On Twitter, the account "Pediatric Mental Load" denounces the lack of distribution of parental tasks in many families, showing how mothers are often the ones who take care of children's medical appointments.
In 2020, it is clear that inequalities between parents continue. Especially when it comes to taking care of all that is related to the health of the child. Vaccines, operations… it is indeed still too often the mothers who manage the medical appointments. In any case, this is what the twitter account highlights "Pediatric mental load". The page regularly shares testimonials from healthcare professionals or parents, appalled to see how some fathers are not involved in their child's medical life.
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These testimonies unfortunately reflect a lack of sharing of parental responsibilities which is still flagrant in some families. Children's health is thus an additional mental burden for mothers … even though they are already the ones who most often take care of them at home. According to an INSEE study published in 2016, women spend an average of 3 hours 26 minutes per day on household chores and child care, compared to 2 hours for men. A trend that seems to have difficulty in reversing itself, as François Kraus, director of the "Gender, sexualities and sexual health" pole of the FIFG, points out in his analysis of the unequal distribution of household chores. “In 2011, women still performed most of the household chores – 64% of the daily time spent on household chores is taken care of by the fairer sex, compared to 69% twenty-five years ago – such as parenting activities: 71 %, against 80% twenty-five years ago ”, he writes.
As a result, mothers are more exhausted and stressed than fathers, as highlighted in another study published in 2016 in the journal American Sociological Review. While having a child is synonymous with joy for dads, it is mostly synonymous with anguish for moms, according to the report. “The good news from this study is that parents generally enjoy spending time with their children. But the bad news is that mothers enjoy it less than men because they do more 'work' parenting than fun ", Ann Meier, co-author of the study, told Science Daily.
The involvement of fathers in the life of the child is therefore essential, if we want to fight against gender inequalities, but also if we want to save the mental health of some mothers who suffer in silence.