THE DOUBLE BURDEN: WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND INVISIBLE LABOR AMONG FEMALE EMPLOYEES

Abstract

In the modern working experience, the female worker is left with an overload of labor (paid and unpaid) which is a phenomenon that is broadly articulated in literature as the double burden. This paper will explore the nexus of work-life balance (WLB) issues and invisible labor amongst women in formalized work settings in different national and sectoral settings. The paper is based on a synthesis of quantitative data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), McKinsey and Company, UN Women, as well as published ethnographic and interview-based research, as the foundation to create a multi-dimensional analysis of the existence of invisible labour within the domestic context and at the workplace itself. The research broadens the definition of invisible labor to include physical labor, the cognitive labor (mental load), emotional labor, the household management (administrative), and the informal contributions to the workplace that are systematically unacknowledged and unpaid. The paper concludes that women work 2.6 times the amount of unpaid work that men do across the world (OECD, 2022), that 58.2% of working women experience a high level of work-life conflict (McKinsey & Company, 2023), and that organizational structure and national policy systems moderate these results significantly. This essay contends that the invisibility of this labor is a structural injustice with quantifiable impact on the career advancement of women, their mental health, economic autonomy, and future security with respect to pensions. It ends with a proposal of a journey of organizational and policy-level interventions based on feminist organization theory and evidence-based human resource practice. These results have a direct impact on organizational policy-makers, leaders, HR practitioners, and those studying gender equity and the design of workplaces.