Why is it assumed the wife stays at home? Well, around here that is not
necessarily the case. In the past decade I have known about as many men
that have stayed home with children as I have seen women, and I have
also seen quite a few cases where the two have split the child-rearing
job, each working half time and staying home half time.
The person who stays home is the one who has less pay or poorer
benefits, or the one who can take a leave of absence and still go back
to work a few years later. If they are equal in this regard, then it's
a toss up.
* * * A different type of problem. * * *
Here is a problem not yet mentioned. In my opinion it can have a "no so
good" outcome, and can also have a "downright bad" outcome. I solicit
your input on what an institution should do when faced with the problems
I describe below.
When we are dealing with a highly-educated professional couple, there is
a good chance both persons in a marriage have similar degrees. In my
case it was not too bad because I have a PhD in chemical-physics and was
looking for a college/university job while my wife has a MS in education
and was looking for an elementary school teaching job. It made sense
for me to find a my job first because she would be likely to find a job
within reasonable driving distance of wherever we settled. This, in
fact, turned out to be the case.
However, suppose the husband and wife have equivalent degrees, perhaps
even in the same field, and are seeking similar types of emploment.
What happens in these cases? What's the chance of them both finding a
job in the same area unless they go to a fairly large city, or they both
get offered jobs by the same institution?
The not-so-good outcome we have experienced many times at Bluffton
University is that one academic department wants to hire a particular
individual, but the individual will only accept the job if the spouse
also finds employment. When the spouse is also looking for a
higher-education position, and there aren't many opportunities in the
area, pressure is put on the university to hire the spouse.
How would you like it if the university administration told you that
your department needed to hire a particular individual because they
wanted to hire the spouse in a different department? Since my
university has been trying to recruit more female faculty members, we
have been in the situation of hiring a male we don't need and/or would
not prefer in order to attract a female that we do want in a different
department. As bad as this is, it is my "not-so-good" example.
The "downright bad" outcome is when both husband and wife are in the
same field and you have to hire both into the same department. You
really want to hire one, but you have to take the other as well. What
are some of the bad results? (1) The department grows unfairly. There
was one position open and they ended up with an extra position. (2) The
department politics now has a husband-wife to deal with. Our largest
departments have about 10 faculty members, so a husband-wife in the same
department is 20% of the department in the best-case scenario. We
actually have a 3-person department with a husband-wife team, so they
represent 67% of the department. (3) In a department containing a
husband and wife, can one spouse be the department chair? If so, how is
that fair to others in the department? If not, how is it fair to the
couple that neither has any prospect of being chair? (4) Within the
campus governance, it is not uncommon to have husband and wife both
serve on the same committee. Is that appropriate?
I have been fairly outspoken that we should not hire husband-wife teams.
In those cases that we do, I have been outspoken that they should not be
in the same department. I am also on record that one cannot be the
chair of the other. I also am on record that they should not be
eligible to serve on the same committee at the same time. Am I being
unreasonable?
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
.