This One's for Sue

November 12, 2005

A year ago today my mother's best friend, Sue Mendelsohn, died at the tender age of 62.  This week there was a memorial tribute at Fermilab in front of the Lederman Center at Fermilab, the science education center where Sue worked for the last several years of her life.  There's no way I could do Sue's spirit, convictions, or energy justice here, but words spoken at this service (by my mom, actually, pictured at left) made me do something small that I hope will end up in big changes in the long run.  My mom said that while most of us sit around and complain about what's wrong with the world, Sue actually got up and did something about it. 

The day before Sue's memorial I received a link to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, because I was quoted in the article.  The story is about the precarious nature of the post-doc position in science, and the specific case of one post-doc who is suing her ex-boss and his university because she was denied maternity leave and had her pay docked after the birth of her second child.  I mentioned this very case "anonymously" in an earlier entry this year, but this article is much more detailed and depressing, and explicit.  Once I read the article I felt terrible all over again about what happened to Sherry, but didn't actually forward it to anyone besides a friend who has sent me Chronicle articles in the past.

However, at Sue's memorial service I realized that it's not enough to read this article and be depressed about it.  We have to get the word out that this is NOT acceptable behavior, and that sooner or later someone as brave as Sherry will come along and blow the whistle on you.

So when I returned to my office after the service I sent the link out to a mailing list that is supposed to target women scientists at Fermilab, and sure enough the discussion started.  Some replied and said I didn't know the whole story...others replied and said that they could relate to much of what Sherry went through but never had the guts to even complain, never mind take legal action.  Still others replied that this article is a terrible thing because it will deter women from physics because it makes us look like we're still in the dark ages on issues of maternity leave. 

The simple fact is that there is a Family Medical Leave Act, which has nothing to do with your analysis style, your physics abilities, or your personality:  it has to do with your employment status and your status as a primary care-giver. 

The Chronicle article itself, while clear and moving, does neglect to make the point that there are faculty in physics departments (and national labs) who grant their post-docs the maternity (or paternity) leave they request, and support them through their next appointment--I worked for one myself at the University of Rochester, and I sent in a comment to the Chronicle telling them that.  (see my response here)

But I think we need to use this article (along with all the positive role models out there) to point out that there is an attitude problem in this field, one that hurts the field as a whole, not just the women in it.  That attitude problem is the assumption that every minute of research counts, and that if you lose 3 months of your post-doc to infant care then your physics (and funding for your physics) grinds to a screeching halt forever.  Every great physicist had outside interests, from Newton to Einstein to Feynman, and people love to point that out yet never make the connection that perhaps what made them great was that they were NOT doing physics every waking moment of their lives. 

So the first thing that I hope happens, perhaps because this article is getting wide circulation, and perhaps because it's just long overdue, is that the Fermilab scientific appointment policy changes.  They are now discussing a written policy that gives people the option of an additional year on the tenure clock if they were the primary care-giver for an infant, as well as an idea that a post-doc's appointment get extended for extra time for the same reason. 

So I'm still learning from Sue:  It's just not enough to complain about these injustices, and set up some pregnancy leave rumor mill where we warn people about bosses who are unsympathetic to maternity/parternity leaves.  We have to change the assumption that a boss can deny someone the right to take off to care for their newborn child in the first place! 

Comments

[David]

Debbie, I received my Physics Bachelor's three years ago, and encountering that narrow attitude convinced me not to use my degree. Reading QD let me realize this May that I really wanted to earn a PhD. It's because those of you I liked the most had cultivated your outside interests. I needed to see the kind of physicists I wanted to be like. Wish you'd been there in 2002 ;)

[JoAnne]

Debbie, I received that Chronicle of Higher Education article from a friend at Fermilab, who had gotten it from you. As a result I posted about it and issue in general over at Cosmicvariance.com. The resulting thread has garnered over 100 comments and is very enlightening....in short, it shows just how far we have yet to go. However, one comment pointed out that Princeton has a policy where any assistant prof, no matter which gender, must take MANDATORY maternity leave with a stoppage of the tenure clock. Apparently, this has gone a long ways toward ending the perception that women scientists with children are not genuinely dedicated. It has been noted that both genders have children.

[debbie]

Thanks for the link! For those who don't already know it, the thread is at
http://cosmicvariance.com/2005/11/10/should-she-or-shouldnt-she/

The fact that Princeton makes maternity leave mandatory is amazing! It's great to see a glimpse of the future like that...I also wonder how long we have to wait before Princeton's policy becomes the rule instead of the exception.