mental load
The mental load is the often-invisible work of anticipating needs, planning, and keeping track of everyday life. My research examines how this work is divided and what it means for gender inequality at home, at work, and in politics.
Take the quiz
The quiz lets you compare your own mental load with findings from our research on 3,000 US parents.
The research behind it
- A Typology of US Parents’ Mental Loads: Core and Episodic Cognitive Labor, with Leah Ruppanner.
- The Political Consequences of the Mental Load.
- Crowded Out: The Influence of Mental Load Priming on Intentions to Participate in Public Life, with Anna Helgøy.
- Take a Load Off? Not for Mothers: Gender, Cognitive Labor, and the Limits of Time and Money, with Helen Kowalewska and Leah Ruppanner.
Future Leaders Fellowship
In 2026, I was awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship for Invisible Burdens, Visible Gaps: The Mental Load and Gendered Citizenship. This project examines how the mental load shapes gender inequalities in political participation and public life.