At this year’s INTO Congress there are many women with very young children and it is quite common to see breastfeeding mothers.
It has to do with parental leave. Currently, teachers requesting parental leave must take it in blocks of at least one week.
The union wants the Department of Education to allow teachers to do this in smaller increments, say one day a week.
This morning’s resolution passed unanimously and union leaders say they will strengthen their hands.
“It would be hugely beneficial for us”, Deirdre, who has two more small children, explains, reports RTE.
It shouldn’t be uncommon to see breastfeeding moms at an elementary school teachers’ conference, but it is.
About 85% of primary school teachers are women and many of them are young.
Killarney has a large number of representative women.
Still, I don’t recall the scene of mothers feeding babies in Congress from years past.
There is a renewed confidence and willingness to speak out on gender issues that were previously swept under the rug.
Another motion this morning relates to menopause.
At the same time, Michelle McChrystal from Derry decided to speak out on the subject.
It was the first time she had spoken from the stage at a conference like this, but she wanted to help break the silence.
“I am one of the 43% who have spent the last ten years struggling with symptoms of the menopause”, she said, referring to a survey carried out by the union, reports RTE.
Michelle described losing her confidence, quitting two promotion positions and switching to a four-day work week due to anxiety and stress.
“Temperature and ventilation, adequacy and adjacency of toilet facilities, a comfortable staffroom, and something as simple as the availability of cold drinking water”, another speaker Siobhán Buckley told delegates were the simple measures schools needed to think about, reports RTE.
This resolution was also passed without a dissenting vote.
The prohibitive cost of childcare prompted her to make the decision.
They work every other week, which allows them to take full care of their son, Cillian.
Teaching is a career that lends itself well to parenting, and given that women carry most of the burden of parenthood, it’s no wonder women are so attracted to the profession.
But they still have to face obstacles because of their gender.
About 85% of primary school teachers are women, but only two-thirds of primary school principals, reports RTE.
Although men make up less than 15% of the field, they make up a third of all school leaders in this field.
There’s a lot of work to do.
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