In my experience, it all depends on the country and how easy funding
agencies, research institutions and governments make it. I have
experience in several countries: Spain, USA, France and Finland. They
each have their good and bad points on that respect. Fore example,
while the USA and Canada tend to be pretty good at opening jobs for
couples, which helps enormously the two-body problem, I find that some
European countries offer better conditions to be a parent. For
example, in Finland and Sweden the government offers paid maternity
and/or paternity leaves of at least 10 months. Since this is a
'stipend' independent of the scientific fellowship or contract, it
essentially means that if they had 3-years of funding, they now will
have that + 10 months (i.e. the grant or contract 'slides' forward).
Moreover, there are good free or cheap daycare services and even
sometimes, daycare or family-housing in field stations. The conditions
are so good that I have never seen such a high rate of graduate
students pregnant or with children as in those countries... and they
are consequentially doing better than average at keeping women in
science. Of course, many countries (like Spain, my home-country) fail
in all aspects.
Andres Lopez-Sepulcre
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, UMR 7625
Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris
[email protected]
http://web.me.com/asepulcre
On Apr 11, 2012, at 5:54 PM, Rachel Guy wrote:
I've been following the debate Simone Whitecloud inspired concerning
babies in the field. This brought to mind something I was told when
I was pursuing my B.S. in Wildlife Ecology:
"You can be a scientist, a spouse or a parent. Two of these things
you can be simultaneously great at doing, while the third will
suffer." I'm not sure I entirely agree with this statement, but I
have seen personal relationships tried by professional obligations
and professional obligations tried by personal obligations.
Particularly in a field that often demands long absences and
irregular hours, I can see how this would particularly be true.
Though, I have also seen faculty and research scientists with
families that seem pretty stable and happy. Is there any substance
to this paradigm, and if so, are there realistic ways in which we
can change them? I'd love to hear the communities' thoughts on this
as it is something that I have often reflected on as I've progressed
through my career. Can we have it all? What are the key differences
between the ones that are seemingly able to do it and the one's
where the challenges become too great?
Rachel Guy
Project Coordinator, Research Assistant
