The gender gap in careers may begin at home—not just through chores, but through the invisible mental load of managing household life. This session presents evidence from a survey experiment with white-collar workers showing that targeted informational interventions can shift perceptions of domestic burdens and attitudes toward gender equity at work. The findings point to low-cost, scalable policy levers to address hidden drivers of women’s career gaps. 

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Key messages

• Unpaid domestic work includes an invisible mental load. It is not only about visible physical tasks but also about planning, organizing, and coordinating, which is harder to recognize and therefore more difficult to share within households.
• The burden of domestic work remains strongly gendered. Women carry the majority of both physical and mental tasks, with clear negative spillovers on labor market outcomes such as lower participation, missed promotions, and higher burnout.
• Simple information can shift attitudes. Even a short informational video increases individuals’ willingness to ask for support, suggesting that lack of awareness is an important part of the problem.
• Awareness increases recognition of emotional costs. Individuals become more aware of underappreciation and household conflict, reflecting previously unacknowledged tensions rather than creating new ones.
• Norms do not change as easily as perceptions. While attitudes can shift quickly, deeper social norms remain largely unchanged, indicating the need for more sustained behavioral and policy interventions.