To be fair, it includes people caring for elderly parents/relatives, which most face at some point in their lives. Especially with the baby boomer generation aging, this is a topic no longer limited to people with children.
Hopefully that could steer the conversation past the inevitable "Well, you didn't have to have kids, and you just don't want to work as hard as I do" argument. We all had parents at some point and can't made to feel guilty about that, right? Right?........ -Christa _____________________________________________________________________________________ Christa Zweig Post Doctoral Associate Box 110485, Bldg 810 Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611.0485 352-870-4132 (phone) 352-846-0841 (fax) http://www.wec.ufl.edu/postdoc/zweig/ ________________________________________ From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [[email protected]] on behalf of Michael Clary [[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 22:47 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Anti-singles discrimination? Re: [ECOLOG-L] Career - Life Balance supplements to NSF awards We are all much too busy managing our work and families, parents no longer own that distinction. To the degree that parenthood has been an informed choice for the average postdoc for some time, my modest proposal would be to make this opportunity available to any early career scientist who has made a personal decision that was reasonably certain to compete with their professional career. Michael -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David L. McNeely Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 4:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Anti-singles discrimination? Re: [ECOLOG-L] Career - Life Balance supplements to NSF awards Dossey, indeed you do have a life. But with no spouse and no kids, you have no basis for understanding what those who do have kids face in managing to work while managing their families. It is a great loss to science for them to drop out of work, or to have to miss work in order to care for children. This isn't money to hire a baby sitter. It is to allow the working parent a little time off in the early stages of parenthood, while keeping the NSF project he or she has committed to going by hiring a temporary replacement. Not having children, you would not face that concern, and thus would not have that expense. This is sort of like a lot of things going on in society right now. You oppose something that has no effect on you. In Europe, new parents get extended leave. I do not know how that is worked out for ongoing projects. Here, I do know that new parents working at enlightened institutions that provide family leave have found that even with taking the leave, they still had to work in order to keep a project going. They just didn't get paid, and they still had the problems of providing for their family to be cared for. ---- "Aaron T. Dossey" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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_2 > > 5&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 -- David McNeely
