Oftentimes, domestic chores are prioritised above personal wellbeing. According to the Working Mother Research Institute, working mothers have three work shifts in a day – the first is at their workplace, the second shift is once they get home and have to sort out chores like dinners, homework etc; and then comes the third invisible shift, where the burden of remembering the little things like birthdays, throwing parties, and buying gifts also falls on them.
Even in the most progressive households where couples split the chores pretty evenly, there’s still often one person who ends up doing most of the “mental” load of work. It is not about the physical tasks but rather the never-ending list of to-do items. A study published in the American Sociological Review describes it as the responsibility of “anticipating needs, identifying options for filling them, making decisions, and monitoring progress”.