Lack of childcare at Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2013

[Louise Forsyth]

Dear colleagues,

I sent you a message an hour or so ago inviting you to sign a petition
opposing the abolition of day care services at Congress. For some reason,
the web address in my message does not work.

I am here sending you a copy of the message which I received through PAR-L
from the wonderful Dr. Wendy Robbins. I believe that the address in her
message should work for you.

Regards,

Louise

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Policy Action Research List/Liste politique action recherche
[mailto:PAR-L at LISTSERV.UNB.CA] De la part de Wendy J. Robbins
Envoyé : 3 avril 2013 10:03
À : PAR-L at LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Objet : [PAR-L] Lack of childcare at Congress of Social Sciences and
Humanities, 2013

I am forwarding this message as it no doubt concerns large numbers of
academics across Canada;  it was circulated by CACLALS (Canadian Association
for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies), of which I am a member.

Yours,
Wendy Robbins
wjr at unb.ca

Last year, at Congress 2012 in Waterloo, in contrast to previous years, no
child care was available to the children of attendees.  Currently, no
arrangements have been made to offer child care at Congress 2013.  The
decision to stop offering childcare limits the ability of graduate students
and faculty members to attend Congress, arguably the most prestigious
academic event in the social sciences and humanities in Canada, one which is
central to hiring, promotion and tenure. This is an equity issue that
particularly impacts women and young academics.  Please join the campaign to
bring affordable child care back to Congress by signing the petition below:

http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/canadian-federation-for-the-humanities
-and-social-sciences-offer-affordable-childcare-to-attendees-at-the-annual-c
ongress

Thank you for your support!  I know that this is not a matter directly
related to CACLALS per se, but any attempt to curtail diversity and equity
at our academic gatherings concerns us all.

Best,


Dr. Anna Guttman
Associate Professor
Department of English
Lakehead University