Why Women Leaders Face a Higher Emotional Labor Tax

Women at Work: Career, Leadership & Modern Work · Jun 30, 2026 · 7m · transcript

Emotional labor at work—managing others' feelings, smoothing over tensions, anticipating unspoken needs—falls disproportionately on women, especially women leaders. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into research showing that women in management spend up to 30 percent more time on emotion-work tasks than their male peers, and that this invisible tax leads to burnout, slower promotion, and higher departure rates. They discuss a 2025 study from the University of Michigan tracking 1,400 managers across four industries, which found that women leaders are expected to 'read the room' and repair…