Housework: Whose work?
Applying a Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) methodology, this research was co-created with Cambodian community members with lived experience of the relevant issues. It provides an evidence base from which gender equality advocates and policy makers may more effectively tailor their messaging and interventions. Such tailoring is important, whether advocates seek to promote the value of UCW as crucial work that is worthy of respect, or to encourage men to challenge patriarchal norms by taking on more of this work – without being asked. The research also examines the important issue of the 'mental load,' a topic rapidly rising to prominence across global feminist discourse in recent years but one that has not yet been studied in detail in the Cambodian context. The mental load refers to the invisible, cognitive tasks (i.e. involving thinking and remembering) involved in running a household: "[Cambodian women's] minds are full of thoughts, worries and strategies for how to manage and support the daily functioning of the household and all the people in it"