What Is Mental Load? The Invisible Workload Women Carry In The Household.

Angie
Jun 28, 2017
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You may not know the name for it, but you've probably felt it if you're a woman who's ever lived with a man — and you've definitely felt it if you're a mother.

A clever and insightful comic entitled "You Should've Asked" by Emma is going viral on the internet for its accurate depiction of what some feminists call "mental load".

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What Is Mental Load?

Mental load is the phenomenon women experience when they bear the burden of household chores.

It's the white noise that is constantly playing in the background, even when you try to relax and get some rest. It's the never-ending to-do list running through the minds of (mostly) women that no one seems to care about or even be aware of but you:

  • I need to help my son finish his school project.
  • I need to do the laundry this weekend.
  • I need to pick up milk from the grocery store.

"It's permanent and exhausting work. And it's invisible," says the mental load comic artist Emma. "When a man expects his partner to ask him to do things, he's viewing her as the manager of household chores."

By being passive, rather than active, when it comes to homemaking, these men are reinforcing socially constructed gender norms that put undo stress on the women in their lives.

To see what mental load is in detail, keep scrolling to read the full comic "You Should've Asked" by Emma.

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