Emotional tax is formally defined as ‘a psychological burden where one has to use one’s mental resources to stay vigilant against bias, discrimination, and exclusion.’ It is the growing mental burden that individuals from marginalised backgrounds carry as they navigate daily life. It particularly results from their professional work spaces, while anticipating or encountering bias, exclusion, or stereotyping. Apart from just overt acts of discrimination, it is more about the continuous state of being “on guard” against these biases.
They act as subtle reminders that one is different, lesser, or does not fully belong. For many people, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds of gender, caste, class or race, this burden becomes an everyday reality. At its core, it is about the cost of surviving—not just thriving—in institutions that were never built to fully accommodate diverse lived experiences.
Emotional tax: in episodic terms
Contextually, emotional tax can be felt in many ways through subtle forms of discrimination. Several women in workplaces are being discriminated against due to their gender and class through sexist remarks, often by individuals in positions of authority. They are often clouded by preconceived notions about one’s identity due to existing patriarchal and class power structures. They often think that a person from a background of low income and/or from an underprivileged caste group, cannot perform as well as their fellow co-workers.
Several women may also be relegated to tasks like designing and office-housework, which are traditionally considered to be feminine. It is a sign of how one’s identity is taken for granted as diversity, but in reality operates as a deficit for them. Inevitably, it leads them to always be aware of their gender, caste and class identity, something that is bound to affect them financially, but also emotionally. It might strongly influence the way they see themselves among their peers, and push them to keep working to achieve an impossible standard.
Unlike physical taxation, emotional tax isn’t quantified, but it is deeply felt. It accumulates invisibly over time, shaping how individuals perceive their capabilities, limits, and aspirations in the workplace. Understanding this term is essential to understanding why representation alone is not enough. What is needed is an environment where individuals do not have to constantly manage their identities to be accepted or trusted with responsibility.
The multiple manifestations of emotional tax
Emotional tax can take a toll on individuals in many forms. Marginalised in a larger social context, these individuals feel isolated in the workplace. Often the firsts from their community/social group to break structural barriers and join the mainstream, they feel alone in their employment journey due to unawareness of their struggles. This social isolation can also contribute to a feeling of powerlessness, majorly due to the unequal power structures they have to navigate. For instance, there is a clear power imbalance between the manager (a man from a high income background) and the woman. It manifests in the form of second-guessing oneself.
For instance, there is a clear power imbalance between the manager (a man from a high income background) and the woman. It manifests in the form of second-guessing oneself.
Efforts of this manifestation could involve working extra hours to prove competence, hesitating to speak up in meetings, or masking parts of one’s identity to be seen as “professional.” Over time, these efforts come at the cost of emotional well-being, career confidence, and even physical health.
As a concept in feminist discourse, it originated in the American context. Many scholars speak about it extensively with reference to how Black women are emotionally and financially affected, due to subtle acts of racist discrimination, bias and microaggressions at the workplace. In a survey undertaken by Catalyst, it was found that 56% of women across countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, UK and USA are on guard against biases in their workplace. Scholarship on the emotional tax in India is something that needs to be further undertaken in much detail and research.
Code-switching due to emotional tax
Several marginalised individuals are quick to realise such covert forms of discrimination, which is why the toll of their emotional tax is very heavy. However, such observations often lead them to think that their identity in such a space is the issue. As a result, many tend to suppress unique forms of their identity expressions, and try to integrate into the “mainstream” expression of the same. They feel the necessity to code-switch, a way in which they alternate their appearances, behaviour and self-expression to mingle with their colleagues.
This leads to a false belief that one’s identity is something that has to be hidden, hated upon and locked away within oneself. For example, if a woman starts to suppress her apparent feminine tendencies (like leaving work early, organising informal gatherings, designing a deck), she believes she might be considered more suitable for better projects.
For example, if a woman starts to suppress her apparent feminine tendencies (like leaving work early, organising informal gatherings, designing a deck), she believes she might be considered more suitable for better projects.
Code-switching to appear that way, would inevitably lead to her believing that these activities (regardless of gendered notions) are to be hated. It is a starting point to the erasure of one’s identity, something that in itself can be considered emotional tax.
Emotional tax, in this sense, is not just an emotional response, it is a structural condition that produces long-term psychological and social consequences. The expectation to constantly prove oneself, while also being reduced to a representative of ‘diversity’ is pervasive. It traps individuals in a paradox: to be visible enough to be included in their workplace, yet invisible when career-enhancing opportunities arise. For many, especially women from marginalised backgrounds, success in such spaces comes at the cost of silence, assimilation, and emotional exhaustion. To truly address emotional tax, organisations must move beyond tokenistic inclusion (like DEI meetings) and commit to permanent structural change, where the proof of merit is equitable, inclusive, and most importantly, not a burden for some.
About the author(s)
Lakshmi Yazhini is a post graduate student, pursuing an Integrated Masters in Development Studies, at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Based in Chennai, Yazhini has an avid research interest in the intersectionality of feminist geography and the state, in peripheral cities. In her free time, she likes to bake, do yoga, read fiction and pen down her thoughts in her journal (which are most often about the micro inequalities around her). Yazhini hopes to explore, write and make a difference about these as a policymaker some day.
