More than one in two women are stressed by their work

The survey was conducted by interview and online questionnaire last May, with a sample of 1,004 women, representative of the population of French female employees aged 18 and over. All of these women were interviewed about different aspects of their professional lives.

A greater mental load

Only 24% of women surveyed say they are fully satisfied at work, while one in two women is on the contrary thinking of changing jobs because of the excessive workload assigned to them, which causes suffering at work.

For work psychologist and mental preparation coach Marie Anne Perrey, it is the notion of mental load that is expressed. “The problem today is that we ask a woman to be as efficient as a man at work, but also to manage the house, the children… It’s a huge mental load, because we know that ‘in addition to doing it, it is in the majority of cases the woman who also thinks about it: registering the children for activities, the evening meal, the appointment of the youngest’s pediatrician… “So many things that undermine the daily lives of some women.

Fewer professional retrainings

Even if two thirds of them want to change jobs, the women questioned are also forced to do so in 46% of cases. They evoke frustration, professional boredom or, more seriously, suffering at work.

However, in most cases, despite the desire to embark on a new professional adventure, obstacles persist. They are 45% not knowing what else to do, 45% also have fears about the future, and 42% financial fears.

“Of course, some women, as in single-parent families where they are alone in taking care of their household, women may fear changing jobs and not succeeding professionally behind” says Marie Anne Perrey. “But in some cases too, the brakes can come from the entourage, in particular from the spouse, who will not support his partner, which can also discourage” further explains the psychologist.

The key to offloading: prioritizing

If advice should be given to all women who suffer from the situation, it is first of all to prioritize the tasks, advises the specialist. “We have to stop beating ourselves up. Yes my interior could be perfectly clean, but if it is not quite the case, it does not matter. Did the kids eat butter pasta tonight? They will have vegetables this weekend“. You will have understood, it is necessary to relieve guilt and get rid of this injunction of “perfect woman in all areas” advises the psychologist again.

Finally, the last key to avoiding this mental overload is to think of yourself. “To do this, get into the habit of replacing the “must” with “I need” quite simply“concludes the specialist.