Working Twice as Hard: Why Women Burn Out Faster at Work
Not-so-fun fact: 38% of women have had their judgement questioned at work.
It might not sound like a lot, but there’s an additional fact: that number hasn’t changed since 2019. That indicates that not only are women feeling underestimated at work, but that it's felt this way for a long, long time.
But why? And how do we get around it to not only support women, improve workplace culture, and build more equitable, resilient teams?
It’s Not Just About the Work
Well, okay, it’s a lot about the work. But it’s not just the work itself. Burnout among women isn’t caused solely by long hours and full calendars; it’s about how those demands are shaped by systems that consistently undervalue, overburden, and underestimate women, especially when it comes to emotional labor and invisible work.
It’s about:
The constant expectation to overdeliver while being harshly scrutinized
How unconscious bias shows up in meetings, hiring and promotions
Navigating male-dominated industries
The expectation to do invisible labor like planning events, take notes and clean
These aren’t one-off experiences either. They’re patterns, and over time they create the perfect conditions for chronic stress, disengagement, and burnout in women.
Sadly, The Research Confirms It
In the first quarter of 2024, 11% of leaves of absence were due to mental health, with 69% of those absences being from women and women-identifying workers. Additional studies show that, while 57% of workers reported burnout, women are more vulnerable: 75% of women reported burnout compared to 58% of men.
Why though?
Well, there’s a lot of reasons: women tend to experience different societal and systemic pressures than men, both professionally and personally. And often, those spaces tend to intersect.
For example, working moms often experience intense guilt for a variety of reasons:
Not being able to spend as much time with their children
Feeling like they aren’t meeting expectations
Experiencing judgement from other people, including other moms
And those reasons alone show that this is a system and societal issue, one that has been perpetuated by men and women alike, that ask women to be everything for everyone, to be perfect and to forgo your own needs for those of your children, your colleagues and more.
Burnout Starts At Home
In 2025, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research put out a report titled Women at Work Five Years Since the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Any Progress?, covering how the pandemic affected women in the workplace compared to men, and how (if) they have recovered.
The answers to these questions are, as always, complicated. While women’s employment has recovered, it took nearly 4 years longer than it took men to recover. However, this number doesn’t paint the full picture.
The unemployment rate for Black women is 1.6 times more likely than White women.
Mother’s employment rates rose alongside the reopening and increased employment within childcare and nursing sectors. That’s good news of course, but it reveals a deeper pattern: women are still disproportionately responsible for caregiving, paid and unpaid. Recovery is tied to their ability to provide support for others, rather than through systemic support that promotes true gender equity in the workplace.
Additionally, the wage gap continues to persist, with women earning approximately 83 cents for every dollar earned by men. And for disabled women this number is even more dire at 67 cents for every dollar.
That’s all to say, that regardless of advancements and improvements to women’s lives at work, there are still a lot of inequities to correct. And it starts in our home, our communities: in 2024, women still did 40% more housework than men, highlighting the ongoing burden of unpaid care work and emotional labor. Add to that the additional invisible labor tasks women are often assigned at work and the stresses that come along with microaggressions and unconscious bias, it’s no wonder that women are experiencing higher levels of burnout.
So, Why Do Women Overperform?
The truth is, it’s complicated.
Like most things, the reasons are rooted in our societal structure and the expectations placed on girls and boys from an early age. You might see boys being encouraged to be rambunctious and wild whereas girls are expected to be sweet and helpful. These early messages lay the foundation for overworking, over-accommodating and, eventually, burnout in a professional environment.
As we get older, those teachings bloom into other reasons, such as:
1. Imposter Syndrome
Sometimes even the most qualified women don’t feel they’ve earned a seat at the table. Instead of questioning the system that made them feel that way, they instinctively double down: they work longer, harder and even more quietly to prove they belong.
This isn’t just a simple insecurity. It’s a logical response to being in spaces where your work and ideas are constantly under a microscope.
Notably, while women and marginalized groups are more likely to experience imposter syndrome, globally around 62% of employees of all gender identities have experienced it.
2. Perfectionism
While we tend to see perfectionism as striving for excellence, it often stems from being terrified of failure. Women are often socialized to believe mistakes reflect their entire character, and end up overcompensating because of it.
Those longer hours, triple-checking their tone, polishing emails for far, far too long: they can all be the result of the pursuit of perfectionism.
3. People-Pleasing
When you’re taught to make others comfortable, regardless of your own feelings, saying no can feel like a betrayal to yourself and others. Many women struggle to establish boundaries; this isn’t because they lack confidence, but because they may fear being seen as difficult or cold. They may overextend themselves to protect others, often at the cost of their own ability.
It’s important to note that these traits are not inherently negative. With strong boundaries and self-awareness, people-pleasing, perfectionism and imposter syndrome can be ways to measure ourselves without judgement.
The Cost of Burnout for Women
Unfortunately, burnout always has a cost. In 2024, Deloitte’s Women @ Work survey gathered information on the results of how women are treated in the workplace.
16% of women reported they left their jobs due to harassment and microaggressions, affecting their financial security
Chronic fatigue and weakened immune systems, which can increase women’s overall physical health
Increased anxiety, depression and overall detachment
Even more notably, when women leave their roles or feel silenced due to burnout, they can be left out of leadership roles, promotions, and representation, ultimately widening existing gaps in leadership and gender equity at work.
What About Men?
While this blog focuses on the experiences of women, it’s more than worth mentioning that men are also struggling under the weight of workplace expectations.
Women are often faced with the burden of balancing motherhood, caregiving, labor, men face the expectation to be providers and stay resilient regardless of what is happening around them.
For men, being open and vulnerable is seen as a weakness and is judged harshly, so they often “tough it out” and push those feelings down. This can lead to similar physical and mental health issues.
To put it simply:
Women experience shame, guilt and internal strife with their burnout
Men experience burnout from the pressure to be strong and fix their problems alone
Solutions Can’t Just Be Self-Care
Unfortunately, no amount of meditation, movie nights or personal days can fix an inherently broken system.
Because of that, organizations must work towards providing services and enacting policies, protocols and training initiatives that meet women’s needs while remaining grounded in inclusivity best practices and gender-aware workplace culture change.
For example, 68% of women say childcare services are crucial to them but are not often offered. Because women traditionally remained at home, it isn’t surprising; however, women make up nearly half the workforce, so providing specific structures to meet their needs can help decrease burnout.
Organizations can:
Perform regular check-ins to establish additional needs
Normalize establishing boundaries on work
Learn and understand how workplace microaggressions hurt underrepresented individuals
Reward progress, not the number of hours put in
Support gender-based benefits and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
Leaders and managers can:
Seek and participate in allyship training that covers all underrepresented groups
Normalize and encourage rest and PTO by using it as well (AKA model healthy behavior!)
Recognize invisible labor and find ways to mitigate it. For example, creating a schedule on who organizes parties or team lunches
Avoid tokenizing women other marginalized groups
At the same time, we should also work to gradually reframe how we think about rest. It’s not just recovery: it can be a “power pause”.
This means making it a deliberate, intentional decision to slow down, reflect, and realign your values, boundaries, and goals. More women are embracing the idea that stepping back is not a sign of weakness. Instead, it’s a strategy, and it crafts a powerful message that says: My wellbeing matters just as much as my productivity.
Final Thoughts: Rebuilding with Women in Mind
Burnout isn’t a personal failure. Rather, it’s a structural red light. If overworking, performing emotional labor and not questioning or noticing biases is normalized (or even praised!), employees will inevitably hit a breaking point.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
We want women (and men!) to thrive in the workplace, not just survive. The best way to do that is going from the ground up: reworking internal policies, education on unconscious bias in the workplace, inclusive leadership, and mental health support.
Ultimately, burnout is not just a women’s issue. It’s a workplace issue, and when we make work better for women, we make it better for everyone.
Understanding Burnout in Women: A Quick FAQ
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Burnout in women is often caused by a mix of overwork, emotional labor, gender bias, invisible labor, and unrealistic expectations, both at work and at home.
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Invisible labor refers to tasks that go unrecognized, such as taking notes, organizing team events, or supporting coworkers emotionally. Women are more likely to be expected to do this kind of work without credit.
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Employers can reduce burnout by addressing unconscious bias, encouraging rest, setting boundaries, providing flexible benefits, and recognizing both visible and invisible contributions.
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A power pause is a conscious decision to step back, reflect, and reset. It helps women reclaim control over their time and well-being, and serves as a reminder that rest is productive.
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Women often overperform due to societal expectations, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and fear of being judged more harshly than their male peers.
