When you have to make an appointment with the doctor for your sick child, or ask for days to keep it, who takes care of it? The medical burden is often assumed by the same.
Take the test around you: in the families you know, who makes the medical appointments for the children? Who also supports the health of the other parent by making an appointment with the doctor? Very often, in heterosexual homes, it is the mother who takes care of that. Louise can confirm this: on her Doctolib account is her medical information, but also that of her son… and her spouse. What would happen if women stopped doing it? Appointments are not made and the health of the household is deteriorating. “Check-up appointments, those when there is an emergency, check-ups at the dentist or the ophthalmologist, it’s always me who thinks about it“Confirms Louise.
This load, linked to the mental load, and which also results from the emotional chargewell explained by the illustrator Emma, we could call it medical load. It is an invisible but additional inequality that makes women responsible for the well-being of family members. If you are a woman, almost 70% of you declare that you take care of the health of your loved ones very regularly (spouse, child(ren)…) reveals the company Qare in a study conducted by the Opinion Way Institute, the results of which were analyzed with the expertise of Amandine Hancewicz, specialist in public policies for gender equality.
Read also: We found you the essential app against household disputes
Who takes care of sick children?
Qare defines the medical burden in three aspects: the logistical burden of health, that is to say the time spent taking care of tasks related to health; the mental burden of health, that is to say the fact of having to think about it daily and the economic burden of health, that is to say the budget devoted to it. The numbers speak for themselves: 59% of mothers take “sick child” days, compared to 25% of fathers. 40% of women have already had to cancel their leisure time to take care of the health of their loved one compared to 28% of men. Worse, 33% of women give up care to take care of their loved ones, postponing appointments for themselves or not taking any; it is 9 points more than men.
When it is necessary to consult for a child, Dr. Julie Salomon, medical director of Qare and pediatrician, notes that: “In Qare too, there is an overrepresentation of women among patients. 61% of adult patients are women and 75% of pediatric teleconsultations are carried out by mothers. Moreover, between the ages of 26 and 35, they even teleconsult 1, 6 times more than the men, it’s the biggest gap recorded on Qare!”
This dynamic is not inevitable: awareness is a first step to better distribute this time granted to children and to oneself. The discussion around this specifically medical mental load can be difficult but it is essential for a real sharing of this form of invisible work. An application like Maydée can help highlight the time spent on it. For medical appointments, teleconsultations can simplify life and save time, like those offered by the Qare platform.
*Survey carried out from February 24 to 28, 2022 by Opinion Way for Qare, on a sample of 1,039 people representative of the French population, aged 18 and over. Sample structured according to the quota method (sex, age, CSP, category of agglomeration, region of residence).
Missions: Mathilde is an expert in subjects related to women’s rights and health. Addicted to Instagram and Twitter, never stingy with a good …