ckrepel at post.its.mcw.edu
Wed Aug 10 15:34:48 EST 1994
Leslie Kay (lmk2 at garnet.berkeley.edu) wrote:
: So, why does it impact so greatly on women to have children in their careers? Is
: it really the case that the male spouses are either unwilling to
: help as much as is necessary to raise the children, or that all
: or most couples are both in high-powered careers?
Surveys appearing in newspapers and such indicate that it is still the female
spouse who does most of the housework and child care. I think that having
children is difficult for women professionls because they no longer have the
freedom to come to the lab at midnight to "feed the cells" or whatever.
Children complicate one's life immensely. A simple trip to the grocery
store becomes a question of whether she should wake the baby and take her
with, or try to find a sitter who doesn't need a ride to her house.
The kinds of hours (both number of hours and scheduling of same) make fitting
the day care schedule, parent-teacher conferences, dentist appointments
etc. into the schedule of meetings, experimental procedures, classes, etc.
very difficult. I think, also, that *some* male colleagues view these
dificulties as a lack of committment to the job. After all, they have wives
to take care of the home details. Female professionals don't have wives.
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