What drives working women to suicide?

A housewife committed suicide last week at Pahadi Shareef after her husband, a software engineer, reportedly refused to let her pursue a professional career. The police said that Sujatha Das, 26, was found hanging at her residence. Though no suicide note was left behind, cops suspect the husband's denial to let the woman take up a professional career, could be the prime reason. Last year, there were a series of incidents, where women IT employees were driven to suicide.

Women in recent times have made their presence felt in all fields and are equal, if not more successful, when compared to men. The competitiveness of women is one of the reasons behind increasing suspicion, discrimination, ego and insecurity among men. In the perspective of women, even in these advanced times, there is a clear discrimination in raising a girl child, not only in villages but also in urban areas.

Working women, who commit suicide, usually take such drastic steps either due to genetic disorders or due to low self-esteem. They expect others around them to change rather than changing themselves. Most of the women who have suicidal tendencies are stubborn, dogmatic, seek sympathy and are emotionally demoralised. The atmosphere at a workplace, education centre or a business house could force a woman to attempt suicide.

The behavioural pattern and lifestyle of a woman with suicidal tendencies needs to be identified and it’s equally the responsibility of the society as much as that of the family. This is because most of the women share their problems with outsiders rather than their family. While outsiders show sympathy towards their issues, they do not consider it as their responsibility to help them. As a result, their sympathy wouldn’t offer a solution to women and this would push them to commit suicide.

Symptoms to watch out for

What type of women are prone to commit suicide?

• Women who are mostly absentminded at work, do not connect with team members and associates, show less interest in participating in groups, social and general activities.

• Women who are very aggressive, short tempered, are feminists, outburst irrelevantly, tend to connect events happening around them to their problems and rarely follow anybody’s suggestions.

• Women who crave for sympathy, frequently connect to events in the past that hurt them and those who remain jealous due to the attention enjoyed by others

• Most of them try to engage themselves in office work to avoid disturbances in their family. They are mostly hyperactive and emote their feelings strongly. Some women hastily become close to their male colleagues. They enjoy attention given by the opposite sex and do not listen when they are being warned that they are being misused by others.

• Genetic disorders also play a major role. Emotionally illogical reasons drive them to commit suicide. One of the major reasons is because they face disappointment when they compare their lives to the happiness and success of others. They also lack insights to improve their personal life.