Yuqi Hu A04 Week 8

After reading the chapter “Mothering Is Liberation: Giving Birth to Alagaan Pedagogy (Pedagogy of Care),” I feel the life of a woman in academia is very difficult. She needs to have a balance between her family and her academia. Sometimes, she even needs to give up one of them. I have a friend. She is a visiting scholar pursuing a doctorate. She just got married before she came here. She did not have a wedding, just got the certificate. And she needs to be separated from her husband for several years since she did not have a vacation like us. When she finished her degree at here last year, I asked her if she will have a baby these years. She said no. She needed to finish her degree in China as well and then to consider if that is the right time for a baby. I felt she gave up a lot for a doctorate. Being in a top group in a field is difficult enough. Women in academia need to work hard to be the top of this field and also work hard to be a good mom. Not only in academia but also in job finding, women are discriminated because they need to have a vacation during pregnancy. I have heard that when a woman is doing an interview, the interviewer asks her if she has a boyfriend directly and asks her plan for her marriage. But I have never heard some guys tell me that. I think that is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Question: How can women eliminate this discrimination when finding a job?

Reference:

Olsen, R. (2017, January 11). The Modern Woman's Dilemma. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://www.forsythwoman.com/the-modern-womans-dilemma/
Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the Tower: Asian American Women Scholars' Resistance and Renewal in the Academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press