Paola (name changed) is a 26-year-old recent graduate from the computer science school Ecole 42 (founded by Xavier Niel, who is also an individual shareholder in Le Monde), who now works in web development. She said she hasn't experienced any sexist situations in her predominantly male startup, except for one aspect: "We're in a small open space with a shared kitchen. Most of the time, it's the women in the company who are in charge of cleaning up and taking out the trash, even though there are only three of us out of a staff of 12! The same goes for organizing after-work events."
While gender pay gaps are increasingly well-documented, "invisible work" in the workplace remains a blind spot: "All this work, often shouldered by women, is poorly recognized, unpaid or poorly remunerated and is not considered part of productive work," explained sociodemographer Laurence Charton, an expert in family trajectories.
It's a form of professional mental load. This expression from the field of sociology was popularized by cartoonist Emma Clit in strips published on Facebook and Instagram. The author, a computer scientist by training, has also experienced these situations in the workplace. Rather than talking about mental load, she prefers the related expression of "emotional load," which involves always thinking about taking care of others and making sure they are comfortable. "This includes preparing a farewell drink for Philippe, who is retiring because nobody thought of that and you don't want him to feel lonely. Thinking about taking the garbage out because it's not nice when it spills over, and bringing in cupcakes as a treat," she told Le Monde.
"At my first performance review, they hardly said anything about my work, just that I was a breath of fresh air and smiley... I didn't get a raise. They were very happy to have me," she joked. "The more I felt suspected of incompetence by my superiors – because I don't tend to boast about skills, like a lot of women – the more I made up for it by being smiley, by doing these domestic chores to feel like I was making myself useful."
For Rose, these "domestic" tasks led to burnout. Having just graduated from KEDGE Business School, she secured her first permanent position at a communications consultancy firm. Starting out as a consultant, she soon became head of strategy. At the age of 27, she resigned from the firm. It was while working on her own that she realized she was doing "too much" for the company.
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