Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!encore!fay.UUCP@seismo.css.gov From: encore!fay.UUCP@seismo.css.gov (Peter Fay) Newsgroups: comp.society.women Subject: Re: Discrimination? Message-ID: <11841@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 8 Jul 88 18:56:29 GMT References: <11732@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Marlboro, MA Lines: 43 Approved: skyler@violet.berkeley.edu (Moderator -- Trish Roberts) Comments-to: comp-women-request@cs.purdue.edu Submissions-to: comp-women@cs.purdue.edu In article <11732@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> seeker@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Karen Lynn White) writes: > >I'm bringing this up for advice but also because I wonder if a >lot of women find a place to work where they can pick up >kids or work flex-time without hassle and then stay there >when the money could be much better somewhere else. Is it >common to settle for fewer benefits in a comfortable place to work? > One thing that many (most?) probably don't realize, is that these insidious aspects of employment (lack of daycare or flextime, disallowing work-at-home or time for other parenting stuff, benefit inequities, etc.) which are always termed "discriminatory toward women" (which they are) often hurt men as well. I worked for the second largest insurance company for a while in Hartford (it employed thousands of women but had no daycare facilities). Out of my training class of 20, (50% women) I was the only single parent (I was raising two babies by myself) and the only one to be assigned to a position which immediately required being on call nights and weekends. The personnel director (a woman) and my supervisors knew my situation but just couldn't care less. For six months I continually risked my job by trying to get the sysop to fix the problems over the phone at 4 a.m. without my coming into work, and by taking unauthorized time off (for court hearings - the mother wouldn't pay child support). Luckily for me (and my children) there was a coworker (a older man) who used to cover-up for me in my absences, go into work for me at 3 a.m., etc. I am eternally greatful to that person because I was unemployed one year previously, and probably would have lost custody of my kids if I was fired. Anyway, the point is that many single fathers, or just fathers who might otherwise take on a more equal share of child-raising, are harmed and discouraged by the "male" attitude that ignores the needs of "mothers" (really "parenting") at the workplace. -peter -- peter fay Arpanet: fay@multimax.arpa UUCP: {bu-cs,decvax,necntc,talcott}!encore!fay