We are all tired of COVID-19. The shift to virtual work and increased stress from worry about our families, friends, and events affecting people we may not even know has affected everyone. However, it has also uncovered lingering obstacles for women in our workforce. Data on representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and other college-dependent degree programs from the early 2000s were encouraging, but the effects of COVID have shown that translating those degrees into lasting careers is still problematic. Women’s attrition is often blamed on the “leaky pipeline” in STEM. This metaphor imagines women and other underrepresented groups slowly dropping out throughout their careers. Cornell University held a webinar in 2021 that used a slightly different metaphor to describe what happens in this transition from degree to career. The speaker asked us to imagine a colander and stated that some outdated career expectations, like a colander, are designed to retain some people and accelerate the loss of others (Cornell University 2021). As professionals in a STEM field, it’s important to examine these expectations and address them.

Pandemic-era data on job loss and rates of return to work for the United States suggest that women’s careers continue to be disrupted by childcare responsibilities more than men’s careers (these data are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [www.bls.gov] and reflect self-reported parental and gender status. The author acknowledges that the choices provided by the Bureau for self-reporting in 2019 and 2020 do not reflect the full spectrum of gender or parental roles). For parents of children under 5 years of age, 2.9% more female parents and 3.4% more male parents left the workforce in April 2020 compared to 2019 rates (Boesch et al. 2021). However, by November 2020, male parents had largely returned to work (difference of less than 0.8%) while female parents had not (remained at 2.8%; Boesch et al. 2021). This parental demographic underscores childcare needs, since most states do not have public pre-kindergarten. Therefore, children under 5 years require childcare services if parents wish to work. The data cover all levels of education, but even though men and women with 4-year degrees fared better, mothers disproportionately lost jobs and have not returned (Boesch et al. 2021). COVID presents a unique control in these data. Everyone is dealing with the pandemic, so why does the caregiving expectation colander seem to retain men while women pass on through and out of the workforce? I would argue that we need to acknowledge that STEM professionals make assumptions in our job and tenure expectations that either ignore persistent gender roles with respect to parenting and caregiving or make their discussion taboo at work.

I was very fortunate when deciding to have kids. Due to a mystical alignment, there were no less than six children born among my coworkers in about 3 years’ time. Pretty much everyone in my office of eight adults, moms and dads alike, was thinking about childcare. As a result, our office regularly talked about childcare challenges and options. We adapted our work expectations so that if someone was out because of a sick child (or lack of childcare), we adjusted workloads, encouraged working from home, and followed up on projects for each other. This was in no way seamless, but our collaborative solutions reduced stress, and our office functioned better and was more productive. Unfortunately, I am also aware of peers who were not as fortunate. I know of at least two female colleagues who, after having children, were told that they could either meet the full-time field schedule or leave their positions. Others reported being relegated to desk duties after becoming a mother without being involved in the discussion. I also am aware of female researchers who had to choose between publishing and keeping their jobs or parenting and losing their place on a team or tenure track. I personally know many women who left fish and wildlife careers specifically because of childcare responsibilities and a lack of career support. During my address at the AFS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, I talked about how colleagues and clients would noticeably downgrade how they viewed me as a professional if I mentioned I was a mother. I believe it is important to talk openly about my parental role and how it affected my career so these discussions will cease to be viewed as out-of-the-ordinary. My perspective is as a white, cis-gendered, two-parent family mother. My experience had challenges, but it was probably about as easy as most could hope for. However, any person should be able to talk about their family responsibilities at work and how they can adapt their schedule or responsibilities to meet them. I hope my kids will remember their trips in the field and to AFS meetings with me as their mom “being a full person” as described by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (2017) rather than a shortcoming.

COVID has forced pretty much everyone to make adaptations in how they work. As we look at some of the changes the pandemic has required, it is a good time to reflect on how adaptations like split schedules and virtual meetings may actually increase productivity. When COVID practices subside, continuing to provide resources and support during life changes including caregiving is an investment in retaining talent. It is not enough to recruit diverse talent into STEM degree programs. We must continue support efforts as students become professionals. Mentorship, employee resource groups, and support for professional networking, such as membership in AFS, are examples of best practices for employee retention for all underrepresented groups (IWGIS 2021). This column has focused on one inclusion issue I have experienced personally and have seen evolve somewhat over my career. However, the data show we still have a long way to go to overcome several outdated gender-associated obstacles. Perhaps it’s a good time to reflect on how our work has adapted over the past year or two, challenge our assumptions about what personnel should or can do at different life stages, and resolve to establish regular, open conversations on options before assuming individual preferences or capabilities.

我们都厌倦了 COVID-19。向虚拟工作的转变以及因担心我们的家人、朋友和影响我们甚至可能不认识的人的事件而增加的压力已经影响到每个人。然而，它也发现了我们劳动力中女性面临的挥之不去的障碍。2000 年代初期，女性在 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）和其他依赖大学的学位课程中的代表性数据令人鼓舞，但 COVID 的影响表明，将这些学位转化为持久的职业仍然存在问题。女性的流失经常被归咎于 STEM 中的“管道泄漏”。这个比喻想象女性和其他代表性不足的群体在他们的职业生涯中慢慢退出。康奈尔大学于 2021 年举办了一次网络研讨会，使用了一个略有不同的比喻来描述从学位到职业的转变过程中发生的事情。演讲者让我们想象一个滤锅，并指出一些过时的职业期望，如滤锅，旨在留住一些人并加速其他人的流失（康奈尔大学2021 年）。作为 STEM 领域的专业人士，检查这些期望并解决它们很重要。

大流行时期有关美国失业和重返工作岗位的数据表明，与男性相比，女性的职业继续受到育儿责任的干扰（这些数据来自美国劳工统计局 [www.bls.gov]并反映自我报告的父母和性别状况。作者承认，该局在 2019 年和 2020 年为自我报告提供的选择并未反映性别或父母角色的全部范围）。对于 5 岁以下儿童的父母，与 2019 年相比，2020 年 4 月离职的女性父母和男性父母分别增加了 2.9% 和 3.4%（Boesch 等人，2021 年）。然而，到 2020 年 11 月，男性父母大部分重返工作岗位（差异小于 0.8%），而女性父母则没有（保持在 2.8%；Boesch 等人。2021 年）。这种父母人口统计强调了儿童保育的需求，因为大多数州没有公立幼儿园。因此，如果父母希望工作，5 岁以下的儿童需要托儿服务。这些数据涵盖了所有教育水平，但即使拥有 4 年学位的男性和女性的情况更好，但母亲们却不成比例地失去了工作并且没有回来（Boesch et al. 2021）。COVID 在这些数据中提供了独特的控制。每个人都在应对这一流行病，那么为什么看护期望滤锅似乎留住了男性，而女性则在劳动力队伍中不断前进和退出呢？我认为我们需要承认，STEM 专业人士在我们的工作和任期期望中做出假设，要么忽略在育儿和照顾方面持续存在的性别角色，要么在工作中将他们的讨论作为禁忌。

在决定要孩子的时候，我很幸运。由于神秘的排列，在大约 3 年的时间里，我的同事中有不少于六个孩子出生。我办公室里的八个成年人，妈妈和爸爸，几乎每个人都在考虑儿童保育。因此，我们的办公室经常谈论托儿所面临的挑战和选择。我们调整了我们的工作期望，以便如果有人因为生病的孩子（或缺乏托儿服务）而外出，我们会调整工作量，鼓励在家工作，并为彼此跟进项目。这绝不是无缝的，但我们的协作解决方案减轻了压力，我们的办公室运作得更好，效率更高。不幸的是，我也知道没有那么幸运的同龄人。我知道至少有两个女同事在生完孩子后，被告知他们可以满足全职现场时间表或离开他们的职位。其他人报告说，在成为母亲后被降级为办公室工作而没有参与讨论。我还知道女性研究人员不得不在发表论文和保住工作或养育子女和失去在团队或任期轨道上的位置之间做出选择。我个人认识很多女性离开鱼类和野生动物职业，特别是因为育儿责任和缺乏职业支持。在巴尔的摩举行的 AFS 年会上我的讲话中，我谈到如果我提到我是一位母亲，同事和客户会如何显着降低他们对我作为专业人士的看法。我相信公开谈论我的父母角色以及它如何影响我的职业生涯是很重要的，这样这些讨论将不再被视为不寻常的。我的观点是作为一个白人、顺性别、双亲家庭的母亲。我的经历遇到了挑战，但这可能就像大多数人希望的那样简单。然而，任何人都应该能够谈论他们在工作中的家庭责任，以及他们如何调整自己的日程安排或责任来满足这些责任。我希望我的孩子们会记得他们在野外的旅行以及与我一起参加 AFS 会议，因为他们的妈妈“成为一个完整的人”，正如 Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 所描述的那样（任何人都应该能够谈论他们在工作中的家庭责任，以及他们如何调整自己的日程安排或责任来满足这些责任。我希望我的孩子们会记得他们在野外的旅行以及与我一起参加 AFS 会议，因为他们的妈妈“成为一个完整的人”，正如 Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 所描述的那样（任何人都应该能够谈论他们在工作中的家庭责任，以及他们如何调整自己的日程安排或责任来满足这些责任。我希望我的孩子们会记得他们在野外的旅行以及与我一起参加 AFS 会议，因为他们的妈妈“成为一个完整的人”，正如 Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 所描述的那样（2017 ) 而不是缺点。

COVID 迫使几乎每个人都对他们的工作方式进行调整。当我们看到大流行所需要的一些变化时，现在是反思拆分日程和虚拟会议等调整如何实际提高生产力的好时机。当 COVID 实践消退时，在包括看护在内的生活变化期间继续提供资源和支持是对留住人才的投资。仅仅招募多元化人才进入 STEM 学位课程是不够的。随着学生成为专业人士，我们必须继续支持努力。指导、员工资源组和对专业网络的支持，例如 AFS 成员资格，是所有代表性不足的群体保留员工的最佳实践示例（IWGIS 2021）。本专栏重点关注我个人经历过的一个包容性问题，并且在我的职业生涯中看到了一些变化。然而，数据显示，要克服几个过时的性别相关障碍，我们还有很长的路要走。也许现在是反思过去一两年我们的工作如何适应的好时机，挑战我们对人员在不同生命阶段应该或可以做什么的假设，并决心在假设个人偏好或假设之前就选项建立定期、公开的对话。能力。