Back in 2002, Beth Linker was a third-year graduate student at Yale. Like all Ph.D. students, she had a lot on her plate - preparing for exams, teaching classes, doing her own research, worrying about the job market.
And then she had a baby.
That July was when her already busy life got a lot busier. There was reading and writing, and there were diapers and baths. The only way she survived, she said, was that her son "slept a lot."
By the time she was finishing up her degree and looking for jobs, she was pregnant with her daughter. Two weeks after she was born, Linker started interviewing for assistant professorships - and being a new mother didn't exactly make her the most appealing candidate.
"That's what they'll tell you," Linker said. "'Don't have kids, because you won't get the job. You won't be competitive enough.'"
There were lots of sleepless nights and desperate nanny searches, but Linker did find a job, in Penn's History and Sociology of Science Department. Her kids are getting older, and Linker is on a tenure track.
Getting there, however, wasn't easy, and it isn't easy for thousands of other female graduate students around the country. When it comes to balancing work and family, many female academics end up choosing family - and losing tenure in the process.
That's why Penn has an obligation to improve its piecemeal childcare services and parental-leave policies.
When Linker came to the University, she thought about enrolling her daughter in the Penn Children's Center, a childcare facility for faculty and staff. But the wait list was almost 15 months, and by that time her daughter would be ready for preschool near Linker's home in the suburbs.
To Penn's credit, the Children's Center expanded its facilities over the past several months. According to Barbara Lea-Kruger, a spokeswoman for the Center, they added approximately 54 new openings for children, bringing the total up to about 174. University President Amy Gutmann - a vocal advocate for women in academia - even took an honorary tour on Monday.
But that's 174 spots for literally thousands of Penn employees. That's 174 spots not only for the children of faculty, but of graduate students, of doctors at the hospital, of lab technicians and College House employees.
When Penn can't offer resources for young parents, they're forced to choose between kids and careers - or forced to choose another university with more competitive offers.
Take Yale's policies, for example. As of this summer, Yale employees - including graduate students - receive a paid leave of absence for at least one semester when they have a baby. On top of that, many Ph.D. candidates can get an additional six weeks of paid time off. That means that new parents are getting at least some of the financial support they need to pay for childcare when they go back to work.
At Penn, on the other hand, new mothers get a paid eight weeks off and half their usual teaching responsibilities. If they want to take more time off, they have to take a pay cut. And a pay cut may mean that employees can't afford the $317 a week it costs to enroll their newborn in the Penn Children's Center.
Child care is "not cheap, and the only way I could have done that was [that] my husband was working," Linker said. "If I were a single mother in this position, I would have to be making more money to pay for the amount of childcare that I would need."
Only the primary caregiver - who, of course, is usually a woman - qualifies for the paid leave at Penn. Linker said she wouldn't have survived as a new mother without her progressive husband, who was willing to share diaper changing and bottle feeding fifty-fifty with his wife. Under Penn's policy, he wouldn't have been able to get time off.
"The golden rule is don't get married, don't have children," Linker said. "Don't have a life. And then you'll get tenure."
But Penn can do its part to help end professional women's desperate balancing act. The University can offer more childcare resources, and it can make it easier for young parents to take time off. Women shouldn't have to choose a family or a career, and with Penn's help, maybe our generation won't.
Mara Gordon is a College senior from Washington, D.C. Her e-mail is
gordon@dailypennsylvanian.com. Flash Gordon appears on Thursdays.
