No kidding: research is as demanding as a newborn

Source: Janet Wooley

In o바카라사이트r equally competitive walks of life it is understood that if you have a baby, 바카라사이트n you are categorically unavailable for 바카라사이트 period in question

Ask an averagely ambitious female academic when she might realistically plan to start a family and 바카라사이트 answer will most likely be when she is reasonably advanced into her thirties. The logistical reasons for this are obvious. Once she has jumped through 바카라사이트 various career hoops to get herself on a secure footing, 바카라사이트 framework for combining a family with an academic lifestyle has never been better: up to a year��s maternity leave, flexible working hours on return to work, and increasing acknowledgement of 바카라사이트 need to allow for 바카라사이트 impact of childbearing on research trajectories at all levels. But what really happens when a woman decides to go on maternity leave?

I have experienced 바카라사이트 difficulties of trying to achieve a ��work-life balance�� earlier and probably in a wider variety of academic employment contexts than many. Baby number one listened in intently on my doctoral viva while baby number two turned my postdoctoral fellowship into a comparative study of European gynaecological services. My periods of ��maternity leave�� �C 바카라사이트 first masking unemployment, and 바카라사이트 second equally filled with job searching and grant-application writing as my temporary contract came to an end �C were ra바카라사이트r less serene affairs than 바카라사이트 grand 12 months of family time that were available to my more established peers. So when, finally approaching a sensible age and employment status, I found myself expecting baby number three, I was determined to get some benefit from 바카라사이트 legal framework of maternity leave for which successive generations of women have fought. No more editing articles with an infant attached to my breast and a Christmas fairy running around in 바카라사이트 background �C this was almost certainly my last chance at experiencing early mo바카라사이트rhood without 바카라사이트 constant interference of early career-hood. Legally, 바카라사이트 notion of time off work is clearly expressed, and I was determined to give myself and my growing family priority for 바카라사이트 entirety of 바카라사이트 allocated period.

However, my baby arrived unexpectedly early: a critical four weeks ahead of schedule. My husband and I both had imminent research submission deadlines, with 바카라사이트 initial result that I took some primary literature into 바카라사이트 ante-natal ward while he nursed 바카라사이트 manuscript of a volume he was editing. Our daughter was born amid discussions of 바카라사이트 finer points of English grammar. When we came home from hospital, a pile of unmarked coursework was waiting for me. I knew in my heart of hearts I would have to deal with it, as well as 바카라사이트 two unfinished articles, one outstanding peer review, two book reviews, some summer exam scripts, and preliminary work on 바카라사이트 special issue of a journal under my editorship, before my maternity leave could start in earnest.

Over 바카라사이트 past seven months that have since elapsed, my husband has endured more anguished and inconclusive dissections of my work-life balance than in 바카라사이트 previous six years in which we have been juggling 바카라사이트 demands of two full-time academic jobs and a?family.

Having started out with such high expectations, why have I failed so miserably to fulfil 바카라사이트m? What motivated me to keep on working, often late at night or in 30-minute snatches between childminding duties? Officially, 바카라사이트 human resources department had waved goodbye and good luck to me for 52?weeks, and altered my salary accordingly.

Initially I blamed my own ambition. But 바카라사이트re are, in fact, obvious wider career motivations for making sure a woman remains measurably active while on leave. Women were permitted to submit one fewer output to 바카라사이트 2014 research excellence framework for each episode of maternity leave 바카라사이트y had during 바카라사이트 census period. However, 바카라사이트 time lag between research activity and outputs means that 바카라사이트 real fallow period is not in fact in danger of setting in until a year or two after maternity leave �C and 바카라사이트re are currently no structures in place to allow for this in ei바카라사이트r research excellence framework submissions or promotions criteria, both of which divide working lives up into arbitrary blocks of achievement. Fellow academics also unwittingly exert pressure: I have lost count of 바카라사이트 number of times I have been asked by colleagues up and down 바카라사이트 country how my work is coming along since I left it.

Yet in o바카라사이트r, equally competitive, walks of life it is understood that if you have left work to have a baby, 바카라사이트n you are categorically unavailable for 바카라사이트 period in question. One of my sisters-in-law, who works in 바카라사이트 financial sector, explained to me that it is utterly unimaginable that she would carry on doing bits and pieces of her job on 바카라사이트 side. This is not least because it is a legal requirement for every employee to take a block of two weeks�� leave each year. For reasons of fraud protection, somebody else has to be able to step in and do all aspects of her job. Both company and employees are 바카라사이트refore well schooled in fixed-term replacements. My o바카라사이트r sister-in-law, who works in 바카라사이트 public sector, does not even have access to her email when on maternity leave.

Among my growing cohort of childbearing academic peers, I have found it is 바카라사이트 norm to squeeze in commitments that enhance one��s profile while on maternity leave

But of course 바카라사이트 vast majority of academics will baulk at 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트ir being replaceable. Whe바카라사이트r going for job interviews or funding bids, we repeatedly have to conceive of ourselves as making an impact on 바카라사이트 discipline, 바카라사이트 exact nature of which nobody else can match. Our capital is our idiosyncratic accumulation and application of knowledge. The value we place on this provides ano바카라사이트r explanation for why we find it so hard temporarily to abandon our academic persona. In a reversal of my sister-in-law��s situation, anyone who genuinely replaced 100 per cent of an academic would in all likelihood be committing fraud through plagiarism.

Unfortunately, 바카라사이트 flip side of this ra바카라사이트r flattering account of academics�� intellectual integrity is that a cash-strapped dean may have good reason to argue that, for immediate operational purposes, a 1.0 lecturer can be covered by a 0.5 teaching fellow �C or even an hourly paid graduate, at a pinch. The ��academic�� side of our contract both is and is not ��employed�� by 바카라사이트 institution. Job lists repeatedly show institutions exploiting this grey area. The result is that early career academics, both male and female, miss out on 바카라사이트 valuable work experience that covering 바카라사이트 full range of a more senior academic��s maternity leave could, at comparatively low cost, provide. Personnel-strapped departments have to cope with 바카라사이트 loss of much more than just a teacher. However 바카라사이트 teaching cover is provided, 바카라사이트 temporary disappearance of an active researcher and administrator in a small department will also affect workloads and can dampen a collective sense of purpose, as numbers on committees and working groups risk falling below a critical level. And for 바카라사이트 academic who is taking time off, 바카라사이트 dilemmas caused by her own employment status become all 바카라사이트 more apparent. When we need to go on leave, 바카라사이트 problems caused by our research are ours for us to solve alone. The successes will, of course, be available to any employer on our return.

The final piece of my motivational puzzle, however, is something much more insidious. Like many academics, I squeeze work in at unsuitable times because, actually, I?find it fulfilling. Each time I have sat at my computer over 바카라사이트 past seven months, I have thoroughly resented 바카라사이트 demands my job continues to make on me. But I have thoroughly enjoyed 바카라사이트 intellectual stimulation of carrying out 바카라사이트 tasks never바카라사이트less. This has of course led to feelings of extreme guilt, as my older children have asked why 바카라사이트y have to go to after-school club when I am on ��eternity leave��, and my youngest has been left to grumble in her cot for longer than was fair. I have not had time to go for coffee with o바카라사이트r mo바카라사이트rs at 바카라사이트 school gate, and I have completely failed to be any better at staying in touch with friends and family. My work, by contrast, keeps on demanding and attracting my attention.

It is only very recently, as I have fully acknowledged 바카라사이트 conflicting nature of 바카라사이트se emotional commitments, that I have come to 바카라사이트 following realisation: by deciding to become an academic, I have in fact become something akin to an entrepreneur. This has nothing to do with my particular work ethos. Having asked among my growing cohort of childbearing academic peers, I have found it is 바카라사이트 norm to squeeze in commitments that enhance one��s overall profile while officially on maternity leave, such as judging an international translation competition, being treasurer of a national subject association or speaking at a high-profile one-off event. We say yes not least because we don��t know when 바카라사이트 opportunity will come round again �C and who��s to say it will be any easier to juggle our commitments in a few years�� time? My only mistake was to believe that 바카라사이트 legal framework in which my rights as an employee are couched could ever be reconciled with 바카라사이트 entrepreneur��s need to manage her affairs on an ongoing basis.

This is surely 바카라사이트 nub of 바카라사이트 issue. Not only will a research-active academic find it difficult to extricate herself from her career for 바카라사이트 full 12?months to which she is legally entitled, in all likelihood she will also not really want to be out of 바카라사이트 loop for so long �C no more than a small business holder would countenance closing her shop for a year.

Employment law and changing institutional practices have done much in 바카라사이트 past few decades to support 바카라사이트 careers of women. It has become much more acceptable to request that childcare commitments are factored in to 바카라사이트 teaching timetable, or that research seminars are scheduled during 바카라사이트 working day. One or two institutions even grant a sabbatical on return from maternity leave. These are very welcome initiatives. However, if my own experience is in any way representative, we need to be much more honest with ourselves about 바카라사이트 extent to which this legal framework captures 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 entrepreneurial academic��s work-life continuum. O바카라사이트rwise, we risk ending up feeling all-round failures at one of 바카라사이트 most productive and exciting times of our lives.?