A man in another country looks after a baby for 50 minutes and its front page BBC news

[FFSFFSFFS]

Just. Sigh.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47438208

Like sarahjconnor I was also taken to lectures by my mum who got pregnant in her first term at uni (whoops!) in the 70s. She carried on her degree (didn't get a first but hey ho) and has had a successful professional career. I'm still proud of her.

It’s very basic maths for College level.

(Have I missed the point?)

But maybe normalising the idea and the image of a man in his workplace caring for children is a good thing? It might encourage men to think its normal.

@AltogetherAndrews - but my point is that it's not normalising it - its saying its heroic and extraordinary.

Anyway - I think my point still stands - if it was a woman who had done it this would not have been an internet sensation and would not be on the front page of the BBC.

And as some in the world of academia have said on here - there's a whole other bundle of issues about why or why not it might not be a straight forward thing to do.

I'm not saying it was a bad thing to do (it may or may not have been). I'm saying it is news because it was a man who did it - whether or not that is consciously articulated.

Which I think is a point worth pondering.

Insanity -
I raised my 3 kids on my own, after my wife left the family when they were all under age 6.... (she has various issues, another story)

But i took my kids to work occasionally when had no option, 20-25 yrs ago, - office work -

it is NOT news headline worthy in 2019 -

what is wrong with BBC?

They support trans
They fail to show facts (French protests)
They fail to understand democracy (EU referendum)
They promote bias journalism (Panaroma - T Robinson)
They failed with Savile abuse
they failed with PEDO statue outside broadcasting house

Surely we should be asking why we continue to fund a state broadcaster - £6 billion a year! surely sell it off and use £6bn on NHS instead ?

BBC is just a joke now, UK world gone made...

I remember one lecture back in my university days when our male lecturer brought his small son with him, who was too ill to go to school but well enough to sit quietly in a lecture hall. We all thought it was sweet.

I now somewhat suspect that if it had been a female lecturer the reaction on average might have been a bit more towards the 'unprofessional' than the 'sweet'.

I now somewhat suspect that if it had been a female lecturer the reaction on average might have been a bit more towards the 'unprofessional' than the 'sweet'.

Yup. DH also an academic. He was presenting at a conference recently, and typically DD had a terrible night before he had to get up early for his flight. He started his talk with a joke along the lines of "... and sorry if this is terrible, my daughter decided I only needed 3 hours sleep last night" and got a friendly chuckle from the audience. I really really don't think this would be the response a woman would get.

I really really don't think this would be the response a woman would get.

I've been in the audience when a woman has made the exact same joke, and she got exactly the same friendly chuckle response.
As FFSFFSFFS says, when a woman did this, it was reported too.
Nobody can predict when something goes viral. In this case, somebody got a good pic of him which helped.

I liked in the report that the lecturer was having none of the fuss stating "I'm not an exception. Teachers do this in their own way every day."

It's just the BBC getting excited over nothing click bait again.

Surely the end goal is a world where children are cared for and nobody is compromised for having them. As it stands there are fewer men relative to women taking on primary caregiver roles. Human beings follow incentives so illustrating that men can do it is surely a positive?

We might all wish it was the norm, and not therefore newsworthy but we haven’t gotten there quite yet! We have never in the history of civilisation seen a 50/50 childcare split worked out across the sexes, so expecting it to suddenly be so is I think a tad naive.

Argh, you feminist viper-harridans ruin everything! I thought this was a nice story but you’re all quite correct in pointing out that if a woman professor had done this, she would be viewed as unprofessional.

Because women are baby-crazy and will do anything to be around them, even encouraging them into a work place where they have no place being, disrupting everything etc etc...

Oh well, the warm fuzzy feeling was nice while it lasted.