Note that this article uses a somewhat older and more specific definition of emotional labor, casting it as something done in the course of paid work. These day

Note that this article uses a somewhat older and more specific definition of emotional labor, casting it as something done in the course of paid work. These days, it is also commonly recognized to occur in unpaid contexts. (Maybe it was in the 1960s as well, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_labor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_labor doesn't seem to cover that.) Having a friend lean on you during a breakup, and helping them process their feelings -- that's unpaid emotional labor. Which is fine! It's just good to recognize it, especially because there's a gender imbalance. Women are commonly expected to provide unpaid emotional labor in the domestic and social spheres, and in traditional labor contexts, women are commonly expected to provide emotional labor on top of their other job duties in ways that men are not.