When we talk about women’s wellness, the conversation often begins with what women eat, how much they exercise, whether they sleep enough and what they do for “self-care.”
Those things matter.
But a woman can meditate every morning, prepare nutritious meals and have an excellent skincare routine while spending eight or ten hours each day in a job characterised by excessive workload, insecurity, harassment, inadequate pay or almost no control over her time.
That is not a small detail in her well-being.
It is part of it.
The World Health Organization identifies excessive workload, inflexible hours, low job control, inadequate support, discrimination, bullying, unclear roles, job insecurity, inadequate pay and conflict between work and home responsibilities among the psychosocial risks that can undermine mental health at work.
So perhaps women’s wellness needs to stop treating work as something that happens outside the wellness conversation.
Work is more than the place you earn money
Good work can contribute positively to well-being.
It can provide income, structure, social connection, purpose, confidence and a sense of achievement. WHO explicitly recognises these potential benefits of decent work.
But the opposite also matters.
A job can become a major source of distress when:
you are permanently overloaded;
your manager creates fear;
you have little autonomy;
your income does not meet basic needs;
you face discrimination;
you are routinely contacted outside working hours;
you feel unsafe speaking up;
your employment is precarious;
or you carry full responsibility at work and return home to another unpaid shift.
That last issue is especially important when discussing women.
The working day does not always end when paid work ends
Women’s experiences of work cannot be understood only through employment.
Unpaid care remains profoundly gendered.
The International Labour Organization estimated that 708 million women worldwide were outside the labour force in 2023 because of unpaid care responsibilities.
And many women who do participate in paid employment still perform substantial unpaid domestic and caregiving work.
That means “work-life balance” can become an oddly inadequate phrase.
For some women, the issue is not balancing work against leisure.
It is balancing:
paid work;
childcare;
cooking;
cleaning;
school administration;
elder care;
emotional support;
family logistics;
relationship maintenance;
and the invisible planning required to keep everything functioning.
Telling that woman to take a bubble bath may be pleasant.
It is not an analysis of the problem.
Sometimes the problem is structural, not personal
Modern wellness culture often individualises distress.
Feeling exhausted?
Improve your morning routine.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Buy a planner.
Struggling to concentrate?
Try another supplement.
Feeling burned out?
Learn resilience.
Individual strategies can certainly help.
But they cannot compensate indefinitely for harmful working conditions.
WHO’s recommendations on workplace mental health include organisational interventions that address working conditions themselves—for example, modifications to workload, flexible arrangements, improved management practices and mechanisms for addressing harassment or other psychosocial risks.
That distinction matters.
Sometimes you need better coping strategies.
Sometimes the workload needs to change.
Sometimes you need stronger boundaries.
Sometimes your employer needs to change.
And sometimes you need a different job.
These are not equivalent solutions.
Money belongs in the wellness conversation too
Financial insecurity affects the choices women are able to make.
It affects whether you can:
leave an unsafe relationship;
walk away from a harmful workplace;
access childcare;
take time off;
pay for healthcare;
move house;
retrain;
retire;
or absorb an unexpected expense.
Yet mainstream wellness culture can make well-being look surprisingly detached from material circumstances.
A woman’s life is not shaped only by how positively she thinks.
Resources matter.
Employment matters.
Income matters.
Economic independence matters.
This is why Her Work & Money exists on CleanseHerVibe.
Not because every woman needs to become wealthy.
But because discussing women’s well-being without discussing economic life leaves out one of the systems through which women gain—or lose—choice.
Ask a better question than “Do I like my job?”
Work dissatisfaction is not always a sign that you need an entirely new career.
Before making a dramatic decision, identify the actual problem.
Ask:
Is it the work itself?
Maybe the occupation no longer interests you.
Is it the workplace?
You may like your profession but dislike this employer.
Is it the workload?
Perhaps the job is tolerable under reasonable conditions but unsustainable at its current intensity.
Is it the manager?
A difficult manager can alter your experience of otherwise meaningful work.
Is it the salary?
You may enjoy the work but no longer be willing or able to accept the compensation.
Is it stagnation?
Perhaps you need progression, challenge or learning.
Is it your life stage?
A role that suited you at 27 may conflict with your priorities at 39 or 48.
The solution becomes much clearer once the problem is correctly named.
Five ways to include work in your own wellness check
1. Audit your energy
At the end of a typical working week, what remains of you?
Some tiredness is normal.
Persistent depletion deserves attention.
2. Examine your autonomy
How much control do you have over:
your schedule;
your workload;
how your work is performed;
and when you disconnect?
Low control is one of the psychosocial risks WHO identifies in relation to workplace mental health.
3. Look at the exchange
What does your job give you?
Money?
Purpose?
Status?
Security?
Learning?
Flexibility?
Relationships?
And what does it cost?
Time?
Sleep?
Health?
Family presence?
Confidence?
Peace?
No job gives everything. But the exchange should at least be visible.
4. Include unpaid work
Your workload is not only what appears on your employment contract.
Include the work required to sustain your household and care relationships.
5. Ask whether something needs to change
Not necessarily today.
But perhaps:
a conversation;
a boundary;
a salary negotiation;
delegation;
training;
a transfer;
reduced hours;
a job search;
or a longer-term exit plan.
Wellness is not only what happens before and after work
If work occupies a large portion of adult life, it cannot sit outside conversations about well-being.
Women’s wellness needs to become less obsessed with optimisation and more interested in the conditions under which women actually live.
That means talking about sleep and salaries.
Exercise and job security.
Nutrition and childcare.
Stress management and workload.
Confidence and economic independence.
Rest and the right to disconnect.
Because sometimes the most meaningful wellness intervention is not another routine.
Sometimes it is changing something about the way we work.