For centuries, women have been experts at juggling their relationships, careers, children, health and home all at once.

The weight of maintaining this balancing act has increased exponentially over the past two decades, to the point that more women than ever are reporting feelings of exhaustion, anxiety and depression.

In fact, many are on the brink of a serious burnout.

Experts say that to create equality in the workplace, women should have a shorter working week than their male counterparts

A study published by the Australian National University found that the healthy working week for women should be limited to 34 hours, compared to 47 hours for men.

These findings reflect the outside-of-work hours that women lose to traditional domestic responsibilities and care-giving duties.

However, a randomised survey of 8,000 Aussies found that more than 66 per cent of full-time working adults spend more than 40 hours on the job every week.

This means that a huge proportion of women are operating at a consistent disadvantage to their male counterparts.

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The real-life impact of these findings are concerning in terms of female mental health, warns ANU lead researcher Dr Huong Dinh.

'Long working hours erode mental and physical health, because it leaves less time to eat well and look after oneself properly,' the expert told Whimn.

Because of the additional demands placed on women, Dr Dinh says that it is 'impossible for women to work [the] long hours often expected by employers unless they compromise their health.'

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So what is the solution?

Experts recommend that women should work shorter hours in order to compensate for the unpaid jobs they do every single day.

In order to achieve gender equality, working hour limits must be lowered. Co-researcher at the ANU Professor Lyndall Strazdins is deeply concerned about the impact of disproportionate working hours on women's mental health.

'If we encourage women to try to attain those work hours, we're basically confronting them with a trade off between their health and gender equality,' Professor Strazdins says.

Gender equality in the workplace must be addressed, experts say

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Yu Dan Shi, founder of the executive coaching project Inner Genius, says that women must take care of their health and mindset and prioritise what they want to achieve rather than what is socially expected of them.

'You have to have a purpose. Women are brought up trying to constantly improve themselves and we spend so much time focusing on what we are bad at instead of investing time into the things we do well,' Ms Shi said.

In the meantime, Professor Strazdins is calling for fair reward for women who are working close to or above a 38-hour working week.

'It's going to be a slow and difficult process because it is a major social change,' the scientist said.

All in favour of a 34 hour working week for women?