and discrimination take a toll on mental well-being.

• Many women, especially in crisis-prone areas, lack access to essential mental health resources.

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An estimated 15% of working-age adults have a mental disorder at any point in time.  Depression and anxiety are estimated to cost the global economy US $1 trillion each year driven predominantly by lost productivity. People living with severe mental health conditions are largely excluded from work despite participation in economic activities being important for recovery.

The WHO guidelines on mental health at work provide evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health, prevent mental health conditions, and enable people living with mental health conditions to participate and thrive in work. The recommendations cover organizational interventions, manager training and worker training, individual interventions, return to work, and gaining employment. The guidelines on mental health at work aim to improve the implementation of evidence-based interventions for mental health at work.

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The WHO has released 2022’s World Mental Health Report, and the entire document is a worthy read in order to understand the global state of mental health and mental healthcare. 

A theme that stands out, is stigma and the effect is has on people’s lives.

The WHO’s World Mental Health Report cites a study done in south west Nigeria. This survey found that 97% of people believed people with mental health conditions were dangerous, 83% of people were afraid to talk to someone with a mental health condition and only 17% of people would consider marrying someone with a mental health condition (157). In many cases, people with mental health conditions are also subject to human rights violations including isolation, incarceration and ill-treatment (pg. 68)

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Abuse is difficult for survivors to speak about because, for a majority of cases, the evidence is anecdotal. It comes down to ‘your word against mine’ and this has discouraged victims and survivors from being open. It presents a deep-seated helplessness, the kind that asks, “Now what?” Helplessness that leaves you feeling exposed and unsupported, because you’ve bared your trauma, but feel no real sense of justice.  Read More