Emily Mcewen, consultant
Proposal Type
Working Group
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Advocacy
- Reflections on the Field
Abstract
We are looking to form a working group examining the unique pressures faced by mothers and primary child caregivers within the public history field. In exploring these pressures, we would like to discuss and brainstorm how as a discipline we can work to provide parents with more support and resources. How can the public history field act as a “thread of change” within this pressing national conversation about how to better support working parents?
Description
In this working group we hope to open a dialogue about the challenges faced by new parents working in the public history profession and work toward establishing goals/practices for supporting parents in the field. The American Association for State and Local History began a conversation about these issues in “Baby Boom: Motherhood and Museums,” a two-part blog published in 2016 and 2017, which has become one of their most popular blog posts to date. We seek to extend this conversation and begin to work toward tangible goals and solutions.
Potential topics to discuss include:
• The push for more advanced education often means delayed parenthood and the need to balance a new career in public history with new parenthood.
• Inadequate parental leave (paid and unpaid) at smaller institutions and for independent consultants.
• Inflexible hours or the need to work nontraditional hours and put in overtime.
• Push/pull factors for “opting out” of the field after having children and how to remain relevant in the field or return to the field after an extended leave rearing children. How can public history institutions support new parents so that they don’t “opt out”?
• Struggles of breastfeeding/pumping in the often unique work environments of public history jobs, such as historic parks, historic house museums, and small museums.
• Lower wages that do not cover child care costs.
The proposed co-facilitators, Sue Hall-Nguyen and Emily McEwen, completed their Ph.D.s in Public History at University of California-Riverside in 2013 and 2014 and have worked in various capacities in the public history field. Each have recently reevaluated their public history career goals and trajectories as they raise young children.
We are interested in general feedback on this topic idea and and are also looking for other potential working group participants — new parents, parents who returned to public history work after taking a hiatus, professionals who have found ways for their organizations to best support their working parents.”
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Emily McEwen, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Emily, I think this is such an important topic to explore, especially as millennials as a whole continue to have children later in life. My only suggestion would be to possibly open the discussion up to primary care givers of elder or disabled family members. I would suspect they will have many of the same concerns and difficulties as mothers and primary care givers of children.
Rebecca,
Thank you very much for the feedback. Yes, opening up the discussion to primary caregivers in general would definitely enrich the conversation and broaden the discussion. I am sure a good majority of people working in the field are currently, or have at some point, dealt with these issues. And, as you said, there are so many parallels. Thank you!
Hi Emily – great idea and perhaps think about situating it within a broader discussion about the gendered nature of public history ie the predominance of women in the field?
Tanya,
Yes, that will definitely be a guiding element in the discussions if the working group is accepted. Thank you!