In a recently reignited debate about gender roles and the invisible burdens of daily life, the elder spokesperson of the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), Pia Kjærsgaard, has caused a stir with her statements about women. According to Kjærsgaard, women complain excessively about their situation. “It annoys me to see aggrieved women in the media whining like that. Relax now. Women whine and complain too much. It’s always me, me, me,” she stated to jp.dk. This comment comes in the wake of a broader discussion about ‘the mental load’, as it is called in Danish. This phenomenon describes the mental burden many parents – especially women – experience when juggling everyday tasks such as shopping, cooking, childcare, and household chores.
The debate gained momentum when the priest Marie Høgh criticized the use of the term ‘mental load’ in a debate article in Jyllands-Posten, which she believes is invented by privileged people. Her views garnered further attention when she and the influencer Christina Sander discussed the topic on the TV program ‘Go’ Evening Live. Here, Høgh argued that genders are now equal and that the distribution of household tasks should not be a public matter. However, Christina Sander pointed out that Høgh herself had applied for an au pair to help with household tasks, which, according to Sander, made Høgh’s criticism of ‘mental load’ less credible. “It is extremely relevant when she speaks about ‘mental load’, because she pays for another person to take ‘the mental load’ for her. Therefore, she does not experience it herself,” Sander said to TV 2.
The debate about ‘mental load’ continues to stir emotions and exchanges of opinions in the public sphere, underscoring the complexity and sensitivity of the discussion about gender roles and the distribution of the invisible burdens of home life.