We have very good day-care facilities in our area, including an
excellent one right here in our small town of 3000. My wife and I both
teach, and our two children went to day care until they were ready for
kindergarten. We were very pleased and our kids were very happy with
day care.
However, many of our women faculty (and some men) feel day care for
their children is not good, and they take leave of absence or want to
teach part time. This puts a tremendous burden on the college to find
qualified part-time instructors. We are in a rural area and people with
the appropriate degree who are not already employed are practically
non-existent. The nearest city of any size (that would have PhDs
running around) is 70 miles away. Additionally no one can afford to
move to the area for a one-year job or commute very far for a part-time
job.
I have to admit that it frustrates me when a person (male or female)
takes a full-time position and then wants to cut back to half-time (or
less) for a couple years. The institution (and especially the students)
really suffer from this. It seems to me these people should use the
day-care that is available, or resign their position.
We have also had some cases where persons (both male and female, but
more often female) have been here for 5 years, but maybe only actually
taught the equivalent of 3 years, and then expect to be considered for
tenure based upon time here rather than FTE years. So far the
university has not tenured or promoted people until they have
accumulated the appropriate number of FTE years for the promotion they
are seeking. This has actually caused some people to get angry and
threaten legal action, although I can't imagine what grounds they would
have for such action.
In a related issue, we have a shortage of dentists in the area, and
every time I go to my dentist (after a long wait to get in) he keeps
telling me to send more students to dental school. He said that in Ohio
the students in dental school are nearly 50-50 male female, but the
female dentists, in general, only practice half-time. He said that
means that in essence we are now only putting out 75% of the dentists
that we were putting out when the dental students were mostly male. (I
have not confirmed his numbers.)
We also have a shortage of doctors (MDs) in the area. We do have three
women doctors, but every one of them is half-time. My wife goes to one,
and it is frustrating when my wife tries to schedule an appointment and
there are many days that "the doctor is not in." My mother also goes to
one of the female doctors, and when my mother spent about a month in the
hospital, there were days her primary physician did not come in, because
it was her day off.
So, I agree that day care availability for children is a big problem,
but having day care available does not necessarily solve the problem.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu