This week's Chronicle of Higher Ed offers a little box story on "Looking for Gender Equity in the Lab" with three items. Item #2 is about Stanford University's new maternity-leave policy for graduate students in chemistry. Here is the description of the policy:
The policy allows women who are pregnant or are new mothers to scale back their course work or research for up to 12 weeks and still get paid. How much women end up working during that time depends on deals they reach with their supervisors.
Notice that second sentence. "Deals they reach with their supervisors"
Also note that the maternity "leave" is actually permission to "scale back course work or research". See, my idea of "leave" is that you actually leave. You know, to be at home, recovering from giving birth, possibly to some boy who may grow up some day to announce that, as chairmen of Famous U.'s chemistry department, he has instituted a policy where women can take the day after giving birth completely off.
And call me cranky, but I can't help thinking of the "deal" that Sherry Towers "reached" with her supervisor and department. So pardon me if I am not quite ready to celebrate the arrival of gender equity at Stanford's chemistry department.
Here's the really sad part. The Chronicle says
[Stanford's policy] may be the country's most generous maternity-leave policy for women in chemistry.
I am glad that at least some women graduate students at one institution will have the opportunity to possibly work less after giving birth. I just don't feel like excessively celebrating this modest gain as if the men had done something really wonderful for all womankind. We don't need to be grateful for crumbs that drop from the men's table. We need to demand a full-course meal.
6:14:55 PM 
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