Welcome to Gaia! ::

She's getting two nine-hour test days for her learning disabilities, so 18 hours in total. It's not that she's forbidden from expressing milk or breastfeeding, it's that she's not allowed extra time on top of what she already has. If she knows her stuff, then it shouldn't be a problem to express milk at least once during the exam. Because honestly, everything I've read about mastitis up to this point attributes the condition to more of a bacterial cause or blocked ducts from improper feeding, not just "omg I havent given breastmilk in a few hours."

She can still alternate between expressing milk and using previously stored milk to save time and avoid discomfort/risks. She already took the exam once and failed it; she should know at least the gist of the material by now. And it's like not the baby is going to be demanding to be fed for the entirety of those 18 hours.

But then you have to wonder about who's going to take care of her at the test center for 18 hours, because eating isn't all she's going to do. Seriously, hiring a sitter (as the mother probably does with her firstborn, as she had two in two years) and giving them bottled breastmilk would've been a better solution from the start.

Well, the wording of the article makes it seem like both options are being considered.

To be fair, every woman is different. And, many people live their lives in constant pain. I do, and I take my tests without any whining.

I, personally, don't think that this is what it's about. I think this whole thing is about her wanting to get her way/get everything that she wants. With some forethought, she could have avoided this. She could have either waited to have her second child, or she could have waited until said child is weaned to take her test. She didn't, and now she's crabbing about it.

I also fail to see why they are obligated to relieve her pain. She should relieve her own pain, and I think it's something that she should confine to her time. She'll live, and she may even be better for it (which was my point about other people who spend their entire LIVES in pain, as opposed to this woman who may only spend a couple of hours in pain).

You sound like a lifer.

"She could have avoided it. She should have. She should have waited until later, or never even had kids, or never got pregnant in the first place!"

"Why should we help her? Why should we relieve her pain? It's not like she'll die if we don't! She should suffer, suffering builds character."

Pain can only be felt by the person experiencing it. We have no right to dismiss her pain. We also have no right to tell her when and whether or not she should reproduce. I thought that members of this guild would know that.

All she's asking for is a longer break to feed her child and make herself comfortable. I don't see any reason not to make an exception for this.

And no one's forcing her not to express milk, or else they wouldn't be giving her a separate room. No one's telling her that she can't be a working woman because she had kids. If she's been given 18 hours to finish a test that is normally expected to be written in half that time, what more does she need? Answer for approximately 2 1/2 hours. Express milk for 30 minutes. Answer for 2 1/2 hours. Express milk again. Answer for 2 1/2 hours. Express milk in the last 30 minutes before she goes home. Take a personal break for eating/going to the bathroom somewhere in the middle because she has the next day to finish anyway. Of course, this is assuming that having milk in your tits is the worst kind of pain and risk that any woman could ever hope to imagine.

If she can't complete the entire thing in the extra time given and/or if her learning disabilities are that bad, then she wasn't cut out to be a medical researcher in the first place. Her daughter is four months old, and won't be put off breastmilk until the recommended six months. I highly doubt that the place offering her residency will bend to a condition where she's allowed to drop everything and express milk every two hours on the job, so waiting a couple of months to do the exam again isn't going to kill her.

Choosing to be a mother and choosing to be a doctor were both equally valid choices. But why should her first choice have to impede on those who want a fair exam to be able to make it in such a competitive field? She has to earn her right to work in the medical profession under a standardized testing environment, just like everyone else. Did she think that being a mother suddenly exempted her from meeting strict educational requirements or criticism of time management and work ethic?

This isn't like squabbling over maternity leave or denying a woman the right to work for having a child, because temporary absence is a part of any job and the employee fulfilled her obligations to get company benefits in return. Now, is she disabled? In poverty? Is doing the exam later than planned going to put her at some sort of serious jeopardy although she can't even work properly until she stops producing milk? Did she do something to deserve an advantage over every exam participant, although she certainly isn't the first nursing mother taking this exam? Seriously.

When you make a personal choice, you're going to have to realize that not everyone is going to be able to bend over backwards for you. And when your personal choices start affecting other people, then it's no longer personal, is it?

Bingo. I just can't support it for that reason.



*nods* That's why. I can't just ignore the fact that no matter what, a woman has it harder when it comes to parenthood. They have a greater burden, why not make accomodations for that?



Not explicitly, no. But they are making it a helluva lot harder for her to be a working mother.



Oh, so a woman has to be in absolute agony for us to care about her pain, now? Huh... kinda like how a lifer would say she has to be dying to get an abortion, and shrug off anything less than that as a mere "inconvenience."



I'll concede to you on that point. That's a reasonable argument. If she is asking for anything excessive for a breastfeeding woman with learning disabilities, then it is reasonable to deny her more extra time. However, I don't think we can objectively measure how much extra time is necessary. Not all women express milk at the same rate.



That, right there, is what bothers me about this argument. If she's asking too much, then it's reasonable not to give her that much. But you can make that argument without implying that she is somehow selfish, irresponsible and spoiled for wanting more time. It's too much like what the lifers say about women who want or have had abortions.



*shrugs* Well, it doesn't seem excessive to me to accomodate her. Maybe there are facts I need to know, but it doesn't seem to me that asking for more extra time is an inconvenience to anybody else.



Like ShadowIce said, it's attitudes like that that contribute to keeping women out of work. And, probably, the wage gap. Women are always going to have more of a burden when it comes to parenthood, just on a physical level. Then, add to that people's unwillingness to help them with this burden, you're keeping women away from work.



Yes, life will test you, and hurt you, and sometimes just blatantly ******** you over. But that doesn't mean we should make it any harder by not helping those who need it.

Again, it's like pro-punishment logic. "Being forced to have the baby will only help her. It's what's best for her in the long run. Besides, it'll teach her that she can't just have sex for pleasure or any reason other than procreation ever again!"