Kristen Liesh's guest appearances

Kristen Liesh

Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Elon Musk

Kamala Harris

Donald Trump

Julie Smith

Greta Thunberg

John Townsend

Phil Jones

Chris Henry

James Logan

Bernie Sanders

Matt Bell

Sean Palmer

Brad Olsen

Jennifer Lopez

Jeff Bezos

OwlTail

If you're a woman in the workplace who always finds herself emptying the dishwasher - you're not alone.A new report from the Harvard Business Review says women are more likely to volunteer to clean up the workplace than men.Since they're so busy tidying up, they have less time to work on "promotable" jobs in the workplace – which in turn slows career progression, according to the report.Dr Kristen Liesh from the Women's Work Institute in Canada explained "office housework" to Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB as "all of those administrative, behind the scenes things that need to get done."Unloading the dishwasher, standing up to take notes on the whiteboard in a client meeting – all of the things that support the operation of an organisation, that aren't necessarily assigned to one person," she said.What's more concerning is that this is a learned behaviour from childhood."According to new research on children, girls are expected to perform around 40 to 60 per cent more household chores than their male siblings," says Liesh."We have certain cultural expectations associated with gender which make it more likely that girls and women engage in these activities from the beginning – fast forward to the workplace and women are the ones who tidy up because it's an ingrained expectation that they will."Unfortunately, Liesh doesn't have a solution - and acknowledges that often, women would rather just clean up themselves than suffer through an unclean workspace.She does, however, recommend that the first step is acknowledging the gender issue."There isn't a silver bullet answer. I'm not going to tell women everywhere to go on strike. Women need to start with recognising they're doing it, and acknowledging it."Funnily enough, however, the research also found that it's only in mixed-sex workplaces that women are left to do all the cleaning. In single-sex male workplaces the men will pick up the slack if there's no one else to do it."Their space doesn't get disgusting or filthy, the stuff gets done. It's only in mixed-sex groups where women shoulder the burden," says Liesh.

If you're a woman in the workplace who always finds herself emptying the dishwasher - you're not alone. A new report from the Harvard Business Review says women are more likely to volunteer to clean up the workplace than men. Since they're so busy tidying up, they have less time to work on "promotable" jobs in the workplace – which in turn slows career progression, according to the report. Dr Kristen Liesh from the Women's Work Institute in Canada explained "office housework" to Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB as "all of those administrative, behind the scenes things that need to get done. "Unloading the dishwasher, standing up to take notes on the whiteboard in a client meeting – all of the things that support the operation of an organisation, that aren't necessarily assigned to one person," she said. What's more concerning is that this is a learned behaviour from childhood. "According to new research on children, girls are expected to perform around 40 to 60 per cent more household chores than their male siblings," says Liesh. "We have certain cultural expectations associated with gender which make it more likely that girls and women engage in these activities from the beginning – fast forward to the workplace and women are the ones who tidy up because it's an ingrained expectation that they will." Unfortunately, Liesh doesn't have a solution - and acknowledges that often, women would rather just clean up themselves than suffer through an unclean workspace. She does, however, recommend that the first step is acknowledging the gender issue. "There isn't a silver bullet answer. I'm not going to tell women everywhere to go on strike. Women need to start with recognising they're doing it, and acknowledging it." Funnily enough, however, the research also found that it's only in mixed-sex workplaces that women are left to do all the cleaning. In single-sex male workplaces the men will pick up the slack if there's no one else to do it. "Their space doesn't get disgusting or filthy, the stuff gets done. It's only in mixed-sex groups where women shoulder the burden," says Liesh.

Dr Kristen Liesh: Why women are always the ones doing 'office housework'