Rosie Perez, an assistant professor in the School of Education, shared her personal experiences as a mother at this week’s Feminist Friday. The event was held in the Sloss House at 1:00 p.m., with conversation centered on the areas in which college institutions fail to accommodate faculty and students with children.

Perez told the audience how women with children in college are more likely to drop out, are more discouraged from pursuing and completing degrees, are more likely to earn more debt and are less likely to get tenure positions.

“Across the board, if you have a baby, you are more likely to bear the consequences,” said Perez.

Perez had a daughter while working on her dissertation at the University of Michigan. When she was hired at Iowa State, Perez brought her daughter with her to get her staff identification card because she couldn’t find a babysitter.

“I had to bring her along to get my faculty photo and luckily, my photo turned out alright. What you can’t see is me trying to wrestle a 2-year-old between my legs and trying to smile,” said Perez.

Perez went on to discuss the misconceptions surrounding parent students.

“There are a lot of assumptions about what I can or cannot handle. People tell me, “wow, I could never do that” or “oh, you probably don’t have time for that,” said Perez.

Perez is a professor to graduate students, and she often gets asked by students and faculty how to balance it all.

“I let balance go a long time ago. There is this myth that there’s a point in time where everything is in perfect harmony. I focus more on work/life negotiation. I focus more on compromise.”

A topic of great discussion among the crowd was the number of childcare facilities in the Ames area and how competitive the wait lists are.

“We are in dire need of more childcare. As this town has grown with staff, community members and new students, the amount of childcare resources available hasn’t,” said Perez.

Perez gave a list of policies and practices that college institutions could implement to better support mothers in the academy. These included: parental leave, flexible work schedules, varied course times, childcare assistance and financial support for childcare, children in class or at work, campus childcare, spaces to nurse and change diapers, family friendly departments. Parent policies in professors syllabi, training and discussions for students and staff related to sexism and cissexism.

“I think we all should try to be mindful of students and faculty who are parents,” said Perez. “What resources do we have to help them? And how can we help them more?”