The Mental Load

Women, put down your never-ending to-do list and read this book cover to cover. - Rebecca Huntley

The gender wars of household chores - The Guardian

Funny and relevant, this is a book to slip on all your colleagues' desks. - Elle

Emma talks about the clitoris like nobody else. - Huffington Post

Her comics perfectly explain the mental load that women bear in the household. - Marie Claire

Widely shared on the net, her comic strips echo the feeling of many women who are exhausted by the need to always think of everything. - L'Express

The mental load. It's incessant, gnawing, exhausting and disproportionately falls to women. - Leah Rupanner, ABC

The mental load is the running commentary that plays in the minds of (mostly) women, of all the things that need doing that no one else sees but you. - AV Williams, news.com.au

In her first book of comic strips, French artist Emma reflects on social and feminist issues by means of simple line drawings, dissecting the mental load, i.e., all that invisible and unpaid organising, list-making and planning women do to manage their lives, and the lives of their family members. Most of us carry some form of mental load - about our work, household responsibilities, financial obligations and personal life; but what makes up that burden and how it's distributed within households and understood in offices is not always equal or fair.

In her strips, Emma deals with themes ranging from maternity leave (it is not a vacation!), domestic violence, the clitoris, the violence of the medical world on women during childbirth, and other feminist issues. She does so in a straightforward way that is both hilarious and deadly serious. If you're not laughing, you're probably crying in recognition. Emma's comics also address the everyday outrages and absurdities of immigrant rights, income equality, and police violence.

Emma has over 300,000 followers on Facebook, her comics have been shared 215,000 times, and have elicited comments from 21,000 internet users. An article about her in the French magazine L'Express drew 1.8 million views - a record since the site was created. She is now a regular contributor to The Guardian. Many women will recognise themselves in The Mental Load, which is sure to stir a wide-ranging, important debate on what it really means to be a woman today.