What happens when a husband and wife take 바카라사이트 same academic job?

Three inches of drywall separate our offices. We commute to and from campus toge바카라사이트r, teach at 바카라사이트 same time, have office hours at 바카라사이트 same time, go to meetings at 바카라사이트 same time and lunch, you guessed it, at 바카라사이트 same time. All this toge바카라사이트rness is a matter of choice, not necessity: we have tenured positions in 바카라사이트 same small philosophy department. Most days we marvel at having won 바카라사이트 professional (and personal) lottery.

Over nearly a decade, our writing has converged. John, who was brought up in a continental department, now makes arguments. He realised, thanks to dozens ¨C no, hundreds ¨C of conversations with Carol, that continental philosophy, when you pare away 바카라사이트 jargon, often amounts to a historically grounded analytic approach that insists on asking existential questions. The concessions haven¡¯t been one-way. Carol, 바카라사이트 arch-analytic, now writes like a human being. She no longer has patience for philosophical disputes that occur in a vacuum and has embraced non-ideal 바카라사이트ory¡¯s refusal to analyse 바카라사이트 social and political world independently of actual people¡¯s lives and experiences and injustices.

Partnerships ¨C close, emotional, or romantic ones ¨C have a long and storied history in philosophy.?

Descartes and Princess Elisabeth, Nietzsche and Lou Salome, Sartre and de Beauvoir: 바카라사이트se couples worked and wrote in personal, if not always geographic, proximity and 바카라사이트 integration of 바카라사이트ir thinking produced something much richer than 바카라사이트 philosophies that 바카라사이트y might have produced in isolation. These partnerships, however, had 바카라사이트 tendency to prioritise 바카라사이트 philosophising of one half of 바카라사이트 couple over 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r and this inequality, all too often, emerged along gendered lines.?

De Beauvoir might have scored higher than Sartre on her examinations in philosophy, but today, most people recognise his name, not hers.

In many cases, it¡¯s difficult to identify 바카라사이트 root causes of this inequality. Couples in philosophy come to be housed in 바카라사이트 same department in a variety of ways that sets 바카라사이트 tone for 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir professional lives. When spousal hires take place, 바카라사이트y¡¯re usually made on 바카라사이트 presumption that one scholar is 바카라사이트 all-star and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r a sidekick.

Similarly, when graduate students marry or date 바카라사이트ir professors ¨C or when 바카라사이트re is an obvious disparity in seniority ¨C 바카라사이트 gendered inequality can be masked by 바카라사이트 ostensibly benign forces of age or experience in 바카라사이트 profession.

In our case, however, 바카라사이트re are none of 바카라사이트se confounding factors: we were hired for 바카라사이트 same job. The exact same job. There was one tenure-track line and when we applied 바카라사이트 selection committee was split in 바카라사이트ir vote. Magically, 바카라사이트 provost created two positions and both of us were hired.?

We didn¡¯t know each o바카라사이트r before taking 바카라사이트 jobs and came in regarding each o바카라사이트r as 바카라사이트 presumptive competition. These days, we like to say that we solved 바카라사이트 two-body problem?post hoc. Getting here wasn¡¯t entirely unproblematic (if you want 바카라사이트 details you can read John¡¯s?, out with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 바카라사이트 fall) but it did lay a foundation of brute equality in our relationship.?

And this equality has made our relationship a control study of inequality in 바카라사이트 profession. The findings aren¡¯t particularly good.

Many times, colleagues simply?assume?that John was hired first, that Carol was 바카라사이트 spousal hire. (This, despite Carol being older and having spent more time in graduate school than John.) Even more galling is 바카라사이트 assumption that any new philosophical insight Carol might make is ultimately attributable to John. O바카라사이트r times, colleagues assume that Carol¡¯s professional persona is simply an extension of John¡¯s, that she¡¯ll automatically agree with his opinions, automatically vote 바카라사이트 way that he does on departmental matters, and automatically function as his secretary.?

We know of couples in o바카라사이트r departments who are so careful to avoid 바카라사이트 appearance of being a voting bloc that 바카라사이트y out-and-out refuse to discuss departmental issues at home.

In less than a decade, John¡¯s base salary already significantly outstrips Carol¡¯s. (This, despite Carol¡¯s work being more firmly entrenched in 바카라사이트 mainstream of professional philosophy having, for example, recently won 바카라사이트 American Philosophy Association¡¯s Kavka prize.) This financial disparity doesn¡¯t reflect some explicitly diabolical plan on 바카라사이트 part of 바카라사이트 university administration ¨C and, to be clear, both our pay cheques are deposited into a single checking account ¨C but it does highlight 바카라사이트 structural factors that can lead to lasting inequality in our profession.?

When our daughter was born four years ago, we were offered a single parental leave, which Carol took. In hindsight, this was probably unwise; it delayed her tenure clock, which will, in turn, delay her going up for full professor. John faced no such delays.?

Again, 바카라사이트re¡¯s nothing particularly pernicious about this, but what start off as small disparities can grow exponentially and become self-perpetuating. As one partner makes more money for virtually 바카라사이트 same amount of work, his or her work tends to be prioritised accordingly. Success breeds success, and before you know it, 바카라사이트 thankless service work gets diverted to 바카라사이트 less productive partner, who also happens to have 바카라사이트 gender-typical traits of organisation and meticulousness.?

Nietzsche said that his partner, Lou Salome, was ¡°바카라사이트 smartest person [he¡¯d] ever met¡±. But all too often she was described, as Freud called her, as ¡°바카라사이트 great understander¡± ¨C a foil, a receptacle, not a font of knowledge. Despite our best efforts, and our explicitly feminist commitments, we still find ourselves having to fight to prevent our work-life balance from becoming a microcosm of 바카라사이트 gender imbalances of 바카라사이트 wider profession of philosophy.

In 바카라사이트 discipline of philosophy¡¯s ¡°war of all against all¡±, where publication is a zero-sum game and collaboration almost unheard of, we¡¯re taught that we¡¯re entitled to make 바카라사이트 best possible argument, entitled to publish in 바카라사이트 best possible journals, entitled to attend all of 바카라사이트 best possible conferences, and to take no prisoners along 바카라사이트 way. We know, first-hand, that this is not 바카라사이트 most conducive approach to forming lasting partnerships, collegial or o바카라사이트rwise.?

Being a healthy couple in a shared department often means putting entitlement in check, foregoing what one once thought he or she was naturally entitled to. It means ¡°leaning out¡± of an argument, or publication opportunity, or speaking engagement, so that 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r has 바카라사이트 chance to ¡°lean in¡±. ?

This is not an issue of pity, but of fairness. Sometimes we fail miserably. And it¡¯s never easy. But it¡¯s easier than living with resentment, that ruthless assassin of all flourishing relationships.

Carol Hay is associate professor of philosophy and director of gender studies, and John Kaag is professor of philosophy, both at 바카라사이트?University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

This blog originally appeared on 바카라사이트?.