WOMEN AND THEIR MULTITASKING CHARM!

 Apart from Terrorism, a supercharged word, that beat it to a second position, Multitasking is the new word (in my own view and by my own reckoning) on the lips of young and upwardly mobile corporate individuals. Anywhere you go in the corporate world and marketplaces, it is Multitasking! - a new word that has relegated division of labour to the background and has given juggling of different tasks at the same time, a pride of place. You hear it in the board room when Directors and Management are planning about how to optimize efficiency using the cutting-edge technological approach. The same word finds its way stealthily into the bedroom when couples are marshaling plans for increased growth and production (whatever that means!!). It is Multitasking all the way!

I tried to look for the actual meaning of the 'vexed' word (Multitasking) and I discovered that, etymologically it originated in the computer engineering industry. It was used to refer to the ability of a microprocessor to apparently process several tasks simultaneously. But the computer word has been embraced not only by the tech savvy business world who sees it as "the art of being able to switch back and forth from one job or task to another repeatedly " (Dr Samjay Gupta) but also by the indigenous housewives who simply see it as "the ability to do several things at the same time".

Employers of labour wield this newfangled corporate vocabulary (Multitasking) to poisonous effect with the way they, for instance, task their staffs (mostly females) to function as secretaries, receptionists, personal assistants to the M.D and marketers of company's products (when they are off duty). Also, applicants these days are expected to include the word Multitasking in the "skills and abilities" section of their resumes, failing which, their days in the labour market would be without end.

Numerous researches and studies have shown the dangers of Multitasking . But it is beyond my pay grade and my brain power to begin to pontificate about its fatal danger to the brain and the toll it might be taking on the economy. I really must admit I am not expert enough to discuss all of those. Besides they are not the subjects of this article.

However, what really caught my attention is the way and manner the womenfolk have elevated Multitasking to an art form. Don't be surprised that the lady you are chatting with on Facebook or Yahoo Messenger or Skype is also breastfeeding, sending out an email, chopping vegetables (without cutting her fingers), and watching "Desperate Housewife"- all at the same time. Gosh! It is amazing how they do all of those, with just two hands, without losing concentration! Frankly, I reserve a special place of adulation for all ladies who would have to juggle a frenetic workday with an equally chaotic home life and having not a hair out of place, at the end of the day! For me it is a feat! 

And, if you are a man out there, you think this is no big deal, I challenge you to try talking on the phone, send your buddy a fax, change your baby wet diaper, get your toddler girl some snack and monitor what your school-aged boys are watching on television - all at the same time - and see what I am talking about.

Of course, just like everything else, science has some explanations for this phenomenon. It says women are capable of using both hemispheres of the brains at the same time, while men can only use one. It goes further to say, the back part of the Corpus Callosum is larger in women, hence there is better communication between the  two hemispheres in their brains. So, that explains why women are able to focus on a number of different things at one time and men are only able to concentrate for longer periods of time on one task (and do it better than women)? Well, that is one thorny question I really would like the womenfolk to brace up and answer. 

Nevertheless, in my own subjective view, the explanation provided by science lends credence to the reason why men always see the big picture (Vision) while the womenfolks are only concerned with the basic details. Hmm, I know that viewpoint won't wash with a lot of the 21st century modern ladies out there. But before they go beady-eyed and wrinkle their made-up faces; before they clench their beautifully manicured fists and charge at me like a feral cat, they should  just pick up any science textbooks - Physics, Mathematics, chemistry, etc - or medical textbooks, and they would discover to their chagrin that most theorems, principles and discoveries are overwhelmingly named after men!

Does that now mean guys are better than gals? Hell no!!! As a matter of fact without women and their multitasking magic, men are nothing but mere basket-cases; a large mass of disaster going somewhere to happen!!! Just like an architect cannot say he has no need of builders (men are architects, women are builders), no man in his correct state of mind would scorn at a woman or despised her nimble and multitasking fingers, which keep the earth in its orbit! 
Women are just wonderful!!!

ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI