With all the discussion around the importance of work-life balance going on, there's been additional questions raised about what that looks like for women.
Many women are navigating the dual pressures of career advancement and family responsibilities, which creates an unrelenting overlap between work and home that often leads to burnout.
Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara unpacks the issue further.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And it's time to talk Wellner's Aaron O'Hara is with us.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Good morning, Good morning, and.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I see you've got a nice little Mother's Day topic
for us today, really just talking about women and our
work life balance, which actually arn't live exists. I think
you should just let go of it, not trying to
attempt it.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's absolutely questionable where the women can actually have the
dual pressure of a full time career and have also
the family responsibilities as well. And there's lots of research
actually done in this in some research suggests that women
spend on average four point five hours a day on
care duties around the home in comparison to men can
(00:52):
be between one hour and twenty three minutes, so quite
a big difference. And that's not judging men has been
not doing enough around the house, But that's actually just
research space.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
We're just valuing the unpaid work that women do, which.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Is there's quite a lot and sometimes it's unseen as well,
is that they're putting you know, they're running the house
quite often and organizing the kids and cooking the food
and doing the shopping, and there's a lot of load
on women in the house, especially when they're running a
full time job as well, and sometimes it can mean
women feel unsupported and they can't create that balance of
(01:26):
work life home commitments.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Mental load is sort of the trendy word for it
these days, managing the mental load.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Mental load, invisible stress, you know, because I think people
disregard like that. You know, the jobs you're doing around
the house is being workloads, but it's a lot, and
it's a lot to kind of keep up with as well,
and that's where women frequently can feel overwhelmed by their workload,
not just the work at their physical job, but actually
the workload at home as well, and that imbalance can
(01:57):
create problems with chronic stress, sometimes poor sleep, and also
just neglecting your own physical and mental health as well,
because quite often I find women in the clinic they
put themselves right at the bottom of the list, and
they know what to do, but it's more they've got
all the other things they're doing and trying to run
that they actually put themselves further down the list and
(02:19):
they prioritize everyone else in the family before themself, but
actually you. Actually my suggestion is put yourself to the
top of the list, so no different than being on
an aeroplane. Put your own mask on first. Is actually
kind of looking at it as like the better you feel,
the better you can be working well and have good productivity,
good mom, good family. You know, can keep the family running.
(02:43):
And if you don't look after yourself, then you're never
going to be great and doing all of the load
that you've got a head.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's really nice way of putting it actually your own
because I don't kind of like the term like self care,
I'm going to take some time for myself and self
that doesn't kind of resonate that well with me. But
actually just putting it as simpody as the way you
have makes a lot of sense for yourself first.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Still, the things that you know are good for you exercise, sleep,
eat well, manage your stress. Also creates downtime, which I
think is the hardest thing for women is sometimes you'll
have that guilt of like when you're not doing and
you know you're even just sitting on the couch or
reading a book, and you think, oh, I should be
doing the washing and I should be doing the shopping
and I should be doing this, and it can for
(03:22):
someone women create a bit of guilt that they're not
doing enough.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Word through that, actually, yeah, on the couch quite happily.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah. Instead be like, okay, it's okay to do things
for yourself and actually prioritizing that and putting it into
the plan for the week of like planning out, Okay,
where can I get some little bit to exercise in?
Where can I prioritize making some healthy food for yourself
and some downtime. Also, learning to say no is absolutely okay.
(03:51):
Like no when you're over committed and that you're not superwoman.
You don't need to do everything. Seek help when you
need it. Also, if you know you're getting your loads
getting too big, whether it's getting a little bit of
extra childcare support, maybe getting a cleaner maybe another big
suggestion I usually give us whether you do my food
bab or Whoop or fresh Start or something to help
(04:13):
with the cooking for the week, because it actually can
help take off some of that mental load as well.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Brilliant, Thank you so much. Erin and I think it
was season three, wasn't it, Carrie, We did a whole
episode on mental load. If you want to have listened
to that on the Little Things.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And it's time to talk Wellner's Aaron O'Hara is with us.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Good morning, Good morning, and.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I see you've got a nice little Mother's Day topic
for us today, really just talking about women and our
work life balance, which actually arn't live exists. I think
you should just let go of it, not trying to
attempt it.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's absolutely questionable where the women can actually have the
dual pressure of a full time career and have also
the family responsibilities as well. And there's lots of research
actually done in this in some research suggests that women
spend on average four point five hours a day on
care duties around the home in comparison to men can
(00:52):
be between one hour and twenty three minutes, so quite
a big difference. And that's not judging men has been
not doing enough around the house, But that's actually just
research space.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
We're just valuing the unpaid work that women do, which.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Is there's quite a lot and sometimes it's unseen as well,
is that they're putting you know, they're running the house
quite often and organizing the kids and cooking the food
and doing the shopping, and there's a lot of load
on women in the house, especially when they're running a
full time job as well, and sometimes it can mean
women feel unsupported and they can't create that balance of
(01:26):
work life home commitments.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Mental load is sort of the trendy word for it
these days, managing the mental load.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Mental load, invisible stress, you know, because I think people
disregard like that. You know, the jobs you're doing around
the house is being workloads, but it's a lot, and
it's a lot to kind of keep up with as well,
and that's where women frequently can feel overwhelmed by their workload,
not just the work at their physical job, but actually
the workload at home as well, and that imbalance can
(01:57):
create problems with chronic stress, sometimes poor sleep, and also
just neglecting your own physical and mental health as well,
because quite often I find women in the clinic they
put themselves right at the bottom of the list, and
they know what to do, but it's more they've got
all the other things they're doing and trying to run
that they actually put themselves further down the list and
(02:19):
they prioritize everyone else in the family before themself, but
actually you. Actually my suggestion is put yourself to the
top of the list, so no different than being on
an aeroplane. Put your own mask on first. Is actually
kind of looking at it as like the better you feel,
the better you can be working well and have good productivity,
good mom, good family. You know, can keep the family running.
(02:43):
And if you don't look after yourself, then you're never
going to be great and doing all of the load
that you've got a head.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's really nice way of putting it actually your own
because I don't kind of like the term like self care,
I'm going to take some time for myself and self
that doesn't kind of resonate that well with me. But
actually just putting it as simpody as the way you
have makes a lot of sense for yourself first.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Still, the things that you know are good for you exercise, sleep,
eat well, manage your stress. Also creates downtime, which I
think is the hardest thing for women is sometimes you'll
have that guilt of like when you're not doing and
you know you're even just sitting on the couch or
reading a book, and you think, oh, I should be
doing the washing and I should be doing the shopping
and I should be doing this, and it can for
(03:22):
someone women create a bit of guilt that they're not
doing enough.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Word through that, actually, yeah, on the couch quite happily.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah. Instead be like, okay, it's okay to do things
for yourself and actually prioritizing that and putting it into
the plan for the week of like planning out, Okay,
where can I get some little bit to exercise in?
Where can I prioritize making some healthy food for yourself
and some downtime. Also, learning to say no is absolutely okay.
(03:51):
Like no when you're over committed and that you're not superwoman.
You don't need to do everything. Seek help when you
need it. Also, if you know you're getting your loads
getting too big, whether it's getting a little bit of
extra childcare support, maybe getting a cleaner maybe another big
suggestion I usually give us whether you do my food
bab or Whoop or fresh Start or something to help
(04:13):
with the cooking for the week, because it actually can
help take off some of that mental load as well.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Brilliant, Thank you so much. Erin and I think it
was season three, wasn't it, Carrie, We did a whole
episode on mental load. If you want to have listened
to that on the Little Things.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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