APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Vol. 19
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NEWSLETTER | The American Philosophical Association Feminism and Philosophy SPRING 2020 VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 INTRODUCTION: PARENTING AND Carol Gray PHILOSOPHY Bridging the Divide: Thoughts on Parenting as Lauren Freeman a Grad Student Leigh Viner ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER ON Anthropologists from Mars FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY Eli Kukla SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND Raised in Philosophy INFORMATION Lauren Freeman ESSAYS Children, Parenting, and the Nature of Work Serene Khader and Matthew Lindauer BOOK REVIEWS The “Daddy Dividend”: The Gender Division of Eva Feder Kittay: Learning from My Daughter: Labor and Regression Towards Patriarchy The Value and Care of Disabled Minds Joseph A. Stramondo Reviewed by Lisa Tessman Gender, Disability, and the Violent Undercurrents of Parenting Inspiration Porn Benjamin R. Sherman and Stacey Goguen, eds.: Overcoming Epistemic Injustice: Social and Saray Ayala-López Psychological Perspectives (Philosophizing about) Gender-Open Children Reviewed by Claire A. Lockard Quill Rebecca Kukla Taking Children’s Autonomy Seriously as a Sophie Lewis: Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Parent Against Family Reviewed by Jina Fast Melissa Burchard Parenting in Trauma Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger: Reproductive Justice: An Introduction Amy Allen On Muddling Through Reviewed by Kathryn Lafferty-Danner Samantha Brennan ANNOUNCEMENTS Parenting, Feminism, and Academic Life: My Happy Story CONTRIBUTORS VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 SPRING 2020 © 2020 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION ISSN 2155-9708 APA NEWSLETTER ON Feminism and Philosophy LAUREN FREEMAN, EDITOR VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 | SPRING 2020 But, as I’ve come to see six years later, what the panelists INTRODUCTION: PARENTING described on that day is not the only outcome of being a parent and a philosopher, nor should it be the only or AND PHILOSOPHY the dominant narrative floating around. In retrospect, it was this panel, and the very negative picture it painted, that Lauren Freeman was the initial impetus for conceiving of the current issue. UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE So far, my own experience as a parent has been positive. Several years ago, I attended a small conference for I say this with full acknowledgment and awareness of all women in philosophy. One week before the conference, of my many privileges. I had my son (who is now almost I learned that I was pregnant with my second child. Given eight) while I was just about to begin the third of a three- that I had an almost two-year-old, another on the way, and year limited-term teaching job in Montreal, Quebec, in that I had just completed my first year in a tenure-track Canada. Even though it was not a permanent job, because job, I was excited to see a panel on the program called Quebec has the most generous parental leave policy of any (something like) “Philosophy and Motherhood.” I showed province in Canada, I still received a full year of parental up enthusiastically, pen in hand, notebook splayed, eager leave along with 100 percent of my salary (which, as far as to write down all of the tips that were going to be offered I’m concerned, should be the norm everywhere). Because on how to manage and balance children and a promising of this, we were able to move as a family to the city where career (not to mention everything else). my partner had secured a job for the year. It was during this year that I landed a tenure-track job after four years on the But I was not so excited to learn that the unanimous— market. (Note: doing a series of more than five on-campus and, quite frankly, surprising—conclusion from all of the interviews while nursing, and leaving a six-month-old at participants on the panel was that it was more or less home with his dad (who was working full time, during the impossible to achieve the trifecta of success in philosophy, winter of several “Snowpocalypses” on the east coast which parenthood, and (even minimal) happiness. One panelist caused many flight delays and some canceled flights which spoke about how she’d had children well before beginning caused me to stay away from them for longer than planned) graduate school and how she was more or less absent required lots of juggling, lots of paid childcare, lots of during their early childhood in order to finish her degree in a requested accommodations from search committees, and timely manner and to be taken seriously in her department. several embarrassing and awkward moments pumping milk Another panelist said that she’d had children soon after during my campus visits. Though being on the job market securing a tenure-track job, and that it was so expensive while nursing an infant is not ideal, it is certainly possible to afford childcare (in the NY area), and so difficult to and I am happy to report that all of the departments where balance her job and her family life while scrambling to deal I interviewed were as understanding and accommodating with childcare, that even though she didn’t regret having of all of my requests as they possibly could have been. This children per se, she certainly didn’t seem to be happy is a point that needs to be broadcasted loudly, since every about everything she’d had to sacrifice in order to have department far exceeded my expectations. them. A third panelist who’d had children during graduate school said, outright, that she regretted that decision, if not When my daughter was born a year and a half into my the decision to have children at all. tenure-track job, not surprisingly, things were not as easy parental-leave wise as they were in Canada, since I was The conclusion I drew was that if you have children as an then living in the United States and working at a large state academic, you regret it, either entirely, or for having them school with no good parental leave policy of which to speak. before tenure. But even if you don’t come to regret your But with tremendous and relentless effort and negotiation, decision, it’s still impossible to succeed at research, have I did manage to secure a leave with which I was completely a family, and be happy. Needless to say, as someone happy. With the input and savviness of colleagues who had who had one child, was newly pregnant, and was already successfully navigated this terrain before and who served nervous about bringing a second child into our family, I as invaluable mentors (thanks, Tracy K.!) and a remarkable left the panel and the conference feeling downtrodden, amount of creative thinking on the part of my chair at the disappointed, and fearful for what my future had in store time (thanks, Bob K.!), I ended up tweaking my annual for me and my partner. work plan by ramping up my research and service duties so that I did not have to teach for an entire semester. With this time off teaching, combined with the summer months APA NEWSLETTER | FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY following that semester, I did not go back to teaching until childbirth, raising children, and doubly so when these my daughter was eight months old. Another ingredient issues are combined with their choice to pursue careers. in the mix then and now is a family-friendly department In this issue, I wanted to feature diverse philosophers who and current chair (shout out to David O.!), which makes an are mothers, but also fathers, and parents of all sexes and enormous difference when scheduling classes, department genders and to provide them with a venue in which to share meetings, and other obligations. their stories. Focusing on women can be helpful, but it can also eclipse the stories of other primary caregivers who Though we live in a city with no family anywhere close by, do not identify as women. Focusing on parenting more my parents and my partner’s parents are still very involved generally acknowledges that trans and non-binary folks in the lives of our children and help us in whatever ways also face specific barriers in their parenting journeys. Saray they can. But the geographic distance means that we Ayala-Lopez’s contribution, for example, is not only written have no family on whom we can rely or depend for extra from the perspective of someone raising a child as a non- or emergency childcare—for snow days, sick days, or binary person and parent, but it also defends the choice of children’s (countless) school breaks that do not align with raising a gender-open child. our work calendars. This means that we’ve spent and continue to spend rather alarming amounts of money on Second, and more specifically, fatherhood and success extra childcare. But, as seems to be common in the lives in philosophy is not spoken of nearly enough (if at all) in of working parents in general, and of philosophers in the way that it should be, by which I mean fathers who are particular—see the narratives in this issue by Samantha explicitly committed to feminist ideals of parenting. I am Brennan and Amy Allen—this is often a necessary tactic in sorry that I do not have more contributions from fathers, order to get it all done (again, a huge privilege that we are but I am very grateful for the words and stories of Joseph able to afford this extra childcare—thanks to Kristen, Grace, A. Stramondo and Matthew Lindauer (Lindauer co-wrote his Rachel, and Gabby for saving us more times than I can contribution to the issue with his partner, Serene Khader). count!). Most of all, and in addition to the other privileges Both of these contributions underscore what Khader and I’ve just mentioned, what has been a necessary ingredient Lindauer call the “daddy dividend,” namely, the ways in in being able to juggle it all is that I have an incredibly which even in relationships committed to feminist ideals devoted and involved partner (also a philosophy professor) of parenting and equal division of household labor, who is also entirely committed to feminist ideals of child- fathers are still benefiting from having to do far less than raising and to an equal division of household and family their partners (in the eyes of the public) to be considered responsibilities.