Sunday, January 4, 2009

What's Wrong With Women Today, Part II

So I was perusing SHAMblog some more (I just found it, and it intrigues me, and classes haven't started back yet), and came across this discussion about an article from Working Mother Magazine, which has suggested that 91% of working mothers may suffer from depression. Now, the first thing that strikes me is that, if 91% of people doing something as normal as working and being a mother suffer from an illness which is supposed to be debilitating, maybe, just maybe, the criteria for that illness are being set just a little bit too low. Perhaps the normal ups and downs of life are not actually depression, is what I'm saying. (The only acceptable alternate would be that, if it makes 91% of mothers sick to do so, then mothers shouldn't be working, but I'm having trouble buying that one.) (To be fair, as SHAMblog points out, the article in question actually states one in 5 working women is depressed, a number which is still outrageously high in my opinion, but doesn't shed light on the number for working mothers.)

Anyway, I click over to the article, and the absolute first thing that I notice is the name of the feature: "Focus on You." Because, really, that's what motherhood is all about, isn't it? You? I mean, back when fathers were usually the sole breadwinners, they were always focused on themselves, weren't they? Never working overtime to be better providers, never taking care of the family? Right?

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