This article from the BBC suggests that the long-held belief that women are better than men at multitasking was a “myth”. But it goes on to report that new research has shown that it’s true after all: women are better at it – in some things, at least..
It’s funny, but I have never regarded it as a myth. I have always told my pupils that women are generally better than men at multitasking – but I’ve then explained precisely what is meant by “multitasking”, because that’s where the real confusion lies. The conversation usually comes about early on, perhaps when learning how to coordinate the pedals, or maybe when trying a manoeuvre like the turn in the road for the first time.
When you ask a pupil about multitasking, they’ve all heard of it, and they all know about the men vs. women thing. But almost all of them associate it with doing two or more things at the same time, and that’s definitely not what it is. You see, when they try a turn in the road for the first time they will often try to control the speed of the car and steer at the same time – with the net result that neither operation is completed properly. Or when it comes to stopping near the kerb they’ll be trying to steer, and brake, and watch the kerb all at the same time (incidentally, this is where hitting the gas pedal by mistake is most likely to occur) – again, none of these sub-tasks gets completed properly
The problem lies in the fact that no one can do two or more separate things simultaneously – that is, at exactly the same time. What they can do, however, is quickly switch between the individual sub-tasks which make up each overall task. So both tasks get completed by doing a bit of one, then a bit of the other, then the next bit of the first one… and so on. And it is here where women are generally – though not always – more adept than men. It’s also one reason why men and women can become frustrated with each other, when the man focuses on one task or conversation, whereas the woman jumps between them.
You can’t pigeonhole human behaviour as easily as all this, though – and definitely not when it comes to driving. In terms of spatial awareness, for example, men generally have the edge. Women generally have the edge when it comes to not having over-inflated egos, though. Every difference between the sexes is just a generality, and when you add them all up everything gets smoothed out and there’s not that much difference. However, as I mentioned in the Tears of a Clown article, some people have emotional jokers up their sleeves which often reinforces the stereotypical views.