Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Maternity in the old boys' network

So angry! Kate is also an academic; indeed, also a reluctant one at that. In that sense, we're an ideal match.

In the department where she is a faculty member, there has never been a pregnant woman. It's the ultimate old boys' (and childless career women, a perfectly valid choice that I don't mean to criticize) network. As a result, they have never had to define a maternity leave policy. Her colleagues seem to be guilt-tripping her about taking maternity leave. She feels very pressured to accept teaching obligations, take a minimal amount of leave, and generally make herself available to students and staff during the time when she expects to be away (coincidentally, the due date falls in the middle of the university semester).

I find this so frustrating. The point of reference that I use as a comparison is, what if we were talking about a 6-month absence of one of the tenured greyhairs who was up for a sabbatical? If I had a farm, I'd bet it that there would not be a word about such an absence, the required redistribution of teaching duties among the other faculty, or the expectation on the absent faculty member to make him- or herself available to grad students.

It's an absolutely absurd double standard, and I feel terrible for Kate, because she really feels like her colleagues don't want her to succeed if she isn't 100% career-focused.

I called my employer's ombudsperson to ask how our university handled these cases. We'll see if anything constructive comes of that.

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