I agree.. I do not have any children.. Because I can't afford the time for them. Kudos to the parents who do it. It is a lot of work.. I have friend with children and it exhausts me everytime just to see the astronomical effort that goes into it. Europe is much friendlier to having children. Wish it was the case here as well.. It's about time.
People without children just cannot claim they know what it's like. Raj Kamthe On Jul 7, 2013, at 4:37 AM, Dhenshel <[email protected]> wrote: Aaron - you speak out of complete ignorance. First - there still is bias in the ivory tower wrt pay. Men with a family still may get better pay raises because "they need the money because they are supporting a family," while women in some instances are still told that they are only providing supplemental income. This despite that the woman may be divorced; there is still an (often wrong) assumption that divorced women are getting support from their ex-spouses. Imagine having your job, having to take care of children, and being single, whether man (there are some in that situation) or women (many more women in that situation). Everyone wants to "have a life" and everyone needs to feed, clothe, and house themselves and so have to take care of the corresponding chores that go along with taking care of basic needs. (Do you really think clothes start to wash themselves just because you have children? Quite the opposite occurs, of course, all the basic chores multiply in size and time consumption.) You have no concept of how time consuming children are, in addition to the increased feeding/ cooking, clothes washing, and general cleaning requirements. In the beginning, kids just take time, tons and tons of time, all too often in the middle of the night. So anyone with young children is running on little to no sleep either sometimes or regularly, and job demands do not adjust accordingly. Then there is schooling. In some places just finding a school takes time, research, appointments, testing (yes, even to get into pre-school requires testing in some cities). Once the kids are in school, it may shock you but kids need help with homework. In fact, for my kids, we were required to do edits on their papers when they were in elementary and middle school. I doubt that requirement is unusual. And any school project needs planning and usually shopping for supplies, not to mention the not so occasional third and fourth hand during gluing. Then, unless you want your kid to be babysat by the TV, there's activities to be gone to (varies by kid's inclinations, but includes sports, ballet or gymnastics or art or...you name it, kids are doing it). These again take time, carpooling, watching, encouraging (all kids need encouragement and advising), and more shopping for equipment or uniforms or... something associated with activities. On top of those time demands, children need emotional nurturing, advising, loving, and just being with. Children are not emotionally nurtured from the other end of a computer screen while you write you next paper, grant or book. Nurturing takes face to face interaction, and dedicated time, at least some time daily until they are on their own. For many women, the decision comes down to where they want to spend their time. Is it more important to fight an uphill battle within the system and have less time for your family, or is it more important to raise the next generation in a country that poorly supports families (unlike most European countries, at least), often in isolation from a familial support network since we go where the jobs are and rarely find jobs close to the family home. For us, our family and our jobs must be our life for the two decades or so that we raise children. "Having a life" is something we can resume once we are empty nesters. Diane Henshel Sent from my iPad On Jul 5, 2013, at 12:58, Amanda Newsom <[email protected]> wrote: > I hesitate to respond to stuff like this on Ecolog, but must voice my > support of Alia and Emily. It is NOT easier to have a family than to be > single in academia. I say this as a childless, single person. My > colleagues with families face challenges of the sort I simply do not, and > particularly women with families face discrimination in addition to the > discrimination they face just being women. > > Again, while having a family within academia is something I have not > experienced, it is an issue that is close to my heart because I have seen > very negative consequences to the status quo of NOT affording extra > consideration to those academics with families. I have seen it lose the > academy excellent people, particularly women, when small changes could have > helped retain them. In this age, in this political climate, the academy > needs to increase its intellectual capital, not continue to drive it away. > > > On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 8:11 AM, Alia T <[email protected]> wrote: > >> So an attempt to correct the institutionalized discrimination against women >> in professional positions having children is discrimination against >> child-free people? Then I suppose you can extend the argument that being >> single with no children is a decision you've made with full knowledge of >> its potential negative effects on your career. >> >> On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 9:59 PM, 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_25&WT.mc_ev=click< >> http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13109/nsf13109.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click >>> >>>>> htt**p://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://allthingsbugs.com/about/people/> >>> http://www.facebook.com/**Allthingsbugs< >> http://www.facebook.com/Allthingsbugs> >>> https://www.facebook.com/**InvertebrateStudiesInstitute< >> https://www.facebook.com/InvertebrateStudiesInstitute> >>> 1-352-281-3643 > > > > -- > Amanda Newsom > > ``Life shrinks or expands according to one's courage'' -- Anais Nin
