Women often feel pressure to shoulder invisible, intangible tasks that take a toll on their home and work lives.

Emma Atkinson, Ragan Communications

The mental load is a popular term for the extra work that women carry in maintaining a family and household. It’s a combination of cognitive and emotional labor, according to BBC’s Worklife.

The mental load could be anything from maintaining a mental grocery list, remembering when the kids need to be picked up or always being the one to notice that the laundry hamper is overflowing.

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It doesn’t apply solely to women, but most often women report taking on more cognitive labor than their male partners.

But researchers say women’s propensity to take on the mental load is bleeding over into the workplace.

Cleaning, cooking, coordinating in the office

A new report from Navisite finds that women in tech are asked to handle more administrative tasks than their male colleagues, including things like taking notes, getting coffee or lunches, or setting up meeting rooms — all actions that can echo traditional gender roles in the home.

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