There’s been a lot of talk about emotional labor in the news lately, thanks to forthcoming author Gemma Hartley’s viral essay on the topic. Hartley pointed out how maddening it is to be a woman and tasked with the responsibility of carrying the invisible weight of our family’s worlds on our shoulders. From big picture stuff like doctor’s appointments and giving medicine, to smaller things like knowing which bathroom is out of toilet paper and which kid has outgrown their clothes—it all falls on us. So, when the invisible burden of emotional labor was at long last revealed to the the public, moms all over the world let out a collective, “Finally!”
And then … crickets.
Seriously. Nothing seems to be changing to unburden us of all this back-breaking emotional labor, and I’m honestly not convinced it will get better for us women anytime soon.
Photo by Gabriel Matula on Unsplash
Don’t get me wrong, I think the tide will turn and shift eventually and I can already see that my daughters aren’t going to live life the way I’ve lived life. Just last week, my oldest daughter remarked that she wanted to get married so she would have someone to cook and take care of the kids for her (which I consider a total parenting win), but for us moms living in the thick of raising kids, working and trying to keep up on laundry, I’m just not sure I see a good way out of it.
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