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It is after nine on a weeknight. The school lunches are packed, the WhatsApp group has been answered, and tomorrow’s debit orders have been silently reckoned with. Then the cat climbs onto her lap and settles in, asking for nothing except that she stay put. For many South African women, that is the only point in the day when nobody needs anything from them.
October is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the conversation tends to focus on therapy, medication and the stigma that still keeps too many people from both. Those things matter. But South African women’s mental health is shaped as much by the daily weight they carry as by anything that happens in a consulting room. It is also shaped by the small, unglamorous things that make the load bearable.
The second edition of First for Women’s Her & Now report measures that weight in detail. In 2025, more than 90% of women said others assume they can handle everything, while 96% said the right to exhale matters as much as the drive to achieve. This year’s research shows where the pressure comes from. More than a third of women spend five or more hours a day on unpaid domestic and care work. Among partnered mothers, 72.6% say the emotional labour of listening, keeping the peace and holding the family together falls mainly or mostly to them. Money remains the biggest single source of stress. A third of women run short before month-end, and 27.5% have skipped or delayed their own healthcare appointment in the past year because of financial pressure.
Against that backdrop, the value of a pet is easy to underestimate. The evidence suggests it shouldn’t be. In a 2024 poll by the American Psychiatric Association, 84% of pet owners said their pets have a mostly positive impact on their mental health, and nearly two-thirds said their animals offer companionship, are a true friend and provide unconditional love and support. An earlier poll found 88% of pet owners consider their pets part of the family.
None of this will surprise anyone who has cried into a dog’s neck after a bad day. What the research adds is a reason to take it seriously. A pet does not ask how the month is looking financially or whether dinner is late. For women who spend their days anticipating everyone else’s needs, a relationship with no performance attached is rare.
It matters more for some women than others. Her & Now found that 64.8% of women who live alone say that when a company or service lets them down, they are left to sort it out without real help. That is the highest figure of any household group. For these women, the animal waiting at the door may be the most consistent presence in the house.
There is a catch, and pet owners know it well. The same poll that captured the benefits of pets also recorded the anxieties: 66% of respondents worried about their pet’s health conditions and 58% worried about health care expenses for their pet. Loving an animal means knowing that one day you may get a call from the vet, and that the bill may arrive with no warning.
For a household already stretched, that call can be devastating. The Her & Now data shows how little room many women have. Nearly half borrowed from family or friends in the past year to get by, and 21.6% cancelled or could not afford insurance. When an emergency operation is quoted at several thousand rand, the choice between treatment and saying goodbye is not really a choice about money. It is grief, guilt and financial pressure arriving at once, and it usually lands on the woman who manages the household budget.
This is where the argument for pet insurance becomes a mental health argument and not only a financial one. Insurance cannot remove the worry of watching an animal get sick. It can remove the sum from the decision. 1st for Women’s policies allow owners to claim up to R150,000 a year for vet expenses, and accident claims have no waiting period, so cover starts immediately. Plans start at R130 a month for cats and dogs, depending on the pet’s type, age and breed and the level of cover chosen. No excess is payable for wellness care, dignified farewells or third-party liability claims, which acknowledges that the end of a pet’s life is part of owning one. Practical extras matter too, such as a Pet Taxi to take owners and their animals to vet visits, and a multi-pet discount of up to 15% on some plans.
Timing matters. Because pet insurance doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, it’s best to take out a policy before health problems arise. That makes it one of the few forms of planning that works best when life is calm, which is precisely when most people never get round to it.
The Her & Now report’s broader finding is that women do not lack resilience. They are working inside systems that were not built around their lives, and they absorb the difference quietly. Mental Health Awareness Month is a good moment to take one quiet cost off the list. The dog at the gate and the cat on the couch do their part for women’s wellbeing every day. Making sure a vet bill never forces an impossible choice is a small way of returning the favour.