To commemorate Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12, the University of Guelph offers the expertise of the following researchers in parenting, work-life balance and the health issues of motherhood.
They are available for media interviews.
Leanne Son-Hing
Department of Psychology
Email: sonhing@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 54475
Son-Hing has researched the so-called “mommy penalty” that many women face in their careers every time they choose to leave the workforce to have a baby. Most recently, she has researched how women in the medical profession respond to work-life conflict and the stress and guilt they feel, as well as the strategies they found helped with work-life conflict.
Samantha Brennan
Department of Philosophy
Email: sjbrennan@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 53301
Brennan, dean of U of G’s College of Arts, believes that fitness is a feminist issue and one that every mother and every woman is entitled to. In the book she co-authored, Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, she writes about how sport and exercise tend to get placed on the back burner for women once they have children, but this isn’t necessarily the case for men. She urges women to take up a type of exercise and to learn to set aside ideals about being “fit” and instead focus on its inherent enjoyment. As a feminist philosopher and ethicist, Brennan has also studied children’s rights, parental obligations and family justice.
Heidi Bailey
Department of Psychology
Email: hnbailey@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 56399
Bailey researches attachment-related issues in childhood and adulthood. She is interested in how a parent’s history of childhood maltreatment affects their parenting behaviour, the parent-child relationship and the child’s subsequent emotional development.
Gloria González-Morales
Department of Psychology
Email: mggonzal@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 52494
González-Morales studies positive organizational psychology and work-life balance. She can discuss how positive and negative workplace atmospheres affect the home environment for mothers and families, and vice versa. She can also discuss how simple interventions such as so-called “happiness exercises” can enhance the well-being and work performance of mothers and employees in general.
Miana Plesca
Department of Economics and Finance
Email: miplesca@uoguelph.ca
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 53524
Plesca researches the gender wage gap, including how corporate family leave policies often contribute to the gap. Her research has found that many mothers choose lower-paid work because of their need for the flexibility of part-time hours. She investigates the policies that can reduce the wage gap, including how legislation that encourages both parents to make use of parental leaves can allow mothers to spend more time in the workforce, thus helping to close the gap.
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