Supporting Women Scholars at Overseas Research Centers
Margaret Cohen, W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
January 2018
[The following thoughts are my reflections on outfitting the residence with skirt hangers. I am not an employee of AIAR, nor do I have any authority regarding policy.]
Skirt hangers. In 2016-17 several hostel rooms were renovated to include en suite bathrooms and improve less sexy elements such as the placement and quality of electrical wiring, plumbing pipes and vents. In the final stages of the reno, after all the paint and finishes were done, it was time to pick out furniture, linens, light fixtures and appoint the rooms for arriving residents. Into the newly finished and painted closets went laundry baskets and extra blankets and new hangers. Including a handful of skirt hangers in each room.
Supporting women in our discipline is in some ways not difficult. At AIAR, we have worked to make our visiting scholars more welcome in all sorts of ways. We have made significant upgrades to the physical plant, including replacing a failing roof, more reliable internet, improved campus security, and proper lecture, conference and meeting spaces. We have upgraded the “personal effects” of the institute with new linens, individual carrel lights in the library, new supplies for kitchen and dining, and Apple TVs in the apartments. We have expanded our public reach by using contemporary outlets such as social media, online video content, and thereby better celebrating our fellows’ work.
But the most important way to change the ethos of who is welcome—and the one that costs nothing—is to simply say it. Women and men with children, you are welcome to be a fellow here. Humans who are gender non-conforming, you are welcome to be a fellow here. Scholars with a partner who needs or wants to travel with you, you are welcome to be a fellow here. Single, independent people, you are welcome to be a fellow here. Young and old with physical challenges, you are welcome to be a fellow here. Old, white men, you too are welcome to be a fellow here.
In our three and half years here, we have already seen examples of all of these types of scholars and they all belong here. I’m no wide-eyed optimist; just because you are welcome in a place, doesn’t mean that it is always easy. It is hard work to parent young children at the Albright, but it is possible, and if you are a fellowship recipient and willing to try it, we will do what we can to help. It is not easy to get around Jerusalem or even parts of the Albright with physical challenges, but if you feel like you are willing to try it, we will try to do our part.
The challenge of overseas fellowships for women with children is especially challenging. Forget about the fact that it was hard to find a skirt hanger at the Albright. Will you be accepted as a legitimate fellow if you come with your family or child? Or will you be looked at as a mom who is playing at scholarship? Will other residents resent your child when she attends all-campus events? Like so many things, this relies on messages from the top. When it is clear from the Director and senior staff that children are not a hindrance to active participation as an Albright Fellow, then it becomes clear to anyone at the Institute that fellows with children are still “real” fellows. And when it is clear some people with children are women, and some scholars are also women, and some of those exist in the overlapping portion of this Venn diagram, then all members of the Albright community must accept that women, with or without children, may be present here at any time doing their work. And, and pay attention, this one’s tricky, some people in our discipline are partners with another person in our discipline. And they may or may not have children. OMG. What if they BOTH want to come to the Albright? Yes, it happens. And they are both scholars. And maybe the woman (or one of the women) is what blogger M. Blazon dubbed the "default parent," but she might also be running an excavation. It’s all possible. And it all exists. Sometimes even in Jerusalem.