Keeping a household running isn’t just about getting the chores done and making sure the needs of everyone in your family is taken care of, like ticking items off a to-do list. There’s much more that goes on behind the scenes, or rather in the heads of parents, especially mothers, who are constantly worried that these things are done. That’s a very simple description of what the mental load is, and we find out more from Leah Ruppanner, Professor in Sociology at the University of Melbourne on how the mental load disproportionately affects mothers, and how it could further widen inequalities that women already face in the workplace.

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