Is Multitasking Harder for Women?

Though the world has placed a lot of emphasis that multitasking is the secret for being productive and satisfied at work, it may not be so according to a study from middle-class families made from 1999 to 2000 where it shows that it had negative effect on female workers.

Individuals who are studied were previously members of the 500 Family Study, which studies families living in eight urban and suburban communities in the United States. The parents in the families included on the study have professional occupations, work longer and have higher earnings than average workers in the United States.

Analysis shows that working mothers spent more time multitasking compared to working fathers, with 48.3 in women and only 38.9 in men. That’s 10 more hours staying on work. But what’s more important is the experience. While men report that they enjoyed work when they had to do multitasking, women report negative emotions like stress and feelings of conflict both at home and work.

What’s more, mothers are more likely to multitask and do labor-intensive work like housework and childcare. Fathers multitask on activities like conversations or self care. Such disparity of work makes multitasking harder to women, and therefore they are likely to harbor negative thoughts. Also, activities assigned to mothers like house care and childcare are more exposed to public and therefore subject to outside scrutiny.

The study dispels the notion that women are ultimate multitaskers, able to juggle work, childcare and homecare with ease. In fact, the study shows multitasking moms experience much more stress and conflicted compared to men. Researchers recommended that men do more domestic jobs, like helping take care of the children and house work. Businesses and employers can help, for example, by granting working fathers early leave on work or start it late and limit homework, so they could take care of the family.

 

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