From organising playdates and booking GP appointments to replacing broken appliances and remembering the Colin the Caterpillar birthday cake, a new survey suggests many women are still the ones thinking of everything – leaving them mentally overloaded.
New research by Parasym, based on a survey of 1,000 women, found that 97% of those surveyed in Scotland say they carry responsibility for planning, remembering and managing both work and home life, with three in five (61%) saying this reflects their situation entirely.
Experts describe this as a hidden “triple shift” – the cognitive labour of remembering, planning and anticipating everything that keeps daily life running smoothly. Northern Ireland topped the UK regions where women most strongly recognised themselves as carrying the mental load.
It was followed by the East of England (98%), Scotland (97%) and the East Midlands (96%).
According to the latest ONS Time Use data, women also spend significantly more time on unpaid work. Employed women spend two hours and 37 minutes per day on unpaid household work, compared with two hours and two minutes for men, as well as more time on unpaid care.
The survey found women are most often responsible for meal planning (78%), remembering birthdays and key dates (78%), booking appointments (72%), managing household bills and admin (72%) and organising family social plans (67%).
Just 16% say these responsibilities are shared equally. Nearly 95% say they think about tasks several times a day or constantly, while 89% say they are never able to fully switch off. Despite this, one in three women say their mental load is rarely or never recognised.
