Article source: "La charge mentale est un problème politique, pas un sujet de développement personnel", Hélène Paquet, Slate France, 15/03/2022. Abridged translation.
“The Mental Load: How to Let Go of It”, “Mental Load: ‘Women Pinned Down by Domestic Perfectionism’”… Ever since an educational comic book about “mental load” by the cartoonist Emma went viral, the issue has been all over the media.
The book deals with something that many women have experienced without knowing how to name it. Mental load is essentially the invisible job of organising and planning out every household chore, such as deciding when to go grocery shopping, remembering when the kids do extracurricular activities and planning family meals for the week.
“Let me know if you need any help.”
Like any other household work, the mental load is mostly borne by women. Emma illustrates this with a sentence men typically say to their partners, “Let me know if you need any help.” Since women have to assign chores, they act as a “project manager” for the household.
However, as the expression keeps being used in public debate, it is gradually taken out of the context that gives it meaning, namely the patriarchal society which allows men to avoid household work.
The sociologist Danièle Kergoat first coined the idea of a “mental load”. [...] She is a feminist activist and a major figure in the sociology of work whose writing follows in the tradition of materialist feminism. According to this branch of sociology, work issues underpin inequalities between men and women, who are seen as social classes like those described by Karl Marx. The class of men exploits women’s work, especially domestic work they do for free, and all of the inequalities and forms of discrimination suffered by women stem from this basic social structure. This is what they call “patriarchy”. Mental load is only one manifestation of this exploitation.
Politics Ignored
Yet, a lot of what has been written about mental load since Emma’s book was published obscures this key point that it is a result of an unequally structured society. Instead, it is presented as a private problem to be solved between two individuals in a relationship… and women are often provided with lists of tips on how to get more organised, which paradoxically gives them the extra responsibility of reducing mental load. Women are advised, for example, to make lists in order to be less perfectionist…
According to Alizée Delpierre, a postdoctoral researcher in the sociology of work, “a positive aspect of this concept becoming more popular is that it has left the ivory tower of academic research. It has given a name to something that burdens women.” However, she says that mental load has gradually evolved into a self-help concept. “Male dominance and patriarchy are completely ignored, as is the fact women do most of the household work. The political aspect of the issue is entirely overlooked,” says Delpierre. [...]
Is It Unavoidable?
If it is pointless to attempt to get rid of the mental load by easing it as much as possible, does that make it unavoidable? Delpierre says no, since work sociologists and economists have suggested several ideas to tackle it. Firstly, they suggest reducing working hours, for both women and men.
“Working away from home, taking care of your family, and finding time for leisure activities is very hard to manage. The solution could be the introduction of shorter working days for both men and women, because more often than not it is women who end up working fewer hours or part-time when somebody needs to take that responsibility,” Delpierre explains. [...]
Researchers have other suggestions, such as longer periods of parental leave so that both parents can take care of their newborn children, or the creation of non-profit support networks.
Home Help Not A Solution
The French government and the European Commission encourage people to pay for home help. “But this isn’t a solution,” Delpierre states, “it only reproduces inequalities, since these domestic tasks are almost always delegated to other women, usually immigrant, working-class women who work for very low wages.” [...]
Relying on domestic workers also exacerbates an unequal distribution of household work, as it is usually a woman who takes charge of hiring a nanny or a cleaner and then continues to manage their professional relationship.
Translated by Gauthier Sénécal and Sophie Garnier.
Editing by Sam Trainor.