Experts are examining how responsibilities are shared within couples, focusing on how the mental effort required for daily life can be more evenly managed in households. It is widely recognized that in many homes, domestic tasks are not equally divided, with women often taking on a larger share of the work. According to Kate Mangino, author of Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home, domestic duties can be broken down into physical, cognitive, and emotional work. Physical tasks include things like doing the laundry or cleaning, while cognitive work involves thinking, planning, and anticipating needs. The Guardian has provided guidance on how to divide these tasks as fairly as possible. Although modern societies are progressing toward greater equality in relationships, the mental burden is not always shared equally. This refers to the pressure of handling all the different types of domestic responsibilities, which can become overwhelming when only one person is managing them. Leah Ruppanner, a sociology professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, notes that the stress from this mental load can be an early sign of physical exhaustion, affecting both partners in the relationship. According to Mangino, the pressure from work and the role of being a caregiver in the family is significant and often goes unnoticed, regardless of who takes on these responsibilities. Ana Catalano Weeks, a political scientist at the University of Bath in the UK, highlights that in the United Kingdom, paternity leave is only two weeks and poorly paid, which reinforces the idea that mothers should stay at home and take primary responsibility for children. She suggests that policies should be put in place to encourage men to take leave and be more involved in family life. Experts suggest that a more balanced division of tasks, and therefore the mental load, requires the implementation of specific policies. Until governments take action, specialists recommend moving away from the belief that the person who earns more money has the most valuable time. This belief, rooted in patriarchal systems, continues to disadvantage women, who, even today, earn on average 22% less than men in France, according to the Observatory of Inequalities. Helen Mason, a female leadership coach, explains that while men are doing better than previous generations, women in heterosexual couples still carry a significant share of the thinking and planning involved in daily life. Experts also recommend distributing tasks without necessarily aiming for a 50-50 split, but instead considering each person's preferences and limitations. Prioritizing fairness over equal shares, discussing the division of responsibilities beforehand, defining each person's role, and setting boundaries are advised. Having weekly check-ins, using shared calendars, and involving children in household tasks can also help in better distributing the weight of daily life.