A Baby Book

As anyone moving on to graduate study must think about -- I think about raising a family while working in academia, whether that means while I'm studying or while I'm working as a prof (hehe, we'll see if I make it there, eh?).

I can remember even in my first year, I asked a TA (who was a returning MA student from Windsor) whether children had been something she was considering before she went on to her PhD. Of course, I got the same-old same-old response that I always get from academics "Oh, I don't want to have children, at least not yet. I want to have a career, and get tenure before I worry about families -- ya gotta have a job first."

Well, now.

Even then, I thought "Man, am I really cut out for this?"

I think with all these graduate applications, I've been thinking about this more and more. Women have a serious biological clock thing to think about -- Undergrad=4 years, plus an MA=1-2 years plus a PhD=3-4+ years of steady work... that's anywhere between 8 and 10 years. Let's say you're 29 when you get Dr. in front of your name, which would be pretty reasonable, and a lot of hard work. Then there's trying to get into a department as more than a sessional lecturer. Let's say that you have a job by the time you're 30 -- that in no way means you're tenure track.

This Baby Book really opened my eyes about women professors who are trying to get maternity leave at their university. I really liked hearing the testimonies from the women themselves, and if you get a chance read them.

At UPEI, they offer 20 weeks leave without pay to be reimbursed employer’s share of premiums on return to work, and 35 weeks of leave without pay (on top of the government's maternity leave EI, from what I can tell). I love the fact that Canada has one-year of maternity/paternity leave which allows either parent to take up to a year off, and there is the opportunity to split it (Mom has 6 months, Dad has 6 months).

Speaking of Mom and Dad sharing the responsibility -- I'd also like to draw your attention to this section about twins. One professor became pregnant with twins and she was able to get some time off. However, her husband, who was a chair of a department at the time, was only offered unpaid leave for 6 weeks. They were dividing the care of their two new babies 50-50, but were not allowed equal leave. A little sexist? I think so. If feminists and everyone in today's world are screaming for shared responsibility and equal pay for both sexes, why do universities (and other workplaces) enforce the idea that there always a "primary care giver"?