Women carry 'greater responsibility' in the home, claim experts Cairo – Shimaa Mekkawi An Egyptian psychologist has told Arabstoday that women are more "on the edge" and likely to get angrier than men. Abdel Meneim Shehata says that the stresses of daily life mean women can lose control of their temper very quickly. "Pressure builds up a lot since women bear the responsibility of the home, along with being responsible for the children, and maybe even work," she said. "If we look at the amount of responsibilities carried out by men and those carried out by women, we find that women bear a lot more responsibility than men, possibly double and triple. There is cleaning the house everyday and doing the laundry, in addition to cooking, the washing up, monitoring the children's behaviour and looking after them in terms of health, manners and morals," she added.
Shehata thinks that "any man must acknowledge the fact" that women have more duties in and around the home.
Dr Heba Issawi agrees with the psychologist. Men "aren't convinced" that women's responsibilities make them more prone to losing their temper, she said, adding that "they don't excuse her temper or understand it, even though women are much more understanding of men's temper."
The difference between men and women in this regard, Dr Issawi said, "is that men release some of the tension with their friends, and possibly even at their wives' expense, but the Middle Eastern woman, by nature, suppresses her temper until she explodes."
She adds that, "there are husbands who deliberately try to bring their wives down and make them feel that all these burdens she carries are nothing compared to his. Reality says otherwise, however, because men's burdens only emanate from work." Sadly, she claims, "this excess edginess on the part of the woman leads to problems and conflicts with her husband, who never excuses her and only talks about her having too much of a temper."
Professor of psychology, Dr Ibrahim Shawki, gave Arabstoday a list of suggestions to help women get over this tension. These are as follows.
- The time-management of household chores makes a woman less anxious, because she can complete all the tasks within a set time-limit.
- She must relieve her burden by avoiding repetition of the same daily routine. It is better to divide the time to avoid boredom.
- She must set aside a day for fun, visiting close friends or family.
- The husband must make the wife feel that he appreciates her work even if just by saying something nice. This will completely diffuse the woman's temper.
- The husband must offer to help the wife with chores, even if only verbally, to relieve her edginess.
- The husband must be affectionate and complimentary toward the wife for a calm home.
- The father must have the children express their gratitude to the mother, thank her for her work and not bother her.