I hesitate to reply to this because I don't like the off-topic discussion threads that Ecolog posts can spawn. But the issue of fairness to all groups of ecologists is important.
As a single person, I have found postdocs to be great. Depending on local cost of living, pay ranges from adequate to quite comfortable, and we generally have few responsibilities apart our research. So, while a little extra help would always be great, I've never needed it. But...I have no dependents (apart from my dog). I suspect supporting TWO people (a couple, or a parent and child) on a single postdoc salary would be really tough. However, this NSF thing is not about salary, nor is it even specifically aimed at people with kids. The idea is to allow PI's to request a bit of extra money in case one of their postdocs has to take family leave. Family leave includes dealing with their parents' health emergencies - and even single people have adult relatives. The idea, presumably, is to help remove the hesitation PI's might have in hiring someone who MIGHT have to take family leave during their postdoc. And predicting who might or might not need to take family leave is tricky - after all, you don't know if your dad is going to have a heart attack - so anyone trying to predict it is likely to fall back on sterotypes (eg. women as caregivers). In summary, I don't see how this is unfair to single people at all. Emily Moran ________________________________________ From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [[email protected]] on behalf of Aaron T. Dossey [[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 6:59 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Anti-singles discrimination? Re: [ECOLOG-L] Career - Life Balance supplements to NSF awards Sounds like institutionalized discrimination against unmarried people without kids to me. But with nepotism (spousal hires, etc.) running rampant in the ivory tower, I don't expect better in academia. I wonder if I can get some funding to hire a maid or help with various things as such. I am not married and have no kids, but society forgets that people like me still have a LIFE. Some help with laundry and cleaning, maybe some errands now and then, would help me a lot to balance my LIFE and WORK. I don't like the direction this NSF thing is going at all. On 7/3/2013 11:01 PM, David Inouye wrote: > <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13109/nsf13109.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click>http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13109/nsf13109.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click > > > > Date: July 2, 2013 > > > BACKGROUND > > Instituted in 2012, NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative is an > ambitious, ten-year initiative that will build on the best of > family-friendly practices among individual NSF programs to expand them > to activities NSF-wide. This agency-level approach will help attract, > retain, and advance graduate students, postdoctoral students, and > early-career researchers in STEM fields. This effort is designed to > help reduce the rate at which women depart from the STEM workforce. > Further information on the CLB initiative may be found on the > Foundation's website. > > The primary emphasis of NSF's CLB initiative in FY 2012 was focused on > opportunities such as dependent-care issues (child birth/adoption and > elder care). These issues initially were addressed through NSF's > Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, where career-life > balance opportunities can help retain a significant fraction of early > career STEM talent. In FY 2013, the Foundation intends to further > integrate CLB opportunities through other programs such as the > Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and postdoctoral > fellowship programs, as well as expand opportunities such as dual > career-hiring through the Increasing the Participation and Advancement > of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) > program. Each of these opportunities will be described and implemented > separately. > > > PURPOSE > > The purpose of this DCL is to announce a gender neutral supplemental > funding opportunity for NSF research awardees that support > postdoctoral investigators. NSF recognizes that dependent care > responsibilities and other family considerations pose unique > challenges for postdoctoral researchers. > > Principal Investigators (PIs) of research awards are invited to submit > supplemental funding requests to support additional personnel (e.g., > research technicians or equivalent) to sustain research while the > postdoctoral researcher is on family leave. These requests may include > funding for up to 3 months of salary support, for a maximum of $12,000 > in salary compensation. The fringe benefits and associated indirect > costs may be in addition to the salary payment and therefore, the > total supplemental funding request may exceed $12,000. > > Special instructions for use by PIs and Sponsored Projects Offices in > preparation and submission of postdoctoral investigators-Life Balance > Supplemental Funding Requests are included as an attachment (see > below) to this DCL. > > Additional questions should be directed to the cognizant NSF program > director identified in the award notice. > > Sincerely, > > Wanda E. Ward > Office Head > Office of International & Integrative Activities ATD of ATB and ISI -- Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Founder/Owner: All Things Bugs Capitalizing on Low-Crawling Fruit from Insect-Based Innovation http://allthingsbugs.com/about/people/ http://www.facebook.com/Allthingsbugs https://www.facebook.com/InvertebrateStudiesInstitute 1-352-281-3643
