How Organizations Can Support Women’s Mental Health at Work

Women face specific challenges around mental health in the workplace. They are more prone to certain diagnoses; they are twice as likely as men to experience depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and PTSD, and much more likely to battle eating disorders. Pay inequity, caregiving responsibilities, and gender-based violence are among the contributing risk factors to common mental health conditions. Infertility, menopause, and postpartum depression also affect many. Many of these challenges are largely invisible, since women may be reluctant to discuss them at all, much less at work. Here’s what to do if you’re a woman struggling with your mental health at work, or if you’re a leader who wants to create a mentally healthy environment for your female employees. Many of these recommendations are standard to supporting mental health at work, but the nuances and context of being a woman make applying them much more difficult.