I heard on the news this morning on the way to work that a Harvard student was suing about something. Since that's about all I heard about it, naturally I went to look up the story when I got home (as if I don't have enough to keep me busy as it is). Apparently, a Harvard med student sought extra time to take her medical boards because she has to breast feed her young child. Accusing the board of being discriminatory against her gender, she obviously decided to sue rather than bottle up some milk and let her husband take care of it while she took the test. See Court Rules Lactating Student Won't Get Extra Break During Licensing Exam.
While most of the constitutional law surrounding gender law has escaped me since July, I sort of remember this being an intermediately scrutinized, which basically screws this mother over except in certain situations. More relevant to my current work though, I see her argument as potentially becoming moot since the exam apparently is going to happen Monday and Tuesday and if she passes, what would she be seeking as her remedy? So that I don't get into too much trouble in this topic, I will keep my remaining comments brief. I certainly feel empathy for young mothers and women in general who face barriers such as this one that make juggling professional life and family difficult enough without the worry of a board exam. At the same time, I'm not sure that the need to breast-feed a child really rises to the level of warranting extra time for a standardized test. Dr. Currier's blog can be found here, and you can decide for yourself.
I'm also not sure that I agree with Dr. Currier's contention that this ruling will deter future women from pursuing medical careers. That's a bit of a leap, isn't it? According to the AAMC, enrollment is pretty close to a 50/50 ratio now. While I concede the ease to manipulate statistics to support your point, I think I've read more than one report that more women are entering the medical profession as M.D.s and D.O.s then men.
All of this aside, I see this as more of a legislative problem than a legal one. As the article points out, "[a] federal Breastfeeding Promotion Act now pending in Congress would protect breast-feeding women from being fired or discriminated against, and provide tax incentives for employers who set aside areas for women to nurse or pump milk." I'm sure Dr. Currier could better serve her cause by petitioning her respective board of bar examiners, perhaps with the assistance of other groups mentioned in the article, to change the rule rather than have to litigate the basis for not having it. Then again, sometimes this type of suit is relevant and could push them in the direction a little sooner. In either case, I wish Dr. Currier luck in her boards and hope that she takes them, passes them, and continues to fight the battle after the fact. As I have previously written, nothing is gained but embarrassment if she makes a stand beforehand and winds up stumbling out of the gate.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
No extra time for the "disability" of having to feed your kid
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2 comments:
From Ms. Currier's blog entry comments, this appears to be a fairly charged issue. Given that the board was already accommodating her for ADHD/Dyslexia, I'm not sure how much more time she was asking for. Other doctors and med students, including at least one in the same situation at the respective point in her career, commented that her request, quite frankly, is unreasonable. Obviously they are more familiar with the med board process than I.
The comments to her blog can be found here and you can judge for yourself.
I just want to point out that the whole conflict was the fact that she wanted to express the milk and bottle it to be used later - she didn't want her kid to come to the test, but breast milk comes in at certain times of day, and there's nothing a lactating mother can do about that. She was asking to be able to go express the milk in her breasts rather than having her child's food leak out during her exam.
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