NUS & Women’s Liberation

University Students with Children

Coming to University for the first time can be a daunting prospect for anyone as it often means uprooting yourself from your home, friends and family for extended periods of time. But for those with children, especially single parents, the prospect can be positively terrifying.

There is so much more to consider for those in this situation, and so many more potential obstacles to being successful and actually enjoying the university experience. For example appropriate accommodation must be found, which is a challenge considering most universities only provide standard, one-bedroom halls of residence. Childcare is a continual worry as school holidays never coincide with university holidays. Students with children can often also find themselves in a precarious financial situation as grants and loans get largely used up during the year on rent, childcare, and general living costs, leaving nothing for the summer when income falls dramatically and student parents are left wondering how they are going to live and pay rent. Life is also tougher academically as it is very difficult to organise your time so that you can spend sufficient time with your children whilst still meeting deadlines and keeping up with the course. On top of these practical problems, it can often feel as if no one understands your situation and that your experiences are very different to those of other students, which can leave you feeling isolated and resentful.

Many universities like to advertise themselves as welcoming students from a diverse variety of backgrounds, but I have found that whilst students with children are accepted to university, once they get there the amount of obstacles put in their way makes it almost impossible to continue at times. Universities are geared to meeting the needs of young and free students, and if you do not fit the criteria of a "normal" student you are made to feel as if you don't quite belong. I am a 22-year-old student with a 6-year-old child and as the University of Manchester does not provide childcare for children over 5 I have to take a bus to pick up my daughter from the after-school childminder every day, which ends up taking about 2 hours. After a day of lectures, and this journey, it is difficult for me to find the energy to spend time with my daughter and do my work. In addition to this the accommodation I have been provided with is in desperate need of repair and refurbishment, meaning I have to make constant complaints which are often ignored, taking yet more time out of my day. I have no idea at this point how I am going to pay my rent over the summer as the University have given me no information about the financial help available. And finally it is a constant struggle to maintain any kind of social life for me or my daughter as there is no play area for the children in my residence (I often see young children playing in the car park!), no social room for parents, no information given to me about local parents’ groups or activities for families, and generally no effort to put me in touch with other students in my situation.

My intention here is not simply to complain but to point out that the universities could be making life much easier for student parents. If a welcome pack was given to prospective student parents about local schools, childcare, facilities etc. this would help students to feel that their situation is at least being recognised and taken into account. There is no reason why childcare should not be provided for the over-5’s when so many universities provide it for the under-5’s. As long as lectures are going on after school hours this lack of provision is seriously disadvantaging student parents and hampering their quality of life by forcing them to travel for miles daily. All universities should provide campus accommodation suitable for students with children as failure to do so is a form of discrimination, especially when campus accommodation is guaranteed to most students in their first year at most universities. Where accommodation is provided it should meet the same standards as other accommodation and include a play area for children and a social space for parents. It would also not be difficult to set up a voluntary babysitting service in the evenings, considering the amount of students than sign up to help with voluntary activities at universities, so that students with children can occasionally enjoy the nights out that most other students take for granted. Perhaps short courses could be run to help with time management, specifically focusing on the difficulty of dividing your attention between your studies, your friends and your family.

People who have children at a young age are often from low income backgrounds, as I was, or at least having a child young can force you into a difficult economic situation if you weren't in one already. When universities continue to put all these obstacles in the way of young parents trying to continue with their education they are actively discriminating against the working class. The prospect of so many economic, practical, and emotional difficulties is likely to be discouraging vast swathes of young parents from continuing education. I have also met students who have dropped out of university after arriving because of all the difficulties I have mentioned. I believe that everyone has the right to an education if they want it, but at the moment all the best will in the world doesn't seem enough when we are battling against a system that is fundamentally biased against us.

For those wondering where universities would get the money to fund all the changes I have suggested, just look at how universities are currently spending their money. The University of Manchester just spent millions on a merger with UMIST in the hope of increasing the prestige of the University and attracting investment. If universities diverted capital away from such grand projects and started to focus on the well-being of its current students there is no reason why these changes could not be made. The problem is that under a capitalist system the objective of each university is to compete nationally and internationally, meaning that money is channelled away from the poorest students into prestige-building programmes. Under a socialist system funding would be directed simply to where it was most needed, meaning that the needs of all students would be fulfilled.

As we recognise we are living in a system that breeds inequality I would urge all students with children to start to mobilise and challenge the university bosses to improve conditions and facilities. At the University of Manchester I have started to organise weekly meetings which provide both a social space for student parents and the opportunity to get together and discuss practical problems people are having. My main concern is the absence of childcare for the over-5’s and so this will be a priority campaigning issue. But as time goes on it will become clearer what the main concerns of other student parents are and we can start to get petitions signed, raise awareness, protest etc. When people come together to campaign they can form a much stronger political body than individuals complaining about issues single-handedly. With some unified action and perseverance the officials in the u\niversity system will eventually have to start taking us seriously. Until we have made the transition to a socialist society we need to fight for the equality that is so suffocated under capitalism.

DMU Socialist Students strongly condemns the DMU Students’ Union Executive for holding a ‘Miss DMU’ contest. We consider this to be a reactionary and sexist event that promotes the objectification of women.

The President of DMU Students’ Union, Richard Treffler, insisted during a meeting with Socialist Students’ representatives that took place on Monday 31st January, that the ‘Miss DMU’ event was just "harmless fun". Speaking for the whole Students’ Union Executive, he said that the holding of the contest was not contrary to the Students’ Union’s own paper commitment to promoting equality.

Socialist Students does not consider the promotion and organisation of a sexist event "harmless fun". No doubt many students do see the event as "harmless fun". None the less – we would counter that the attitudes it breeds, primarily that women are objects, is at best reactionary and at worst very dangerous.

True – this event on its own is not responsible for the existence of women’s’ oppression. No one, least of all us, would make such an overtly stupid suggestion. However – in its own small way, by sending out the wrong signals to the student population, by promoting the objectification of women, the SU Executive have contributed towards the overall oppression of women. The SU Executive is guilty of reinforcing sexist ideas through this event, especially amongst the male student population.

When a student makes a sexist comment in the future, or is found guilty of sexual harassment, or even worse, how will the SU Executive react? How can the SU Executive oppose sexism or sexual harassment without now being hypocritical? The objectification of women in society is after all what fuels these acts, from mindless comments, to acts of serious sexual violence.

The ‘ideal’ body image propagated in the capitalist media, done in order to sell more beauty products and undermine the confidence of women, is directly responsible for the upsurge in eating disorders, self-harm, depression, and dangerous dieting amongst young women. The Students’ Union, as the representative body of students, should be fighting against sexist advertising – not producing its own!

Nationally, the NUS is running a campaign entitled "a woman’s place is in the union / in education". This campaign to challenge sexist stereotyping is something we fully support. Unfortunately, the message of this campaign is lost on the DMU Students’ Union Executive. Maybe they will run a counter-campaign under the slogan "a woman’s place is in swim wear on a stage in our nightclub to help us sell more alcohol". DMU SU Executive could slightly redeem themselves if they now put significant energy and finance into promoting progressive NUS campaigns against sexism and all forms of discrimination. We look forward to seeing if this happens.

Socialist Students produced an open letter addressed to the SU Executive and also met with the President to patiently explain our case – all to no avail. The whole concept of a ‘Miss DMU’ contest is sexist – anyone who has seen the advertising for the event can certainly not deny it! Whilst admitting that some of the advertising had gone "a bit too far", the President resolutely defended the event - but without offering a serious reply to our objections.

We have to say that commercial considerations would appear to come first for the SU. The SU-run nightclub, ‘Level 1’, also holds an event called ‘Porn Night’. This is a night where students go dressed up in stereotypical outfits associated with porno movies! The prime consideration appears to be getting as many people into the club as possible – to maximise takings at the bar. The SU Executive should not allow the nightclub, supposedly under its control, to produce sexist advertising or to hold clearly sexist events.

DMU Socialist Students calls on the NUS leadership nationally to condemn this event. The NUS President, Kat Fletcher, took part in a protest against ‘Miss World’ – so we trust that she is in agreement with us on this issue. We also call on all Students’ Unions and SU Officers who agree with us to send letters of protest to DMU SU Executive.

At DMU we will use all media avenues open to us in order to expose the SU Executive for holding this event. We also plan to organise a meeting very shortly on fighting sexism. We would welcome the chance to debate the SU Executive at this meeting should they wish to defend themselves.

We make no apology for the seriousness with which we take the fight against sexism. We stand squarely behind the struggle of all those oppressed under capitalism. The oppression of women is not something we see as ‘natural’ - but rather as a direct consequence of the nature of class-based society. Therefore – whilst fighting for every step forward for women under capitalism, we also put forward the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a democratic socialist society as the only way to end the oppression of women once and for all.