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We are conditioned to glorify women for multitasking. This glorification only puts pressure on them to be the 'perfect woman.'
We are conditioned to glorify women for multitasking. This glorification only puts pressure on them to be the ‘perfect woman.’
She is a superwoman, she is a juggler, she is a flower bestowed with femininity, she is fire vested with grit. And she is everything that beautifies!
She is a mother, sister, daughter, wife, aunt, teacher, caretaker and what not!
Multitasking is an ability to do various tasks at a single point of time. Our brains play a major role in multitasking. It is directly linked with productivity as some believe multitasking improves productivity while the rest disagree with it. There is always a debate around it as multitasking can possibly reduce the focus on one particular task.
It is widely believed that women are multitaskers. While it is perceived as praise for women, it is a label to dump more work on women. Various studies have shown results that say women are no different from men when it comes to multitasking.
Media as a powerful weapon has propagated the idea of women being better at multitasking. It is a conscious effort to put the pressure conveniently on women to juggle between various tasks and responsibilities. It is seen as an excuse to expect women to handle various tasks.
Glorifying women for doing chores is mental conditioning. Society puts the pressure on women to live up to the expectations as the perfect woman. Women are denied resting intervals under various circumstances and they are expected to work round the clock without complaining.
Various chores done by women are often unnoticed, unpaid and unaccounted. Gender-based roles are changing largely but women are still expected to do ‘extra work’ and do it all and fulfil the unending family needs.
Multitasking has taken a toll on women’s mental health. They are often pushed to do the work and are made to feel guilty if they are unable to handle it all. It is mere stereotyping that makes us believe that women are good at multitasking. There is little to no data available to support the claims of women being better multitaskers than men.
No human being is born with superpowers. It is continued efforts, prioritising, planning and switching between tasks that make a person good at multitasking. And it is a skill which can be acquired by any human being.
Government and organizations should create policies where gender equality can thrive. Let’s stop praising women as born multitaskers. Bust the myth that women are superheroes and are good at multitasking.
A version of this was published here.
Picture credits: Still from MTR’s ad on YouTube
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The plight of Indian women's mental health often goes unnoticed. Co-founders Vivek Satya Mitram and Pooja Priyamvada conceived the idea of the Bharat Dialogues Women & Mental Health Summit to address this.
Trigger Warning: This contains descriptions of mental health trauma and suicide, and may be triggering for survivors.
Author’s note: The language and phraseology used are not the author’s words but the terms and narrative popularly used for people living with mental illnesses, and may feel non-inclusive. It is merely for putting our point across better.
I have seen how horrifying was the treatment given to those with mental illness.
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