I am personally using the term ’emotional labor’ to designate part of my activity when it comes to dealing with other people emotions, in coaching or consulting or private life. I was struck to find that at least in the US it appears that this expression has now taken a gender inequality meaning.
This Quartz post ‘The men’s guide to understanding emotional labor‘ explains this approach and the evolution of the meaning of this term over the years.
I do not understand why emotional labor is gender orientated. It means working on one own’s emotions to deal with other’s emotions. As a man, I am doing some of this work and I can identify those moments where I do this work. I do recognise that it is an essential part of my professional work even in consulting. People are more or less good at emotional labor irrespective of gender. Emotional labor is available to all of us.
In the future I will continue to use the term ’emotional labor’ as a gender-neutral concept to designate an essential skill of professional and KEENs.
