A Simple Act of Defiance?

Tue, 07 May 2024 11:09:46 -0700

Toby Kiers’ guest essay in the NYT (4/26/24) titled “A Simple Act of Defiance Can Improve Science for Women” describes taking her children to various parts of Africa to do her ecological fieldwork as 'radical feminism’, a response to the “science career vs family” battle waged by female scientists in the US. It is a well written essay describing the challenges and great benefits of taking children into the field, and she presents doing this as “an act of academic defiance” and a “form of rebellion”.

While I appreciate the sentiment and understand that this is perhaps less common in the biological sciences than in other field-based research disciplines, I was surprised to see
this description presented as edgy, avant-garde, and, frankly, new. Perhaps I have been lucky in my experiences, but much of my ‘luck’ is based on the work of the women and men who came a generation (or two) ahead of me.

One of my first field experiences as a graduate student was a month-long excavation in Spain, where the project director and his wife (also an archaeologist) brought their two school-aged kids. While the kids didn’t excavate, they were incorporated into the daily rhythm of fieldwork. It was fun being in a multi-generational setting, and important to see my professor balance the demands of fieldwork with having a family in a way that seemed – from the outside – natural and seamless.

My first field project as a mother, I co-directed excavations with a Spanish colleague who was also a mother. My son was almost 2 years old at the time, hers were 3 and 5. While we both have supportive partners, they had their own professional commitments, so we planned our project to meet our children’s needs as well...Read More

Sarah B. McClure

A Simple Act of Defiance?