The art of multi-tasking? Wait for it...men are JUST as good as women!

By EIRIAN JANE PROSSER, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 00:47, 6 June 2026 | Updated: 00:58, 6 June 2026 When it comes to juggling everyday tasks, the received wisdom is that women wear the, er, trousers. But a study has now debunked this multi-tasking myth… at least up to a point. The research – by a married doctor couple at Brunel University – found that there is no difference between men’s and women’s ability to multi-task.  But, unlike men, women can do so while holding a conversation. The study saw 41 men and 37 women juggling the same four everyday tasks – including cooking and looking at a slide show – while being asked questions.  Both kept up with the physical demands of the tasks but more than a quarter of the men assessed failed to answer the questions, compared to just one in ten of the women. Dr Andre J Szameitat, deputy director of the Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at the university, said: ‘There has always been this suspicion that sex differences do exist when it comes to multi-tasking. But until now, they had not been identified.’ His wife, Dr Diana Szameitat, an honorary lecturer at Brunel’s Department of Psychology, added: ‘Through our work, we wanted to shed light on why a potential stereotype might have developed. The research found that there is no difference between men’s and women’s ability to multi-task ‘This reduced talkativeness among men could explain why males are likely to be rated as being worse at multi-tasking than women.’ Video footage of the participants was later judged by 80 neutral observers unaware of the study’s objectives. It showed male participants were less in control of what they were doing, performed worse, put less effort in and did not enjoy the tasks as much as the female participants. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.