Women often shoulder invisible office work that hinders career growth. This article reveals how mental load impacts advancement—and what workplaces must do to redistribute non-promotable tasks fairly.
Picture this: the meeting ends, papers scatter, coffee cups are left behind. Who stays behind to tidy up? Who gets asked to organize the team’s retirement party, or to take notes at the next client call?
Too often, it’s women.
As Le Monde reported, women in the workplace are disproportionately saddled with invisible “office housework.” These small but constant tasks are essential for keeping a workplace running smoothly, yet they rarely lead to recognition, promotions, or pay raises. The result is an unseen burden—a mental load that eats away at time, energy, and advancement opportunities.
Harvard research helps explain why. A 2018 Harvard Business Review study found that women are more likely than men to be asked—or to feel pressure—to take on non-promotable tasks. These include everything from scheduling meetings to planning office events. Saying “no” isn’t simple: when women decline, they risk being seen as unhelpful, while men who do the same are rarely judged.
This imbalance compounds over time. When women are tied up with invisible labor, they miss out on strategic projects and leadership opportunities that showcase their skills. As McKinsey and LeanIn’s Women in the Workplace report highlights, these missed chances create “broken rungs” on the career ladder. For every 100 men promoted to manager, fewer than 90 women make the same step—and the numbers are even lower for women of color. Without equal access to these early promotions, women fall further behind in reaching senior leadership roles.
The cost is both personal and organizational. Individually, women carry higher stress, burnout risk, and frustration at seeing their efforts undervalued. For companies, the loss is just as great. As Harvard DCE notes, workplaces that promote gender equity—and actively dismantle barriers like invisible work—are more innovative, profitable, and better at retaining top talent.
The burden can’t fall on women alone to push back. Organizations need to systematically redistribute and recognize invisible labor. That could mean rotating responsibilities like note-taking or event planning, explicitly including this work in performance evaluations, or shifting it to administrative support where possible. Most importantly, managers must ensure women are given equal access to promotable, high-visibility assignments that drive careers forward.
The next time someone asks, “Who’s going to handle this?”—pause. If the answer is always the same women, it’s time to rethink. Because until we share the hidden load, women will keep carrying a burden that costs them careers—and costs workplaces their best potential.
