In an illuminating article, The Care Crisis , Ruth Rosen writes about what women talk about when men aren’t around (and she notes that it’s not sex):

For four decades, working women have poured into the paid labor force. Yet American society has done precious little to restructure the workplace or family life. The result? Working mothers are burdened and exhausted, families are fractured and children are often neglected. The dirty little secret, we repeatedly tell each other, is that it is both profitable and convenient to our government, business and many men, for women to wear themselves out trying to do the unpaid work of caring for children, caring for the elderly and caring about the social networks of our communities.

I’m tired just reading it (but not tired of reading about it). It’s funny how when you are silent about unpaid work, it effectively works as collusion with the status quo, but that stating how exasperated you are with the current situation is often seen as a complaint.