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It may only be a proposal as yet but if HEFCE have proposed it then they clearly want to implement it. We just have to do whatever we can to stop that - and I agree with Haleh, surely we can argue that this is so discriminatory as to potentially be in breach of the law? I'm really glad someone is going to raise this with the UCU because after the email exchanges yesterday I suddenly thought surely this is actually a union issue? This affects all female academics who want to have children, not just those of us in Politics, so it seems to me this is an equality issue that our union should be fighting tooth and nail. Miranda ================================== Dr Miranda Alison Associate Professor Department of Politics & International Studies University of Warwick Gibbet Hill Coventry CV4 7AL Tel. +44-(0)24-76523104 Office B1.07, Social Sciences Building http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/alison/ <http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/alison/> ================================== Women and Political Violence: Female combatants in ethno-national conflict (London: Routledge, 2009): http://www.routledge.co.uk/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?curTab=DESCRIPTION&id=&parent_id=&sku=&isbn=9780415363136&pc= ________________________________ From: psa women and politics group on behalf of PROF J LOVENDUSKI Sent: Tue 28/06/2011 11:55 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Maternity leave and the REF Bear in mind that I think it is not yet a decision, is a proposal Professor Joni Lovenduski Sent from my iPad On 28 Jun 2011, at 10:31, "Rosie Campbell" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Dear Khursheed You are absolutely right, we must see what the consultation document says about part-time workers as soon as it's out. What I can't understand is that HEFCE commissioned this equality and diversity report evaluating the RAE (it covers part-time work, maternity leave and women) <http://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/files/equality-and-diversity-in-the-research-assessment-exercise-2008.pdf/view> http://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/files/equality-and-diversity-in-the-research-assessment-exercise-2008.pdf/view. Yet this 14mnth decision seems to reflect a complete lack of interest in promoting equality and diversity. Best Rosie Dr Rosie Campbell Senior Lecturer in Politics School of Politics and Sociology Birkbeck, University of London Malet Street, Bloomsbury London WC1E 7HX 020 7631 6785 ________________________________ From: psa women and politics group on behalf of Wadia, Khursheed Sent: Tue 6/28/2011 09:52 To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Maternity leave and the REF Hi all, I agree with all the previous emails that it's absolutely essential to fight against the HEFCE proposal which discriminates against women academics on maternity leave that goes beyond the usual 4 months. Can I also suggest that we think about what would be a fair number of publications for submission to the REF by part-time academics who are women for the most part? There was a section on this in the last RAE 2008 equal ops guidelines but few universities paid any attention to it and in practice part-time academics who had 2 or 3 good quality publications instead of 4 were left out of RAE submissions altogether. Khursheed. Dr Khursheed Wadia Principal Research Fellow Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL Tel: +44 (0)2476 523970 Fax: +44 (0)2476-524324 Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/staff/ <http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/staff/> Recent Publications: Refugee Women in Britain and France (with Gill Allwood), Manchester University Press, 2010. http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/catalogue/book.asp?id=1204622 <http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/catalogue/book.asp?id=1204622> Gender and Policy in France (with Gill Allwood), Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=271331 <http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=271331> ________________________________ From: psa women and politics group on behalf of Rainbow Murray Sent: Tue 28/06/2011 09:28 To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Subject: FW: Maternity leave and the REF UCU join the fight - thanks Liz! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Evans, Elizabeth <[log in to unmask]> Date: 28 June 2011 10:06 Subject: FW: Maternity leave and the REF To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> FYI - I'll let you know when I hear what they're planning to do. Best wishes Liz Dr Elizabeth Evans Lecturer in Politics School of Social Sciences Kingston University London <http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/faculty/staff/cv.php?staffnum=748> http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/faculty/staff/cv.php?staffnum=748 <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gender-Liberal-Democrats-Representing-Women/dp/0719083478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306496268&sr=8-1> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gender-Liberal-Democrats-Representing-Women/dp/0719083478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306496268&sr=8-1 ________________________________________ From: Ann Blair [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 28 June 2011 09:03 To: Evans, Elizabeth Subject: RE: Maternity leave and the REF Dear Elizabeth, I hadn't spotted this. I will pass on to the head of equality at UCU and make sure it is on our agenda for the next women members sub committee at the end of next week. Thanks for passing this on. Best wishes Ann -----Original Message----- From: Evans, Elizabeth [ <mailto:[log in to unmask]> mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 28 June 2011 08:52 To: Ann Blair Subject: FW: Maternity leave and the REF Dear Dr Blair, I'm the UCU Equality Rep at Kingston University, I wanted to draw your attention to the below. Are there any plans for UCU to oppose this? Best wishes Elizabeth Dr Elizabeth J.W. Evans Lecturer in Politics School of Social Sciences Kingston University London <http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/faculty/staff/cv.php?staffnum=748> http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/faculty/staff/cv.php?staffnum=748 <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gender-Liberal-Democrats-Representing-Women/dp/0719083478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306496268&sr=8-1> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gender-Liberal-Democrats-Representing-Women/dp/0719083478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306496268&sr=8-1 ________________________________________ From: psa women and politics group [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rainbow Murray [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 27 June 2011 16:07 To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Subject: Maternity leave and the REF For the attention of the Equality and Diversity working group of the PSA On behalf of the PSA Women and Politics group, I would like to express my profound objection to the proposal by HEFCE to extend to 14 months the length of maternity leave that must be taken before a scholar is eligible to submit three pieces in the next REF instead of the usual four. This is objectionable on a number of fronts. First and foremost, the typical paid maternity leave provision by universities is six months. In order to qualify for the reduction from four pieces to three, a female scholar would need to have three children during the REF cycle. This means that a scholar who has one or two children during the REF cycle would no longer be entitled to any allowances whatsoever for the disruption caused to her research. Nor is the reduction from four pieces to three an adequate compensation for the time lost in the event of three pregnancies. The likely outcome would be that a female scholar who had one or more pregnancies during the REF cycle would be ineligible for submission to the next REF, a policy that would combine sex and age discrimination and serve to wreak havoc with the careers of young female scholars. This is completely unacceptable and must be vociferously opposed by all in the profession. This policy is particularly damaging given the under-representation of women within political studies. The proposal is also to be criticised for its failure to take any account of paternity leave. All responsibility for child-rearing is assumed to lie with the mother. This risks penalising responsible fathers and reinforcing damaging gender divides, whereby the mother is expected to sacrifice her career in order to raise children while the father is unable to spend time with his children even if he wishes to do so. We trust that your working group will join our membership and other professional bodies in doing all that we can to oppose this regressive and discriminatory proposal and prevent it from becoming practice. Sincerely, Rainbow Murray On behalf of the PSA Women and Politics Group