Is deep work gendered?
Deep Work by Cal Newport explores how we work in an ‘always on’ world.
Newport makes the case that our attention spans have been shattered by a bombardment of incoming messages. Uninterrupted time = quality work. He proposes that we manage these distractions ruthlessly and train ourselves to rediscover the superpower of true concentration.
But…
I’ve discussed his approach in workshops and am struck by different responses, often grouped by gender.
Men are more likely to say something like, “Sure, I don’t have a word for it but I just ignore all messages for a while when I need to get something done”.
Women are more likely to say “I could NEVER do that”, citing two reasons:
I’m the communication lynchpin of our household and am always on call for the nursery, school, GP, vet, our parents, and anyone else who might need to contact us urgently. Turning off my phone, even for short periods, is not an option.
It’s expected by my boss and their boss and my team and clients that I’m always available to answer their messages. It would be damaging to my career not to.
So I went back to Deep Work to explore the issue and noticed how few women are cited as examples. A rough count up from the index points to 73 male sources and 9 women (apologies if I misgendered anyone based on names).
It’s got me wondering: could it be that part of the gender pay gap isn’t just total hours or the stigma of flexibility or assumptions about ambition but also the quality of parent and carer concentration being diminished by the demands of others. (Which would of course mean that men who are carers have the same issues.)
And/or that women are more likely to be socialised to feel the pressure to respond to requests for their attention immediately.
Tell me what you think.
(txt / email / video / tweet)
I may not get back to you immediately as I have two kids off school because their bubbles burst, plus a COVID cliche of a new puppy called Monty (after my Twitter followers rejected Gilbert out of hand, did no one read Anne of Green Gables?), and am waiting for call backs from the NHS, the vet, and bloody DPD. 😡
But on the upside this week, here’s to the amazing vaccine and Professor Sarah Gilbert who designed it using her ‘steely’ powers of focus. She has triplets: as she tells it, her husband sacrificed his career to care for them.
-Christine x
