American Psychotherapist Jed Diamond argues that the crisis worsening male's mental health through two different ways. Firstly causing middle aged as they are being hit by what is known as the second menopause (equivalent to the menopause in females) something which is a transition between the first age of adult hood and being exacerbated .^[1]

Added to that males between the ages 15 and 25 and 40 and 55 respectively are undergoing what's called male irritability syndrome: "a combination of stress, hormonal shifts and changes in brain chemistry, and changes in male identity and male roles."^[2]

As the crisis continues most men are taking hits as their position shifts and they struggle to deal with their position and change. This is worse than women as they are being hit by lower self esteem and some have lower social connections with maybe their partner or wife being the only real person they connect to.^[3]

1. ^ Sindya N. Bhanoo "Economic Crisis Hits Men Harder", Washington Post, p1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021302408.html Accessed 8.06.2009
2. ^ Sindya N. Bhanoo "Economic Crisis Hits Men Harder", Washington Post p1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021302408.html Accessed 8.06.2009
3. ^ Sindya N. Bhanoo "Economic Crisis Hits Men Harder", Washington Post p2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021302408.html Accessed 8.06.2009

Men aren't just the ones going through a difficult time. As the article states women also have the menopause to deal with. Moreover women in a relationship have two things to worry about "the man in their life's" personal problems and their own mental state. In a telephone survey done by the American Psychological Association it was indicated that some women are focused too much on the stresses and strains of their loved one's life when their own mental health could be also taking a battering. This was shown in that despite the fact that they see getting mental health treatment as a positive step.^[1].

1. ^ American Psychiatric Association "Women's Mental Health Hit Hard By Recession, Yet Many Show Resilience And Resourcefulness In Coping With Stress" Medical News Today Accessed 8.06.09 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/148695.php

Brendan Burchell from the University of Cambridge argues that there is a entrenched "macho" male cultural issue attached to being unemployed as large numbers of men refuse to discard their own traditional beliefs about men being the major if not only earner and as a result have no real ways to define themselves out of education or employment between when they start and when they finish employment.^[1]

1. ^ Reuters Online News Agency "Economic Gloom hits men harder than women" Accessed 8.06.2009 http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKTRE5293RG20090310?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10482

Entrenched cultural and social attitudes may hit men hard but women are also hit hard by those attitudes. Further more men do have an equal amount of ways to define themselves out of work. For example taking part in activities such as volunteering , amateur sports such as football, sailing or cricket or another activity such as artistic expression.

It's not just social and cultural. Industries like construction and travel are taking the most losses in the US and possibly worldwide. Women may have been unemployed in some areas such as banking and finance where the demand for jobs is shrinking but in other areas such as "government and healthcare" their numbers are actually increasing.^[1]

Further more in the UK two things are happening that hitting males harder than females. Firstly like in the US there are more males losing their jobs as opposed to females. Secondly historically more women are being employed than male overall with a rise from 56% in 1971 to 70% at the end of 2008 while men have experienced a fall from 92% to 78% in the same period.^[2]

1. ^ Macedonia International News Agency "Mina Breaking News" US Job losses affect males more than females".http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/5173/61/
2. ^ Singh Racheal "April: Redundancies hit men hard; unoccupied desk costly, and more..." Financial Director http://www.financialdirector.co.uk/financial-director/analysis/2239103/companies-remain-unprepared-4523434 Accessed 8.06.09

While women may be affected less by the crisis in developed countries such as the UK and the US the same can not be said for those world wide. The International Labour Organisation predicts that the global unemployment rate for women could be 0.4 percentage points higher than it is for men (7.4- as opposed to 7.4%), That's an estimated 22 million more likely to be hit in developing areas such as Latin America and the Caribbean,^[1]

1. ^ Becky Rynor "Economic crisis to hit women harder than men, ILO report says" Times Colonist Accessed 08.06.09 http://www.timescolonist.com/jobs/job-listings/Economic+crisis+women+harder+than+report+says/1435883/story.html

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Domestic violence may well be getting worse but it isn't only being generated by the economic crisis. Other factors such as human rights could be playing a role which isn't looked at in the afforementioned article.

Poor Working class women are being hit by the increasing severity of domestic violence which is being exacerbated by the economic crisis generating unemployment. Also abuse is being generated in the form of economic abuse which is being used by already violent people to control how much their partners or girlfriends get putting them in between a rock and hard place so to speak between the rock of physical abuse and the hard place of severe financial hardship and destitution particuarly if they have children.^[1]

1. ^ Nick Turse " Hard Times for Women Living on the Edge: Economic Anxieties Send Domestic-Abuse Rates Soaring" Alternet Reproductive Justice and gender http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/139943/hard_times_for_women_living_on_the_edge:_economic_anxieties_send_domestic-abuse_rates_soaring_/?page=entire"; Accesed 08.06.2009

In countries that have limited regulations on employees rights for domestic jobs or little to no social security some women can find them selves in hard places. For example there was the case of a woman who had her employment terminated without warning or severance pay because the family who had employed her for over around three years wanted to hire a much cheaper cleaner. While this is only one example this is a case in point.^[1] A wider statistic that can be cited is out of 37million American citizens living in poverty around two thirds of those are women and children. Moreover it is alleged that: "single mothers and their families are more likely to live in poverty than any other demographic group in the United States."^[2]. This means that males are not bearing the burdens of existing welfare problems in the states.

1. ^ Schell"Economic Downturn Hits Women the Hardest"http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/108831/economic_downturn_hits_women_the_hardest/?page=2
2. ^ Schell Brittany "Economic Downturn Hits Women the Hardest"http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/108831/economic_downturn_hits_women_the_hardest/?page=2

Although men as a gender have lost a lot and could lose a lot, women have far more to lose from the economic crisis than men ever will have particuarly in Asia where rights that have been fought for such as equal pay and welfare could be lost due to the large amount of private companies providing maternity covers rather than the state itself. This is something that is aggravated by^[1] . The economic crisis is bad for men admittedly but women in the short term and in the long term could

1. ^ Dejardin Amelita King . Also in Europe the rise of extremist far right "parties" that are opposed to human rights and women's rights, like the British National Party, as a result of the current crisis could see a rise in intolerance towards women and a hardening of attitudes at the very least.[[" What the EU vote means for Parties http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8089108.stm Accessed 8.06.09