A Woman’s Work

The beginning of 2026 began with funeral preparations for my mother. And then Lizzy died and then Gussy and then Anne. 2026 has been a year of mourning strong women who marked my life.

Lizzy had been down for the count for a while and thankfully got to choose how she died. Gussy’s death was like a gut punch. How can a light that bright be extinguished, I kept asking myself. Both my mum’s and Anne’s death were a reprieve, my mum’s after a decade-long struggle with emphysema and depression, Anne’s after dealing with losing her sight and then her mobility.

They were all of the same generation. Whip smart, organized, ambitious, devoted to their families and their communities. Their memorials were filled with long lists of accomplishments, stories of the people they had impacted and the seemingly endless volunteer work to which they had dedicated their life. Literacy, women’s health, fighting poverty, political activism, milieus that valued the energy and the knowhow they brought to the table.

Invisible Labor

All classic examples of Invisible Labor, a term coined in the 1980’s to underscore all the work done by women that goes unpaid, unrecognized, uncompensated. The quiet contributions of women worldwide – the kilometres-long treks to fetch drinking water, to find firewood, caring for community children, nursing elderly relatives, feeding their families, keeping foodbanks and meals on wheels and libraries going. This unpaid work that comes at a very quantifiable cost to those who perform it. “Each extra hour of unpaid care reduces a woman’s probability of paid employment by 38 percent and her likelihood of accessing higher education by 34 percent”, according to the UN.

Many also experience the “motherhood penalty”, seeing their wages stagnate, struggling with unavailable or expensive childcare and crappy parental leave which forces them to take on less challenging or part-time work to be available when the daycare calls, when gastro rips through their children’s school, when an elderly parent needs transport to a doctor’s appointment. None of this labour is accounted for in a country’s GDP because it is unpaid. And yet it makes up more than half of all the work being done, according to UN Women. It improves the quality of our homes, of our schools, of our communities, of our social fabric and yet it is discounted.

Quiet Gears

I think about all the incredible women I am grieving for this year. And all of the hours they’ve invested – teaching local children to read, filling the foodbanks, the family planning they made available to at-risk populations, making women’s voices heard in the medical world, language rights they fought for–all of it above and beyond the jobs they held and the time they spent caring for their families.

They are the quiet gears that keep our world working. So much of our day-to-day would grind to a halt if they weren’t performing these endless, essential and largely unrecognized tasks. Their contributions may be unpaid but the least we can do is not let them go unnoticed. When you go about your day today, watch for the women who are making your life easier. And take the time to thank them, from all of us.

Sarah Cobb