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Arguably, the greatest lie of all time is that multitasking is not only possible, but that women are better at it. This fabrication created a pervasive narrative that in order for women to have it all, they must do it all. But largely shouldering the household burden is not the path to the C-Suite. At least, that’s what Eve Rodsky argues in the latest episode of Chief’s podcast, “The New Rules of Business.” The New York Times bestselling author and producer of documentary “Fair Play” speaks with Co-Founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan on how so much of America’s social safety net is built on the backs of women’s invisible labor.
“When I start to think about how we've designed our society, especially understanding the context of invisible work and this idea that our social safety net in America is women's unpaid labor, it was really an understanding that to do that, we have to convince women that their time is worthless,” says Rodsky. “We do that in many insidious ways… As a society, we've decided to value men's time as if it's finite like diamonds, and we've decided to devalue women's time as if it's sand.”
And the hardest thing, she says, is realizing how deeply ingrained this idea is in women as they think about how to split duties at home. “Have you ever said to yourself, I do more in the home because my job is more flexible? Or, I do more in the home because my partner makes more money than me? Or, I do more in the home because I'm a better multitasker [and] I see things my partner doesn't? Or, I do things in the home because in the time it takes me to tell [them] what to do, I should do it myself?”
All of these questions highlight how we as a society have placed very different expectations on how women should and should not spend their time. Women, Rodksy argues, will never achieve gender equality at work until they first achieve it at home.
Listen to the full episode on “The New Rules of Business” and be sure to follow wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
