Many working mothers see how our rights as mothers and workers falter and worse, it seems that if you are a mother in this society you should focus on being one, closing the doors to other aspects of life, or if not closing them, putting it a lot more complicated. And what to say about if you are an autonomous mother, then things get more complicated ... it seems that the obstacles are enlarging without the right to anything or hardly anything. But today, we want to address the issue of student mothers, another struggle.
Mireia Cabanillas is 24 years old and a mother. Her situation at the university has caught our attention, but not because she is a mother, nor because she takes her baby to class so she can study and think about the future she wants to give her baby and of course, to carve out your own future. But because of the struggle he has had to face at the university where he is enrolled.
The case of Mireia
Mireia is studying the last course of Pedagogy at a University of Barcelona and she is the mother of a beautiful eleven month old girl. She has been going to class with her baby normally, but it seems that at the university this did not seem very good since they have sent her a letter expressly asking her not to take her daughter to classes anymore.
It may be a nuisance for some partners when the baby is crying or hungry, or perhaps it interrupts the class and the professor feels in the position to continue or stop the class ... But these are not the reasons that the university has commented in the letter to Mireia. In the letter they tell you that your baby is not covered by any insurance and that you must also respect that other students receive classes in 'optimal' conditions. Mireia does not understand this situation since her group of friends and classmates support her -even the professors- and also, it is known that many people can access the campus without having any insurance.
There were many people who have supported her from the beginning, because really if you are the mother of a baby it is the right of every woman to be with him all the time. Nobody can force you to leave your baby in a nursery if you do not want to or that third parties have to take care of him or feed him while you are doing other tasks. But it seems that in our society, there is still a little way to understand that mothers have the right to be with their babies while they study. They are not working in front of the public, it is not a job that endangers the safety of the mother, the baby or other people ... It is a class, where a teacher explains, the students listen, learn and interact ... and if the baby wakes up or is hungry, it is the mother's responsibility to take care of him and no one else.
Mireia will continue taking her daughter to class until she is forced to do otherwise. since she doesn't want to leave him with someone else. The university has offered her the option of taking the one-time evaluation, but she followed it the previous year and it was very difficult for her to combine her studies with motherhood. For now, Mireia will take her daughter first thing in the morning, which coincides with the little girl's nap and she sleeps, then the grandmother goes to pick her up until school is over. The grandmother is taking care of the little girl within the faculty, which is still within the university campus, but it seems that this way, nobody is bothered.
Helping student mothers
Instead of making it easier for young mothers, they seem to make it increasingly difficult, or at least more difficult than other mothers who are not in a similar situation. It is not fair that mothers should feel discriminated just for being mothers, if they are mothers should they postpone their training? What if what they want is to combine their studies with motherhood? What happens if a mother does not have the facility for others to take care of her baby? What if you don't want others to take care of your baby?
A mother who decides to go to university is to improve her future and therefore also that of her baby. For this reason, it is necessary that their rights are equal or that they at least be given facilities to combine their studies with motherhood. It is clear that they decided to be mothers, they also decided to be students and both things should be respected equally because they are rights of any woman.
One idea to be able to help these mothers is that within the university - and close to their mothers who will be able to pick them up or pick them up whenever they need it - there is a space suitable for babies, such as a nursery. Mireia also thinks that this solution would be adequate and it really isn't that complicated. A baby-friendly classroom with qualified staff would be great, and it shouldn't cost the university any additional costs, there might even be a symbolic price so that mothers could pay it and that babies are well cared for at all times.
The example of Professor Sydney Engelberg: a lesson in law
No mother should choose between her children and her education, this is what many of us think and also Professor Sydney Engelberg. While I was teaching a master's class, a baby began to cry and when the mother did not calm down, she got up to leave ashamed, but the teacher was not willing for this to happen. So she held her baby in her arms to calm him down while teaching the master's class. Sydney Engelberg is a teacher who allows his students who are mothers to come to class with their babies and also to breastfeed them if necessary.
The important thing in our society is to reach agreements where we are all well, and for this, solutions must be sought where both parties come out well. The university, mothers and babies. But the best, that there are more and more positive cases.