Dr. Raina Brands - a professor at the UCL School of Management earlier this week took to the platform to call out her son's daycare for refusing to acknowledge her male partner as her son's primary caregiver. The mom shared that when she talks about gender inequality and biases, this is what she really means. Brands say that what she finds absurd is that her partner has been the main contact in all the forms and he is the one picking and dropping him at the daycare, still they refuse to acknowledge him.
Mom Slams DayCare For Refusing To Acknowledge Male Partner As Primary Caregiver
By
Samantha in
Social Issues
On 7th March 2022
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A mom took to Twitter to slam the daycare where her son goes for refusing to acknowledge her male partner as her son's primary caregiver.
Dr. Raina Brands - a professor at the UCL School of Management took to the platform to highlight gender bias and inequality to share the repeated issues that she has been facing with her son's daycare for a long time.
@RainaBrands/Twitter@RainaBrands/Twitter
In her first tweet, Dr. Brands writes: "Our son has been in daycare since the beginning of the year. If he is sick and needs to come home early, they call me. If they want to give him paracetamol, they call me. If he has injured himself they call me. So what?
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"I have repeatedly asked them to call my partner first. I have asked them to put a note on my file about that. I have asked the manager. Today they called and I asked them to always call my partner first and 2 hours later THEY CALLED ME AGAIN."
The professor - who also works with women to help "de-bias their careers" - continued: "What makes this more absurd is the fact that my partner has always been the main point of contact! He filled out all of the forms, he did all of the settling-in sessions, and he drops our son off every morning. But they are incapable of viewing him as a primary caregiver."
Dr. Brands added: "When I say gender inequality is a self-reinforcing system, this is what I'm talking about."
Dr. Brands Twitter thread went viral as many other parents were able to relate with it and people came forward to share their own childcare struggles.
"My husband is the [point of contact] for our kids. He and I were hanging out one day - my phone was upstairs. When I finally got it, there were THIRTEEN MISSED CALLS FROM THE SCHOOL. My kid had thrown up and instead of calling him, they left increasingly hostile messages," one person wrote.
They continued: "'Ma'am, we need [you] to come get your daughter.' 'We've called several times and don't want to have to interrupt your husband.' 'If you don't respond to this message, we're going to have to let your husband know you were unavailable to care for your kid.' I. was. livid."
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One father added: "I’m a stay home dad. Primary caregiver to the kids. My wife is a busy corporate executive and they still insist on calling her first. Often she can’t take the call, so they’ll try her again later rather than call me like they should. It is beyond frustrating and disrespectful."
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Sharing another example of gender bias, one woman wrote: "Our daycare has been great all along, knows my husband is the person who is available, not me. But I met with a financial advisor and they asked for my husband to be present. I said, no, this is my career, I’m here to talk about my finances. They didn’t get it, so I walked out."
Have you ever come across this kind of gender discrimination? Let us know about your experiences in the comments section.