Double Burden

The term Double Burden is used to describe the patterns of work typically performed by women in advanced industrial society. In most societies, women are handed primary responsibility for home care and child care. However over the last several decades, women have more and more entered into the labor force as income earners (unpaid labor at home, paid labor in work force). However, their entry into the labor force has, in general, not been offset by a decline in their responsibilities for home and child care. As a result, much of societies unpaid labor, childcare, home chores, care of the sick and elderly, etc.) still falls to women.

For women who experience the double burden, quality of life suffers. In order to meet the demands placed on them, women work longer hours, take less time off, and engage in an intensification of labor (i.e., worker harder for longer periods) than men typically do. Women, for example, will look at after children, cook supper, wash cloths, and try an answer emails all at the same time.

The double burden is also known as the "second shift" or the "double day."

Additional Reading

Peterson, Janice and Lewis, Margaret (2001). The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics. New York. Edward Elgar Pub.