There's No Such Thing as 'Women's Work'
(so glad to see this here, as we have been discussing for. . . . centuries????? lengthy, important read)
There’s No Such Thing as ‘Women’s Work’
8/31/2023 by Regina Lark
“There’s nothing inherently ‘womanly’ about ‘women’s work.’ Work is work, whether it’s done in the office or the home.”
(Azman Archive via Getty Images)
When it comes to gender equity at home, many households are depressingly unequal. We raise the bar of household equity in three ways:
by making visible, the invisible work of emotional labor.
by anticipating the emotional labor lifecycle.
by embracing the art and practice of radical delegation.
When we commit to these ideals, men will recognize their full potential in the household, and women will realize their full potential in the paid workplace.
Before “neurohacking” became trending, Dr. Regina Lark deciphered how the brain’s “executive functions” impact household management and organization and exposed the related outcome of the unequal distribution of labor at home. She founded A Clear Path in 2008 to provide professional physical, emotional and psychological support to people who wish to clear clutter and chaos from their lives. This award-winning Los Angeles area-based certified professional organizer and accredited senior move manager has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Who What Wear, and A&E’s hit reality series, Hoarders. In her third book, Emotional Labor: Why a Woman’s Work Is Never Done and What to Do About It, Lark helps women rid their lives of emotional labor by offering concrete ways to identify and mitigate the costs of women’s unseen, unnoticed and unwaged work at home.
Watch her talk on this topic at a TEDx event, or read a transcript below, lightly edited for clarity.
(Courtesy of Folsom TEDx)
. . . .
Emotional Labor: Why A Woman’s Work is Never Done and What To Do About It, by Regina F Lark.
. . . .
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cucd9RKMWsd/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=35c4c1f7-1f69-4262-890d-58fc6358c0c8
We’ve known for decades that so-called “men’s work” at home is weekly or monthly and well-defined and over when it’s over. In fact, it’s done!
. . . . .
If a man can work from sun-to-sun, emotional labor explains why a woman’s work is never done.
But now here’s the thing: The work of emotional labor doesn’t require a skirt, or lipstick, or a bra. It’s just work. When we make the invisible work of emotional labor very visible—glaring, in fact; put a big red bow around it and call it what it is: Work. Then we have a shot at sharing the work at home more equitably, and in a true partnership with the other adult in the room. I re-imagine a world in which men posses a sense of agency and have access to their own ability in the home and with emotional labor, childcare, and the caring economy, long the domain of women—it’s time to disrupt this particular narrative.
Imagine the kind of cultures this would create. Cultures that don’t have over 43 percent of marriages ending in divorce, that see more intact families, more corporate parity due to enhanced safety nets, and more robust gender equality overall. Because when we can identify gender equity at home, we’ll be able to recognize it in the paid workplace as well. In the words of Eve Rodsky, best-selling author of Fair Play, “Ultimately, we need to invite men into their full power in the home so we can unleash women into their full power in the world.” The work of the household is simply work that must be done. Nothing more, nothing less. What makes one better or worse at it is a matter of function, not gender. When you leave here today, how do you plan to disrupt the narrative in your home? I know you want to. I wish you courage—and the mental and moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand fear and uncertainty. I wish you equity. And I wish you love. Thank you.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/08/31/womens-work-mom-home-childcare-caregiving/
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