Working Moms Multitask More Than Dads — and Like It Less

Women — especially working mothers — are the ultimate multitaskers, but they're not too happy about it. There's now empirical evidence in the December issue of the American Sociological Review that underpins the notion that working moms are juggling multiple roles at once — and having a pretty lousy time doing so.



"This helps explain why women feel more burdened than men," says Shira Offer, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at Bar Ilan University in Israel. "It's related not just to amount but to their experience when they multitask."

Both parents reported multitasking at work more than at home, where it was a negative experience, hands down. The study's most dramatic, if not unexpected, finding is that mothers multitask more often than fathers when they do housework – doing dishes while making dinner, for example — and they feel stressed and conflicted about it.     Read More