MissPerceived The Mental Load: How Do we Create Space to Let Women Shine? (w/ Eve Rodsky)
Apr 3, 2025
Join Eve Rodsky, author and founder of the Fair Play movement, as she explores the often-invisible mental load that women carry. She discusses how cognitive labor affects mental health and shares eye-opening concepts like the 'both trap' where perceptions of shared tasks obscure reality. Eve unveils how asking simple questions can reveal the disparities in household responsibilities. With practical advice on boundaries and communication, she aims to foster more equitable partnerships and redefine fairness at home.
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Women Shoulder Cognitive Labor
- Women primarily carry the conception and planning (cognitive labor) for household tasks, not just execution.
- This cognitive burden correlates with burnout and poorer mental health outcomes for women.
Concrete Questions Reveal Hidden Work
- Asking concrete questions like “How did the mustard get in your fridge?” exposes hidden labor distribution.
- Men often execute tasks while women handle conception and planning, creating a false 'we both do it' response.
Women's Time Is Treated As Infinite
- Society treats women's time as infinite and men's time as precious, which normalizes unpaid labor extraction.
- That cultural framing fuels coping strategies and undermines women's well-being.