Have you met the New Man? A product of the enormous social change that is taking place ? he is the one who no longer thinks it is infradig and against convention to shoulder his share of the domestic chores. But where does this leave him? Stressed out and overcome by an overwhelming sense of helplessness and inadequacy. According to psychiatrists, he suffers from the Atlas syndrome, named after the Titan from Greek mythology who carries the world on his shoulders!
Not so the Old Mum. She goes to work, plans meals, buys food, cooks, does the washing, arranges everything to do with the kids, looks after grandparents and in-laws, and puts everyone?s needs before her own. She carries the world on her shoulders ? and an overloaded shopping bag on her arm. But she has never been diagnosed as suffering from the Atlas or any other syndrome.
There is a good reason for this. Women are grasshoppers and men are not! While women have an inbuilt propensity to do several things at once, effortlessly switching back and forth between different demands, men generally find it impossible to deal simultaneously with a complexity of jobs. You only have to observe the typical working woman to know this is true. She can change plans and schedules without missing a beat, making an instant switch between rolling out rotis to making a presentation. Deep in a project, she is still able to take in her stride the telephone call that reports a minor crisis at home.
I said that women were grasshoppers ? but perhaps it would be more accurate to call them jugglers. What working mothers excel at is keeping several balls in the air, changing the rhythm and pattern as different needs arise, without dropping a single one. I suspect that it is circumstances that have made working mothers superior jugglers. Apart from the fact that women have been trained in the art of juggling for centuries and long before they went out to work, there has more recently been an additional incentive to perfect this art. The need to consider the family at all times has given them the ability to detach themselves from work when necessary. Yet, at the same time, their actions are fuelled by a fierce ambition to prove themselves at work. Motivated by these dual priorities, they have learnt to become expert at doing several things at once.
To stay upright in the tornado of family life makes its own demands. To unravel and re-knit the day?s events, to adapt one?s lifestyle to constantly changing circumstances, and at the same time to succeed at work requires a special ability, an ability that working mothers perforce have had to acquire. Can one hope that, with their welcome change in attitude, working fathers will also soon learn the art of juggling?
