About 4 weeks in to paternity leave, my husband took a call from a recruiter. I was home, but he was in charge of the baby while I took a bath or stared aimlessly at my closet or something. The baby started crying, and this man said: “I’m sorry, that’s my newborn crying. I’ll call you back.” And hung up the phone.
He comforted the baby. Once I got out of the bath / snapped out of my reprieve / ended whatever I was doing, I took the baby, and he called the recruiter back.
Women don’t think we can do this.
Mostly, because women can’t do this, because the trope that men who take care of children are heroes while women who do are, well, women, is true.
Nonetheless, presented with a right-now opportunity to chat with a hiring manager for a role I’m interested in—”actually, do you have ten minutes right now?” he asked, I shrugged my proverbial shoulders and said “sure, totally fine with me unless my newborn starts crying.”
We hopped on the zoom, he inquired about my kid, told me about his, and went on our merry way.
Time will tell how that affected my candidacy, but let me tell you how it affected my well-being: incredible. Empowering. Genuine. Everything I need to be in my next role.
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