New Delhi, Jan 15, 2020: Housewives are second largest group among suicide victims in India, according to the “Suicide in India 2018” data released by the National Crime Record Bureau. Housewives accounted for 17.1 percent of suicides in that year.
Daily wage earners topped the list (22.4 percent), followed by the jobless (9.6 percent) and farmers (7.7 percent).
Why are women to susceptible to suicide?
The mental health crisis among Indian women isn’t discussed enough. But the situation is much bleaker than we think it to be. A Lancet Public Health study suggests that Indian women accounted for 36 percent of global female suicide deaths in 2016. These figures become even more alarming when you take into account the fact that they made up for less than 18 percent of the world’s female population.
But what makes women so susceptible to suicides in our country? Is it the complete ignorance towards their mental well being by the society, or the pressure to endure their ordeal in silence, for the sake of peace at home?
Seeking help?
As many as 22,937 lives are not an inconsequential number, but that is exactly how many housewives India lost to suicide in a mere year. The stigma around mental health keeps people from discussing issues like depression, anxiety and the loss of will to live.
The Indian society is opening up about mental health slowly, but the conversation is usually from a third-party perspective. Indians assume it happens to other people that we know.
“Not to us, or our loved ones,” they say. Indians never see the signs in their husbands, fathers, mothers, friends, or even ourselves. Even if they do, they choose to largely deny.
How could it happen to us? Opening up about your mental health struggles and seeking help is a different struggle altogether, which causes people to bear their ordeal in silence and loneliness.
Why do women put themselves last?
For women, the burden isn’t just to not open up, but to endure their everyday crisis in silence and with a smile. It is this silent suffering that may pile up over years and decades, leading to a mental health crisis with grievous consequences. Women are conditioned to be these sacrificial beings who must dedicate their lives to caring for others and making their loved ones happy. As a result, women develop a tendency to put themselves last.
This tendency usually comes into play after marriage where the in-laws, children, husband and extended relatives become a priority, but not their personal well-being. What’s more, they are expected to not talk back and endure differences with anyone in the household for the sake of their family.
Source:shethepeople.TV