Discriminated and Invisible
Universities in the United States often do not keep track of the number of students who have children or are pregnant, something that makes it difficult to identify their needs. Some studies reveal that a large percentage live in poverty. Photo by Ricardo Rodríguez, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
Pregnant students or with children deal with a lack of university support and discrimination in the oldest and largest public university in Puerto Rico
Editor’s note: Having a university education is one of the keys for upward mobility for women in the workplace. Yet, women – especially mothers – face many barriers to reaching that goal. Gender discrimination in the workplace and in a university setting also represents an obstacle for a population already vulnerable. In the United States, 53% of students with children have experienced food insecurity. Additionally, 68% were at risk of homelessness. An investigative report published by Todas and the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo — as part of the accountability project Altavoz Lab with palabra — about the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) reveals the failure to follow public policies, and serious patterns of discrimination impacting pregnant women or those of childbearing age.
For a version of this story in Spanish click here
When Amanda Torres Cruz was pregnant in 2018, she continued her bachelor's degree in Political Science at the Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), hoping to fulfill her goal of becoming a lawyer and providing her daughter with what she never had.
"I still went to class, but no one warned me of any kind of prejudice, of discrimination that I could be facing, in the university environment," she said, having paused her studies for a year when she gave birth.
During her pregnancy, the 23-year-old remembers that she thought one of her professors learned her name just to ridicule and make fun of her in front of her classmates, because of how many times the professor would call on her.
"I liked to wear short skirts and he would tell me, 'I have another student who is also pregnant, but she doesn't wear skirts the way you wear them,'" she recalled. She wondered, what right did the professor have to call out the way she dressed just because she was pregnant?
Since 2015, there has been a document, Considerations and Rights of Pregnant Students (Carta de Consideraciones y Derechos a Estudiantes Embarazadas) that is supposed to protect pregnant students at UPR. The document establishes that Amanda had the right to enjoy an environment of "peace, quiet, and respect for her right to privacy and dignity." But it wasn’t until three years after she had her daughter, during her interview for this story, that she knew of her rights.
Women mostly access university education because it is key to their economic progress.
Discrimination by the university community and the lack of disclosure of their rights through institutional channels are two of the factors in which the UPR fails to guarantee its students with children equitable access to the human right to an education, according to requests for information, interviews with eight student mothers, and five experts in gender equity.
UPR's main campus doesn't even know the number of students who are mothers or fathers — something that is all too common at the higher education level in the United States. Consequently, the university doesn’t know the socio-demographic profile of this population of students with children. Experts say this makes it difficult to implement policies and support systems.
Added to this is the precarious situation at UPR since the arrival of the Fiscal Control Board (JCF, in Spanish), which has forced the institution to cut almost half of its budget. The JCF was imposed on Puerto Rico by the U.S. Congress as a requirement to initiate a process of bankruptcy and restructuring of the island’s public debt, which totaled $70 billion.
A study by The Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, based on a survey of 330,000 students at 411 institutions of higher education in the United States, showed that students with children are mainly women who work and study full-time. The study says that more than half were at risk of food and housing insecurity. Universities do not usually know these needs, since it is common for the student population with children to be unaware of services, which hinders the creation and implementation of support policies and puts them in great vulnerability.
Sixty-eight percent of families in Puerto Rico headed by women live below the poverty line. Although mothers undertake university studies largely to get ahead economically, they continue to be victims of a misogynistic labor market that discriminates against them based on their gender. Photo via Shutterstock
After publishing the first part of this story in Todas and in the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, other students shared a syllabus where a Social Sciences professor tells the pregnant students or those already with children that their life situation did not make them worthy of “preferential treatment.” “It was your decision. It is your responsibility,” the professor writes in a “warning” that he has included in his syllabus since at least 2007.
In a follow-up report, the university said that it was not aware of what that document said, although professors are required to share the information with their departments every six months. Additionally, the university indicated that it doesn’t endorse any kind of discrimination or hostile environment against the student body and that it would request a meeting with the professor, who is retiring. The professor did not respond to an email request for comment.
An investigation from the UPR School of Social Work in Río Piedras stated that institutional violence within the university community has a traumatic effect on students with children since it causes them to experience "frustrations, stress, and a general sense of inferiority."
Regulations fall short
At least four students interviewed on campus were unaware of the document outlining their rights. In a search of keywords in the social networks of the university and in the university mail, we verified that the information was never disseminated.
Student ombudsman Coralie Pacheco Valcárcel, whose job is to ensure the rights of students at the UPR, admitted that the document should be more prominently circulated, but added that it is the responsibility of students themselves to know their rights and responsibilities.
“We should not depend on someone to tell us, but rather we find it; there are rights, there are regulations and rules, there are academic calendars. We put it (out there) because we want to help and we want to make it easier, but it is important not to depend on that,” asserted Pacheco Valcárcel.
Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). Photo by Ricardo Rodríguez, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
Although one of the duties of the ombudsman is to actively guide students about their rights, the letter designates the Dean of Students as the one in charge of ensuring compliance. On four occasions we requested an interview with the Dean of Students, Gloria Díaz Urbina, but the campus press office only agreed to answer some questions by email.
For Social Work Professor Elithet Silva Martínez, establishing institutional policies in favor of equity is important, but if there is no effective communication of their existence and how they will be implemented, progress in rights is slowed down.
It is worth noting that current regulations do not recognize that pregnant people can include trans men. Likewise, the only policy that addresses the rights of students with children at UPR is Title IX, a law that prohibits gender discrimination in academic institutions that receive federal funds.
Austerity puts women's progress at risk
The public university is for many women their only option to get out of poverty. In Puerto Rico, 68% of families headed by women with children live in poverty.
However, since the JCF arrived in 2017, the allocations from UPR’s general fund have been slashed 48%. The JCF is made up of seven members appointed by the president of the United States who, according to the PROMESA law – created to allow the restructuring of Puerto Rico's debt – must work to stabilize the local economy. In practice, this board, which has say over the entire Puerto Rican government structure, has restructured the public debt at the cost of austerity measures. For UPR, this translates into a precarious situation for the public university. In four years, the campus closed its two residence halls and the undergraduate credit increased from $57 to $145.
‘They are questioned for trying to obtain a career while becoming mothers or being pregnant.’
Economist Eileen Segarra Alméstica is sure that the first higher education system in Puerto Rico could be seeing its last generation with access to quality public higher education.
The professor from the Río Piedras campus explained that women mostly access university education because it is key to their economic progress. "Definitely (austerity) affects the entire population, but there is also an additional effect on the female population, which is the one that has depended more on their university education to get ahead economically," she stressed.
By 2020, women with a bachelor's degree earned 45% more than those with only a high school diploma. However, men with a degree earn 20% more than women with the same education.
Segarra Alméstica pointed out that mothers are doubly discriminated against by gender in the labor market, due to the multiple shifts imposed. "If employers think that women need more time to care for their children, then they are more reluctant to pay them a higher salary or give them a promotion," she said.
Social worker Silva Martínez pointed out that “both in the educational space and in the workplace, sadly, motherhood is made invisible because they are seen as interrupting productivity. This is not only a patriarchal vision but also a capitalistic one.”
To the point of exhaustion
Being a new mother, Amanda says, made her realize that covering family expenses is a major challenge. “I end up buying books, but ultimately sometimes I go without eating,” shared the young woman, who commutes two hours round trip to attend her classes.
Data from The Hope Center for College, Community and Justice finds that in the United States 53% of students with children have experienced food insecurity. Meanwhile, 68% were at risk of homelessness. Mothers are the most prone to this instability.
Alexis Preston Hunter, an architecture student and mother of a three-year-old boy, identified the lack of time as a challenge in reaching her academic goal. When she began her Master's degree a year ago, the 31-year-old woman was finishing breastfeeding her child. The process was complex because Alexis had no control over her schedule and could not dedicate the necessary time to her studies. This was one of the reasons she reduced her academic load the following semester.
Silva Martínez explained that "students may feel that they have to divide themselves to the point of absolute exhaustion because they are questioned for trying to obtain a career while becoming mothers or being pregnant."
“We women joined the educational system and the labor market, but housework was not democratized, nor were the responsibilities of care and upbringing. Nor were work and academic environments compatible with being mothers. They are designed for people who are not mothers,” said lawyer Mariana Iriarte Mastronardo, who became a mother in 2005 during her freshman year at the university.
Inaccessible childcare centers
One of the needs most frequently identified by students with children who were interviewed is safe spaces for their children while they take classes. Although some of the parents assume their co-parental responsibility, the burden of nurturing and care falls mostly on women. Generally, they have more support from their families than from the fathers of their children.
According to a study from the Institute for Women's Policy Research, students at U.S. universities whose children received on-campus childcare services are three times more likely to finish their studies on time than those who did not.
Despite the fact that the Río Piedras Campus has services aimed at different populations, students are not usually aware of their existence or availability.
Social worker Ana Reynoso García, who had her daughter at the end of her bachelor’s degree, found out about the service through a friend when she had already invested in private daycare. Nonetheless, she applied to the one at the university and was placed on a waiting list. The space for the girl opened up when Ana had already finished her Master's degree.
The Infant and Maternal Laboratory (LIM) – the only childcare center on the Río Piedras campus aimed exclusively at children of students – frequently had waiting lists to access one of the 18 places for children under three years of age. Since the pandemic, applications have gone down.
“I think we’re not promoting it. (...) Many who have come looking for the service here have come by chance. They told me: 'Look, I didn't know this existed,'" said Nylka Torres Rodríguez, LIM coordinator.
The service is aimed at low-income families. But not all families who request it are served because they sometimes exceed the income limit, Torres Rodríguez said.
In an interview, the LIM participants said they were satisfied and wished other students could also access it. However, they did add that the service may be inconsistent due to the annual renewal of the contract that grants the funds to keep it going. The contract usually arrives days before the previous one expires, which delays staff appointments on time, their entry into the payroll, and interrupts the service. Teachers have frequently worked without pay but later receive back pay.
With the rising cost of the public university, for some single mothers it is difficult to take on family expenses. At times they have had to choose to buy books instead of food. Photo via Shutterstock
Forgotten students
Information compiled in surveys conducted among newly admitted students at UPR in Río Piedras finds that 93% of the students who reported having children were pursuing a Master's or doctorate. Those courses are generally at night, when the limited services that the academic institution offers to its students with children, such as daycare, are already closed.
In fact, in the rules for the use of the two breastfeeding rooms on campus, it is specified that the students who can use these spaces must be a “woman who is enrolled in a program of classes of six credits or more in the day session.”
When single mother Yesenia Claudio was studying for her Master's degree in Library Science, her teenage daughters went with her to the university. Although the girls stayed in the hallway during class, Yesenia remembers that one professor was uncomfortable with her. She tried to talk with the professor to explain her situation, but the professor suggested that if she decided to be a mother and study at the same time, she had to accept what that entailed.
Professor Silva Martínez believes that it is important that the university has room for mothers with their children because "otherwise, it becomes very difficult to complete an academic goal, especially if one is the main caregiver."
What can UPR do?
Despite acknowledging the accelerated (financial) precariousness of the public university, the professors said that it is a good time to establish partnerships that work on the specific needs of students with children.
The Hope Center for College Community and Justice recommends promoting a culture that centralizes health services, economic assistance, and advice and support to cover basic needs, such as food and housing.
The Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education suggests training to break down the stigmas placed on students with children, and that professors effectively address the personal situations of this particular population, understanding the challenges they may face when assuming roles as students, parents, and workers.
“This is a matter of will, but also of creating institutional policies and public policies that bet on the inclusion in higher education of women with children as a way to strengthen the society that we want to build,” asserts Silva Martínez.
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Valeria María Torres-Nieves is a feminist journalist from Yauco, Puerto Rico who recently graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a double major in Journalism and Public Relations. She reported for a year on gender, race, politics, and culture in Todas, a digital site on feminist journalism that augments the voices of women in all aspects of public life, at the same time that it acknowledges the multiple layers of oppression from patriarchy and racism. She currently works as a reporter with the daily El Nuevo Día in Puerto Rico.