Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1337485
' M A L U C K Y woman in this pandemic: My teens handle Zoom classes, homework and their meals largely on their own (cleanup is another matter). And I'm able to do my job remotely. Even so, with work, errands and obligations, and caring for an elderly relative who recently moved in, my days are tiring, and time to relax and regroup is scarce. So I'm not surprised that in the past year hundreds of thousands more women than men have left the workforce, as females still shoulder most of the responsibility for family and child rearing, particularly with young children. (Sometimes, it's not a choice. Women are dispropor- tionately employed in the service and health care industries, which have been hardest hit by layoffs.) Fe m a l e e d u c a t o r s h av e b e e n a f f e c t e d a s w e l l , a s o u r s t o r y "Women Educators Caught in a Bind" (page 32) shows. In July, Erika Martinez, who has multiple sclerosis, resigned her teaching posi- tion rather than risk her and her family's safety when her school moved to resume in-person instruction. "I want to be a role model for my daughter and show her a woman can succeed as much as a man," says Martinez, who at the time was president of Liberty Teachers Association. "But being a woman is hard . We have to juggle it all . And the pandemic is stretching us very, very thin." Other women educators, concerned about safety and also lacking day care or facing impossible school schedules for themselves and their children, have taken unpaid leaves or cut back hours, despite financial hardships. e silver lining? Unions, where female educators and women in gen- eral fare much better than their non-union counterparts. As noted by the Century Foundation in a recent report, unions "are helping workers survive the pandemic by negotiating safety standards, pay improve- ments, and contract provisions that help blunt the effects of layoffs, as well as serving as a powerful voice in local, state and national conver- sations about workplace issues." That Silver Lining For me, and millions of parents, all educators are the silver lining. Your boundless generosity and enthusiasm are exemplified by Shadlie Kensrue ("Dose of Hope," page 19). School nurse Kensrue is using her expertise in the COVID-19 crisis, volunteering evenings and week- ends to administer vaccines — and hoping to soon get her needles into the arms of fellow educators. The brave and nimble teachers in "Tales From the Trenches" (page 26) somehow manage simultaneous and asynchronous instruction and more. "I feel like I 'm spinning plates in the air!" exclaims junior high math teacher Denise McLean. "People on the outside don't realize how much work it is," says high school science instructor Michael Lee. "I feel like an octopus," says fifth grade teacher Corey Morton, as she carries equipment around the classroom (iPad to show online students what in-person students are seeing; protec- tive plastic partition when she needs to help kids up close; and so on). It may be a "three-ring circus," as Morton says, but you are making it work. Your flexibility, your sense of humor, your unshakable drive to impart knowledge to our stu- dents give us all hope for a better tomorrow. And that is what educators have always done. Katharine Fong E D I T O R I N C H I E F editor@cta.org Many women educators have been forced to choose between career and family. Getty Images I 6 cta.org E D I T O R ' S N O T E