It’s not the first time a political figure’s tears have made headlines.

Speculation about the cause of UK chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tears in parliament could reveal larger attitudes about crying in the workplace. Source: AAP / House of Commons/UK Parliament

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cried in public several times. Julia Gillard teared up during the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Kevin Rudd cried when resigning from parliament.

“But crying is one of the body’s strongest ways of self-soothing. It’s neutral. It helps us recalibrate.”

The taboo of tears

Dober agrees — and says suppressing those emotional reactions comes at a cost.

“When we cry, amazing chemicals are released … endorphins that help us emotionally recalibrate.”

Does crying at work damage your reputation? That depends

In fields that require emotional labour — like teaching, social work or nursing — crying is more likely to be understood as part of burnout or compassion fatigue.

“It might be seen as a sign of weakness and impact your image in a negative way,” she says.

The gender gap

“Whereas a lot of research sees that women are interpreted to be losing control or that they don’t have the same emotional intelligence to be able to hold those more senior level roles … it can be quite damaging to their careers.”

“Ask instead: what are the triggers — regardless of gender — that have brought somebody to this state?”

Making space for emotion at work

“What we don’t want is people who have these emotions to feel like they’ve absolutely got to bottle them up, otherwise it’s going to be a detriment to them in their career,” she said. “Because that’s also not healthy.”