ASM Online Member Community

Today I presented a webinar on How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workspace that generated a lot of conversation and questions. Let's keep the discussion going! What do you want to know about creating an inclusive, profitable, and productive environment? Do you have any anecdotes to share?

Today I presented a webinar on How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workspace that generated a lot of conversation and questions. Let's keep the discussion going! What do you want to know about creating an inclusive, profitable, and productive environment? Do you have any anecdotes to share?

Today I presented a webinar on How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workspace that generated a lot of conversation and questions. Let's keep the discussion going! What do you want to know about creating an inclusive, profitable, and productive environment? Do you have any anecdotes to share?

Hi, 
As Europe is not a country, but a lot of countries, maternity leave differs somewhat but most of us have 12 to 16 weeks paid leave and some countries even go up to 1 year.
But that's not the most efficient policy actually. The most efficient is mandatory paternity leave. In my country, it's now at 10 days but there's talk of increasing it. making it mandatory levels the field because employers cannot say anymore that women that are going to have babies will be more out of office than men.
However, some studies have shown that making the leave too long (one year or more) can be detrimental because they make women too much out of the loop at work.

Today I presented a webinar on How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workspace that generated a lot of conversation and questions. Let's keep the discussion going! What do you want to know about creating an inclusive, profitable, and productive environment? Do you have any anecdotes to share?

Hi, all,

I do not want to leave the issue to an all female community. Here in Italy, when I was a young father, let us say in the 70's, maternity leave was 2 months before the predicted chidbirth date and 3 months after the actual birth. Later it became 5 months in total, without any limit dictated by the childbirth date. Paternal leave was not existing at the time. Recently it became 3 days after childbirth; next year it will become ten days.

As it regards women in education, all my science teachers in the 50's were females, all my italian, latin and ancient greek teachers were males. My children instead had an almost completely female teaching staff. The change was due to the fact that most of the schools were open only up to late mornings, whereas afternoons were allowed to be spent at home both for students and teachers. Thus, women, on whom children caretaking is usually left in Italy, preferred to teach in schools to have the afternoon free, when children were at home. That also meant that female teachers had to spend evenings and nights on reviewing their students work. Often science graduate women were working in industry in the first years of their career and going to teach in schools after becoming mothers.

Thus, we can say that women careers were shaped by social needs more than by employers' choice. The situation has not changed much nowadays that school activity in elementary and middle schools prolongs up to the afternoons. The outcome is a childbirth rate very low in the middle income families, for women postponing the first birth almost up to the end of their fertility period. Male behaviour towards family caretaking is changing a little in latest years, but not enough to reverse the trend.

In the 50's many "illuminated" Companies put up some nursing and school facilities within the area of their plants. But, these undertakings faded away in the 80's due to financial reasons.

Public investements are badly needed to allow women to have other choices but than having partial time at home. Probably, smart work both for males and females will allow to partially reshape the situation. This can be a good outcome of Covid-19 induced needs. But, DAD is not a brilliant solution for children....

Let us to take complete consciousness of the burden that has been left on the shoulders of women! And let us go on the debate on this issue fundamental  for the future of our society.

------------------------------
Donato FIRRAO FASM
Professor
Politecnico di Torino
Torino
+393351494032
Italy
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-20-2020 15:04
From: Veronique Vitry
Subject: How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workplace: Webinar tomorrow (11/12)

Hi, 
As Europe is not a country, but a lot of countries, maternity leave differs somewhat but most of us have 12 to 16 weeks paid leave and some countries even go up to 1 year.
But that's not the most efficient policy actually. The most efficient is mandatory paternity leave. In my country, it's now at 10 days but there's talk of increasing it. making it mandatory levels the field because employers cannot say anymore that women that are going to have babies will be more out of office than men.
However, some studies have shown that making the leave too long (one year or more) can be detrimental because they make women too much out of the loop at work.

Today I presented a webinar on How to Create a Welcoming Technical Workspace that generated a lot of conversation and questions. Let's keep the discussion going! What do you want to know about creating an inclusive, profitable, and productive environment? Do you have any anecdotes to share?