Mothers at Work Are Canaries in the Mine

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http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102405WA.shtml

 

Mothers at Work Are Canaries in the Mine

By Charlotte Fishman

Women's eNews

 

Monday 24 October 2005

 

Working mothers may be shortchanged, off-balance and fun-deprived,

but Charlotte Fishman says they are also at the forefront of another

dynamic social movement. Too bad a recent front-page New York Times

article missed that angle.

 

Elana Back was denied tenure as a school psychologist because her

superiors " presumed that she, as a young mother, would not continue to

demonstrate the necessary devotion to her job, and indeed that she

could not maintain such devotion while at the same time being a good

mother. " She sued them.

 

In Back v. Hastings on Hudson Union Free School District, the

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York in 2004 held that

stereotyping mothers is a form of gender discrimination.

 

So why are some young women at Yale still mouthing this pernicious

stereotype-laden platitude on the Sept. 20 edition of The New York Times?

 

Yes, I'm talking about that story that The Times chose to run on

its front page a few weeks ago in which young women at a top Ivy said

they didn't think that devotion to work and children was truly possible.

 

At the end of his career, even the late Chief Justice William

Rehnquist-not known for his staunch defense of women's

rights-recognized the need to overcome stereotypes about women's

domestic roles. He said such stereotypes perpetuate " a self-fulfilling

cycle of discrimination that . . . fostered employers' stereotypical

views about women's commitment to work and their value as employees. "

 

So why are some young women at Yale so ready to throw in the towel

before they even place their toes in the water?

 

Could it be because they've been watching what happens to women

who choose careers in academia and other demanding jobs?

 

Shortchanged and Off-Balance

 

Mothers at work are canaries in the mine. Anyone watching a mother

attempt to handle a demanding professional job is likely to be awed at

the tremendous expenditure of energy that goes into creating some

balance between the needs of family and the needs of work.

 

They are also likely to see how shortchanged the woman's own needs

are, and how she is frequently sleep-deprived or exercise-deprived or

fun-deprived.

 

No wonder some young women say, " I'll step off the train, thank

you, once I have children. "

 

Next Monday, Oct. 24, is Take Back Your Time Day, celebrating

(ironically) the 65th anniversary of the enactment of the 40-hour work

week.

 

One of the slogans-meant for workers of all kinds everywhere-is,

" Medieval peasants worked less than you do. "

 

It's this status quo, the one that makes it literally impossible

for mothers to have careers without becoming sleep-deprived stress

junkies, that prompts fantasies of escape to domestic life.

 

Thankfully, this " status quo " is anything but static.

 

There is an emerging social consensus that society cannot continue

to absorb the social cost of parents working full time when " full

time " is defined as 80 hours a week.

 

Forming New Type of Community

 

Increasingly, both men and women seek a world in which the

spurious community of overwork yields to a genuine community

supporting the common welfare. This community leaves time for school

volunteerism, home-cooked meals and exercise, for nurturing

friendships and following personal pursuits and for political

participation.

 

This is not just for the professional elite. It's on the agenda of

unions representing blue-collar workers as well. Recently, the Labor

Project for Working Families published a family-friendly handbook, " A

Job and a Life: Organizing and Bargaining for Work Family Issues. "

 

We are in the middle of a major, dislocating social transformation.

 

Having fought and won the battle of the 1960s-equality of access

to education and employment-and the battle the 1970s-legal protection

against pregnancy discrimination-working women are at the forefront of

another dynamic social movement, one that seeks work-family balance.

 

They are making headway. Large and influential employers

nationwide, including the University of California, are experimenting

with family-friendly policies to gain a competitive edge in the market

for skilled workers.

 

Case of Professor Laurie Freeman

 

Which brings us to the case of Professor Laurie Freeman.

 

Freeman, a gifted political scientist at University of California,

Santa Barbara with an impressive resume, was turned down for tenure

when she first applied.

 

Before having children she received stellar reviews. Afterward,

her department became increasingly critical of her research and

productivity.

 

She was unable to convince the chancellor that " doubts " about her

scholarly work were linked to the university's violations of its own

policies, so she filed a novel charge of " sex plus " discrimination-the

" plus " in this case being motherhood and parental leave-with the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission.

 

On June 20, 2005, she was awarded tenure by the chancellor,

retroactive to 2004. On Sept. 6, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission issued a rare determination in her favor.

 

Freeman's personal struggle for tenure illustrates the continuing

relevance of the mantra of the women's movement of the '60s: " The

personal is political. "

 

On the one hand, she was fortunate to be able to make use of " The

UC Faculty Family Friendly Edge " initiative, a collection of policies

designed to ensure that no faculty member would be disadvantaged by

having a family as well as a career. These policies include guaranteed

stop-the-tenure-clock leaves for male and female parents which were

designed to lighten the publish-or-perish pressures on younger professors.

 

On the other hand, policies do not enforce themselves. Freeman

fought a long and lonely battle to overcome the resulting backlash of

unfavorable comparison with others who had not taken family leaves.

 

Disparate treatment of workers who take advantage of

family-friendly policies is a problem. But when federal agencies and

courts find discrimination in outdated stereotypes, we are well on our

way to eliminating the culture of bias that prevents mothers from

thriving at work.

 

It's exciting to struggle for a status quo that enlarges the

possibilities for family life and civic life, community and work.

 

It's hard to see how a young woman would not be energized to join

in, if she were made aware of what's happening. Wouldn't it be nice if

she got to read about it on the front page of The New York Times?

 

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Charlotte Fishman is executive director of Pick Up the Pace, a

nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify and eliminate

barriers to women's advancement in the workplace. She is an employment

attorney specializing in academic tenure discrimination and

represented Laurie Freeman before the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission. She can be reached at cfishman.

 

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