Finding a balance between work and family
So many people struggle anymore to balance spending time at their job and with their families. And its not just women. Just a few days ago Darren Rowse from Problogger made the following comment at Plurk:
problogger is wondering how to strike a balance between being an available father to a toddler (who knows where he is in his study) and getting work done
For those in academic science its much worse. Especially for women. There have been a few discussions about this in the blogosphere recently: Does Academe Hinder Parenthood?, A few thoughts on female academics and children and How hard do academics with kids really have it compared to the rest of the working world?
Based on what I saw in graduate school I have to agree that it is very difficult. The department I was in had only one female faculty member, she had no children and it was pretty obvious she wasn’t going to. I only knew of one female graduate student who had a child, she was Chinese and her child lived in China and was being raised by grandparents. She likely only saw her child once a year, if that. I knew a guy in graduate school whose wife got pregnant, he was afraid to let his graduate adviser know.
For women its pretty much impossible to have kids while in graduate school or doing a post-doc, or while trying to get tenure. If everything goes smoothly and you can get tenure at all you will be in your late 30’s and it may be too late to have kids. It tends to be easier for men, they can work the long hours and have a wife that stays at home or has a non-demanding job.
As much as I love science, its pathetic how anti-family and sexist the academic environment is. In the links above some readers even left the following comments:
“When I serve on a hiring committee or select graduate students to work in my lab, I don’t want any with children.”
“Those who choose this profession like it, and should not have babies”
What is the solution? I don’t know. But at some point the academic environment needs to change, move into the 21st century and let people live full lives - both men and women.
June 11, 2008
Equal Pay Act anniversary
Yesterday - June 10 - was the 45th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act — the law that made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform equal work. I meant to blog about it yesterday, but got overwhelmed and forgot. It was signed by President Kennedy back in 1963.
Even now women still only earn 77 cents to the dollar so these wage laws really need to be strengthened. Several bills have been introduced repeatedly — including the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act — Congress still hasn’t stepped up to the plate. Also the Senate still hasn’t passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have a major impact on the lives of women who’ve been subject to pay discrimination.
Maybe with a new president things will get better next year? Lets hope so!
More information:
Ledbetter bill
Fact sheet on equal pay
Contact your Senator about the Ledbetter bill
May 13, 2008
Please tell me that there are not women this stupid!
Really. Is this real? Could there really be people this stupid? Are there really women this stupid? If so, we still have a really long ways to go!
If you can’t see the video - a brief summary: the woman thinks Europe is a country, is not sure if France is a country or not. Never mind that she doesn’t know what country Budapest is the capitol of.
April 18, 2008
Gender Equality - We’re Not There Yet
Today is Blog for Equal Pay Day.
Women in the United States are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. And for women of color, the numbers are even worse. African-American women earn 63 cents and Latinas earn 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
What can we do about this situation? At Feministing it is explained that we should take a few minutes and ask our Senators to pass the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
But it goes beyond that.
This past week PalMD blogged about how some people think letting women go to medical school is a waste: “Now imagine you are sitting in the doctors’ lounge, and a senior physician says that sending women to medical school is a bit of a waste.”
And how might this affect those of us who aren’t interested in attending medical school anyway? PalMD continues:
“As a society and a profession, we have to decide to take the role of women seriously. If we demean women’s role in our profession, we may be more likely to demean our female patients and family members. ”
A good discussion follows in the comments.
Other good ways to start fixing this problem would be to make sure women are getting adequate science educations. According to the NSF’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2008 report we aren’t doing very well with that. Basic science questions were asked and women tended to do much worse than men.
Correct answers to basic scientific questions by percent:
The center of the Earth is very hot. (True)
Male 85
Female 75
Electrons are smaller than atoms. (True)
Male 61
Female 48
Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth? (Earth around Sun)
Male 82
Female 71
How long does it take for the Earth to go around the Sun? Sun: one day, one month, or one year? (One year)
Male 66
Female 46
Why do women not do as well? Maybe older women didn’t have as many educational opportunities when they were young and then were less able to teach their daughters basic concepts like these. We can’t expect to be able to compete as well with men in the workplace if we don’t make sure that young women are learning even the most basic of information about the world around them.
There is a great discussion at The Intersection about Sheril R. Kirshenbaum’s post about this: Is Our Children Learning? (maybe not)
Other women writing about Equal Pay Day include:
Cecelia at Ojibway Migisi Bineshii
Veronica at Viva La Feminista
Lindsay at Female Impersonator
Jess at Pink Wave Feminism
Jill at Writes Like She Talks
April 3, 2007
Why do we still need feminism?
tigtog at “Finally, a Feminism 101 blog” asked “Why do we still need feminism?“. Here are some of the most recent reasons that pop into my mind:
- Feministing.com: “A judge in Germany refused to give a woman who was being beaten by her husband a speedy divorce because Muslim women should be accustomed to abuse.”
- Feministing.com: “A woman was walking down the street, and chose to ignore the catcalls some asshole was yelling at her as he drove past. Apparently he thought he was so entitled to her attention that he turned the truck around and ran her over.”
- Bush v Choice.com: “A bill approved in the South Carolina House this week would force women to see a fetal ultrasound before they have abortions.”
- Pharyngula overheard in a store: “You’re a girl. And girls shouldn’t read big books like that. It’s too thick. Boys don’t like girls who read thick books. You want boys to like you, don’t you?”
- Feministing.com: “Two months pregnant and bleeding, Yanira Then says she went to a clinic in her low-income Santo Domingo neighborhood, where her doctor said she had suffered a miscarriage. Then was still in her hospital gown that February morning when her doctor’s office was stormed by police, prosecutors and television news cameras. Accused of having had an abortion, Then, a 27-year-old law student, was arrested along with two other patients, the nurses and her physician. She faces 3 to 10 years in prison. “
April 20, 2006
Improvement for Saudi women possible within the confines of Wahhabism?
I had a difficult time finding any women’s health news worth blogging about today and I ended up spending a lot of time reading an interview called Saudi Women: Breaking the Chains. It was from back in February but was still very interesting and worth reading if you haven’t seen it yet.
The person being interviewed is Moudhy Al-Rashid, a woman from Saudi Arabia who is going to school at Columbia University. She obviously is concerned about women’s rights, but seems content to work within the framework of Saudi law’s to better the position of women. It seems to me that much bigger changes will be needed if women in that country will ever be treated even close to equal to men.
Moudhy Al-Rashid doesn’t seem to want to admit that women in Saudi Arabia are victims, even though all women there are prevented from exercising even the most basic of rights.
I have to wonder is she defending Saudi laws and sharia because she is afraid to do otherwise? It is even safe for a Saudi women, even while in the US, to be interviewed on a web site and speak out againstSaudi laws and sharia?
The interview is divided over two pages, so be sure to click the link at the bottom of the page to see the second part. The comments are interesting also.
I should point out that the site the interview is on seems, at a glance anyway, to express a very conservative viewpoint which in general does not reflect my own views. I tended to side with the interviewer in this case though.
April 18, 2006
Blog to Raise Awareness About Sexual Violence
I’m really not sure what to write about today for this, but I really want to participate because it is such an important issue.I haven’t personally been a victim of any sort of sexual violence, and have never talked to anyone has who has been about their experiences.
I only know that crimes like rape scare me to death. And I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why so many men are so violent, in general, and especially towards women.
I’m especially horrified by the type of violence many women, mostly in non-western countries, have to experience regularly.
These include: female genital mutilation - which is just so horrible to even think about on even a superficial level; dowry murder - 15,000 dowry deaths estimated to take place each year in India; honour killings - where members of a woman’s own family kills her because she was a victim of rape and much more.
In many cases the violence seems to reflect a general lack of men even considering women to be real people, but instead just a piece of property they can do what they want with. Or mutilating women’s bodies so that they either become somewhat helpless (as in foot binding) or unable to experience normal pleasurable feelings. Or they involve women’s virginity or the possible lack of it.
So what causes this horrible behavior in men and what can be done about it?
It seems to take place all over the world - or at least has in the past - so it is hard to blame it on any particular religion or culture.
One possible cause - which may not be a popular one - is that men (not all, but most) are just naturally violent and aggressive. Can they change? I think so - I certainly hope so. I have no idea how.
Or maybe we are just still too primitive a species. Violent and aggressive behaviors are maybe part of our evolutionary past that we still need to confront, learn about and move beyond.
Or maybe in general, we are just a violent species. Maybe if there is intelligent life in the universe somewhere they are avoiding us because we are so primitive and violent. I wouldn’t blame them if that is the case.
And still, women all over the world are sufferering due to violence perpetrated against them everyday.
March 8, 2006
International Women’s Day/Blog against Sexism Day!
Today is International Women’s Day and also Blog against Sexism Day!
For International Women’s Day I started a new section on my site about women’s history and issues.
I decided to participate in the Blog against Sexism Day a while back - so now is the time for to do my blog post against sexism.
But what should I write about? I’ve been pondering this all day. Some news stories I saw about International Women’s Day discussed all the progress women have made so far. I don’t feel like making some positive things-are-all-better now posts. I’d rather be more negative, as there is still a long ways to go.
I see where Chantel is doing a ‘how have I experience sexism in my personal life’ type of post. I don’t really feel like examining my life at the moment and reliving any sexism that I’ve experienced.
I spent quite a few hours today reading news stories about International Women’s Day as well as other blog posts about the current state of women.
I now finally and clearly understand that we in the US are living in an ‘oppressive misogynist theocracy’. (Thanks for Twisty for this realization.
The current story in the US that illustrates this point so very convincingly is that South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation this past Monday to make forced pregnancies legal. (Otherwise known as making it illegal to have an abortion in that state unless the woman’s life is in danger.)
Which means that a woman raped through incest would be forced t o give birth to her sister, niece, etc.
And worse yet was the comments made by SD state senator Bill Napoli on NewsHour discussing the only circumstances in which he thinks an exception should be made:
“A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”
So apparently to him if a woman is not a virgin or religious she’s not been traumatized enough to be able to avoid a forced pregnancy. Once again any woman who is not a virgin is a slut who deserves whatever happens to her.
He also seems to be saying that its her loss of virginity that is really an issue, not her well being.While in the US we live in country with forced pregnancies and state-owned uteruses - we also have a so called ‘religious leader’ like Pat Robertson who calls feminism a “socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
Elsewhere in the world 583 million women are illiterate - 66.7% of the 876 million worldwide who are illiterate.In Afghanistan, as an example, the literacy rate among women is 14 percent and more than half of young women there are married before they are 16.
In Libya women who are raped get sent to prison indefinitely.
An average of 5 women in India are killed each day in ‘accidental’ kitchen fires because dowry payments have not been met or considered good enough.
Female genital mutilation, honor killings - the list goes on.
When will it end? Or will it?
March 1, 2006
Women’s History Month!
It is Women’s History Month and the 8th is International Womens Day! I have been planning some special features for the site for it.
Why do we need to remember women’s history and issues?
Because many women before us struggled for many years just to have the right to vote, to be able to own property and to have many other basic rights.
And because even now in many parts of the world women still do not have the basic rights that all people are entitled to.
In India some women are still burned to death because the groom’s family didn’t think her dowry was good enough. Many women who have been raped in middle eastern and persian gulf countries are killed by their family to ‘preserve the family’s honor’. And female genital mutilation is still common in some African countries.
We represent half the population - and yet many of us still have a long ways to go before we will be treated as equals to men.
Please spend some time this month appreciating the rights you do have and thinking of ways to improve the conditions for women elsewhere. If you have a blog, the 8th is also ‘Blog Against Sexism Day’ - for more information see: Blog Against Sexism Day.
