Science Culture, Language, and Education in America by Emily Schoerning

Author:Emily Schoerning
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, New York

May–July 2015: Network Analysis

In mid-April it was time for me to officially begin work on the Science Booster Club (SBC) Project. My contract stated that I had to relocate to California in July. I had agreed to this for two reasons. The first being that I desperately needed the job and would have been willing to remove several of my less necessary internal organs were that a condition of the contract. The second being that I hoped my legal troubles would be resolved by that point and I would be able to go. But, as my children’s father had told me he would make it as difficult and painful as possible for me to divorce him, I did not think it was a good idea to have any sort of confidence in the smooth resolution of the case. I had to live day to day.

What a problem I faced, though. I could not leave Johnson County, a very nice county in the state of Iowa, while the divorce was pending. I mean, I was allowed outside its borders; I wasn’t tracked with an implant or anything but it was not legally possible for me to move. Employment opportunities for people with my skillset existed in Johnson County, but not many of them, and I hadn’t had any success getting a local job that would pay a wage that would support my family. The frank truth of the matter was that, in the local culture, mothers of my educational level and social class often did not work, particularly not full time. Many people in my neighborhood were scandalized that I would consider putting my young children into full-time childcare. Many people who interviewed me for local jobs had quite visible reactions when they discovered I had young children. The rate of marriage dissolution in Johnson County was 1.2 per 1000 in 2014.14 This is far below the 2014 national rate, of 6.9 per 1000.15 The fact that mothers of young children often do not work and that it is difficult for mothers of young children to find employment that will support their families may contribute to this extremely low divorce rate.

In 2015 in the neighborhood where I lived, which was full of young families, my domestic condition was rather scandalous. Divorce was frightening and frowned upon. I was raised to think very negatively of divorce, and felt deeply ashamed of my situation. Many people asked me why I could not work things out. I had several women in my extended social circle tell me that their husbands abused them in various ways, smacked them around regularly, and so on, but that they would never get a divorce. They would never be a home wrecker. I was asked how I could care so little about my children. My behavior was clearly considered quite shocking. It was a clear social expectation that I should subsume myself, consume myself, for the sake of the family. The prevailing view was that it was better for my children to live in a home where abuse regularly occurred than a home without a father.

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