The university, says one employee, is "acting like they gave us this privilege to watch our children while we worked — when that's literally what I had to do." (Photo: Shutterstock)

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused a great deal of attention on the plight of working mothers, and the ever more precarious balance they have to strike between work and child care. With economies taking steps toward reopening and then having to retreat, keeping that balance is still important for many American mothers. Although several companies have adjusted policies so mothers could be flexible during the pandemic, there are signs that flexibility may be disappearing.

According to The Lily, an email was sent at the end of June to employees of Florida State University. "In March 2020, the University communicated a temporary exception to policy which allowed employees to care for children at home while on the Temporary Remote Work agreement," it read. "Effective, August 7, 2020, the University will return to normal policy and will no longer allow employees to care for children while working remotely."

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Jenny Root, an assistant professor of special education at the school, took to Twitter to express her astonishment.

With COVID-19 cases skyrocketing in Florida at the end of June, day care options were off the table for Root. The university, she told The Lily, is "acting like they gave us this privilege to watch our children while we worked — when that's literally what I had to do."

After coming in for some drubbing on Twitter, the university sent a new email, specifying that the policy only "applies to employees whose job duties require them to be on campus full-time during normal business hours," and specifically excludes professors. The clarification only increased confusion and anger at the school from its employees, who said the policy targets those who don't have the same kind of job security tenured professors do. Because the university did not send a list of positions exempt from the policy, multiple tenure-track professors were unable to state with certainty whether or not it applied to them.

Tenured professors added their voices to the growing chorus of concern. Katrinell Davis, a tenured professor in the sociology and African American studies departments at FSU, said she suspected that when the policy was constructed, there were "no women at the table who are working a split shift between work and home."

"As a mother, it's difficult to know that the university really doesn't understand what it takes to be a mother," Davis also said.

Sociologist Caitlyn Collins, who studies gender and families at Washington University in St. Louis, said women are the most likely to make professional sacrifices when child care options are limited or absent. "Even in the most egalitarian-meaning households, the domestic sphere will still fall primarily on women's shoulders," she said.

In a statement provided to The Lily, Renisha Gibbs, associate vice president for human resources at FSU, wrote, "As FSU looks toward resuming normal campus operations — as conditions allow — we felt a responsibility to provide our employees notice of our intention to return to our standard telecommuting agreement that requires dependent or child-care arrangements while working remotely. If employees do not have day care options or choose not to send their children to school in the fall, they should work with their supervisors to identify a flexible work schedule that allows them to fulfill their work duties and their family responsibilities."

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Richard Binder

Richard Binder, based in New York, is part of the social media team at ALM. He is also a 2014 recipient of the ASPBE Award for Excellence in the Humorous/Fun Department.