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I am 3 weeks postpartum, on maternity leave, & have been asked by many different people to do just this one small task. These things have added up so that I’m working daily on other people’s stuff while not sleeping with a 3 week old. Academic culture has a serious problem.
And yes, I need to learn to say “no” more forcefully and repeatedly.
But seriously, people, stop asking or expecting people to do work when they’re on parental leave. Especially people who have just given birth.
This is all made worse by the college’s changing covid plans & my need to fill out surveys & attend meetings about when, what, & how I’ll be teaching this fall. I don’t want others making those plans for me, but it’s additional work on me when I should be caring for myself & baby
I have totally ignored a handful of requests & some collaborators, letting my maternity leave auto reply speak for me. And I feel guilty about that, and still have a pile of work expected of me.
People keep telling me I need to say “no.” But how exactly is a pre-tenure prof supposed to say no to upper level admin? Senior colleagues who may write letters for tenure? Collaborators who insist the paper be submitted by x date or they’re off the project?
