Facebook COO and Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead author Sheryl Sandberg joined Ryan Seacrest on-air on Tuesday, December 8, after we brought up that “don’t do your boyfriend’s laundry” conversation.
In case you missed it, Seacrest and the team discussed on-air how Sheryl recommended women don’t start doing their boyfriend’s laundry while speaking with Women @ Meredith about the new challenges and stressors working women are facing amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
At the event, Sheryl stated: “For any young women, if you have a boyfriend, and you’re about to go do your boyfriend’s laundry: don’t do it! You’re going to be doing that guy’s laundry for the next five decades.”
“I’m going to clear that up today,” Sheryl shared with Seacrest. “It’s not never; it’s load-for-load. … I’m asked for advice by college women all the time: ‘How do I have a great career?’ And really the first piece of advice is: ‘You know that cute girlfriend thing where you do his laundry? Don’t do that. Don’t do that because you’re going to be doing that dude’s laundry for the next 30 years and then you’re going to work for him or someone like him.' We have to get to equality,” Sheryl explained. “If he does your laundry, you can do his too. It just has to be equal.”
Sheryl explained that it all boils down to the “lack of equality in the home” that’s “holding back women in the workplace” and that it’s “never been more true than [during the] Coronavirus [pandemic].”
“The average women is doing 20 more hours a week of childcare and housework than her husband,” Sheryl added. “That’s half a full-time job. And now 1 in 4 women is thinking of leaving the workforce or downsizing. … This Coronavirus crisis and the lack of equality in the home which is getting exasperated threatens to take away literally decades of progress of women in the workplace.”
KIIS FM’s Patty Rodriguez agreed and admitted that she too feels the burden of carrying the load and mental load as a working mom at home amid COVID-19 which has caused resentment to build.
“I’m reaching a breaking point every single day,” Patty shared. “I can’t lock the door [while working]. I have two kids that are so tiny that need me.“
Sheryl shared that this is happening to women across the globe and that the pandemic ending and our partners doing more is the only answer.
“Men think they’re doing more than they are,” she added. “That’s part of the problem.”
Listen back to the full interview above to find out why Sheryl wants to stress the importance of not wasting this crisis and more on how you can avoid resentment building up at home. Head to leanin.org for more advice from Sheryl.