According to Jenifer Wissman, The gradual downtrend in U.S.
workforce participation by women with children suggests an inevitable
disconnect between newborns and professional performance. But what if
employers treated women with newborns like this?
SYRACUSE,
N.Y. (WOMENSENEWS)--There's been a gradual downtrend among U.S. women
with children dropping out of the workforce. Presumably that's due in
part to the way workplaces and babies just don't get along.
But
if the employer decides to value the mother, that doesn't have to be
the case. I discovered this in a very pleasant way during a two-week
graduate school stint in Germany.
My professor Rachel
Rosenstock is not only a linguist, but also a mother. Her newest baby,
Yaron, had been born just a few weeks before the start of our "block
seminar," an intensive on-site set of classes where we met with our
professors and classmates, as opposed to the online format we use for
most of the semester.
Despite that, the university kept her on our schedule for three days, allowing Yaron to be in the classroom with us.
She
did a brilliant job lecturing with her baby on her shoulder. And no one
thought it strange. Her fellow lecturer, Jens Hessmann, a male
colleague who is senior to her, was incredibly helpful, holding Yaron
for her at times and walking him out in the hallway if he was crying.
I
was astounded! What supervisor in the United States would enable one of
his professors to teach by helping to care for her baby?
Also,
when we were doing research in groups, Rosenstock was always available
to answer our questions and assist us. Another colleague of hers, a man
who was working as our international sign interpreter, also took a turn
caring for Yaron so that Rosenstock could have her hands free to assist
us.
When Yaron was hungry, Rosenstock simply nursed the
baby at her desk in the front of the classroom while we did our work.
Amazing!
For me, this was the most beautiful and wholesome picture of a woman I have ever encountered. I will not soon forget it.
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