SALT LAKE CITY — The first photo shows Gretchen Goldman — who is research director for the Center of Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists and has a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology — during a Monday interview with CNN.
She was on air to critique the appointment of David Legates, a University of Delaware professor of climatology, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Goldman, a scientist and mother of two young boys, appeared in her professional-looking canary yellow blazer and is seated in front of a blanket-covered couch. Vacation photos hang against a cream-painted wall in the background.
The second photo shows the reality of Goldman’s cable news-studio-from-home surroundings. Toys are scattered everywhere. Her computer is resting on a chair stacked atop a coffee table. And the busy mom’s yellow blazer is paired with black shorts and sandals.
Scientist and
mother Gretchen Goldman never expected her message to go viral.
“It’s really neat to see the response,
especially from moms and other parents struggling right now,” she said in a
telephone interview.
Goldman and
her husband — who is also a working scientist — are raising 2- and 4-year-old
boys in their D.C. home. She laughs when she says she and her husband are “just
trying to put out fires” with the two boys at their demanding ages.
“I wanted to be honest about the situation
that we are all struggling with now and make it more visible that parents are
dealing with these challenges right now.”
Goldman hopes
her viral tweet can help normalize the existence of children in workspaces and
the idea that people are caregivers, as well as employees.
The life of a
working parent isn’t easy, but the pandemic has made things more difficult,
Goldman said.
Parents,
especially moms, have the “added challenges and burdens and mental load that is
required to care for kids and also be expected to be in the workforce. And the
way that parents have made that work is by having external support and that’s
been removed in this situation for the pandemic. I think the stress of all of
that really makes parents exhausted by 5 p.m. everyday,” she said.
From Deseret News
