‘I walk around with a list in my head’: qualitative research on perceived causes and consequences of the unequal gender division of mental labor in Croatian households

The mental labor is the combination of cognitive and emotional labor, which is performed predominantly by women. It consists of anticipating needs, identifying options, making decisions, and monitoring their execution for all household members, and the emotional labor associated with this work. This qualitative study, conducted through focus groups, explores how women and men explain gender differences in mental labor, identifies the perceived consequences of such inequalities, and examines men's perceptions on women's mental labor. Thematic analysis yielded six key themes with the richest explanation of how women perform the greater share of mental labor because of stereotypical gender roles. Other explanations rely on efficiency, reliability, and managing conflicts. Most explanations are differentiated into essentialist and constructivist beliefs. Both the perceived consequences of mental labor and men's perception are predominately negative, characterized by an over-evaluation of men's initiatives and a devaluation of women's mental labor. In qualitative research, the mental labor is identified as primarily female labor, leading to exhaustion among women, while it remains largely unrecognized and unappreciated by men.