Commenting on the bias attributed to working mothers, SMU Assistant Professor of Sociology Aliya Hamid Rao said, “Sociological research on why women’s paid work is not seen as important as men’s has less to do with how much women earn and more with the meaning attributed to their work.” She added, “This meaning may be shaped by a variety of things, but key is the fact that unpaid work – work like housework and childcare – is still very much seen as women’s work.” She noted that men’s unemployment has always been framed as a moral and practical problem but not so for women’s unemployment. This inequality is reinforced by women safeguarding men’s time from housework and “emotional labour” so as to prioritise and aid the latter’s job search.