Aspects of family mental health in Europe : contributors, D. Buckle ... [et al.].

Date:
1965
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Aspects of family mental health in Europe : contributors, D. Buckle ... [et al.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    42 ASPECTS OF FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH IN EUROPE since the increase in the latter is chiefly due to the increased partici¬ pation of women. According to the 1950 census, the population of Spain stood at approximately 28 000 000, including 15 000 000 women, of whom 11.8 % were in employment. It may be said that roughly 2 000 000 women are now in employment; more than 500 ООО are in domestic service, about 900 ООО in agriculture, handi¬ crafts, and industry, and about 120 ООО in office work. These figures from the 1950 census ^ acquire significance when compared with earlier census results; in 1910, for example, the total number of women employed in offices was 1294, of whom 768 were single, 351 married, and 175 widows. The psychological, social, and mental health aspects of the problem of women at work deserve to be better known. ADVANTAGES OF WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT OUTSIDE THE HOME Economic necessity may compel a woman to earn her living — if, for example, she is single, a deserted wife or a widow. Here, it is need rather than advantage that keeps her at work. It is, however, an advantage when a woman, guarding against eventualities such as the death of the head of the family, continues to hold her post after marriage, since she can better meet the needs then arising. Today it is rather more common for a woman to work in order to support a chronic invalid or a handicapped or sick child (who may be mentally deficient, for example, or have had poliomyelitis), or so as to be able to keep aged parents at home. She may find it an advantage to work to raise her standard of living, particularly if it benefits the children's education. Or work may give satisfaction to a married woman who before marriage practised a profession for which she had a vocation and who would adapt herself poorly to the limitations of domestic work, less attractive to her and less remunera¬ tive. Sometimes, lower-grade workers hanker after the better financial position they enjoyed when single and prefer to continue working for this reason. To sum up, a woman in outside employment may be doing so out of economic need, helping to raise the family standard of living, providing for the children's education, facing up to such eventualities as costly treatment for mentally defective, paralysed, or chronic¬ ally invalid relatives, or supporting aged parents in the home. ^ Censuses are taken every 10 years, but the results of the latest one have not yet been published.