ABSTRACT
Margaret is an academic living alone with total responsibility for her young daughter aged three. At the end of a very busy term a male colleague asks how long it will take her to finish an article which she needs to submit to fulfil her quota for the Research Assessment Exercise, upon which her promotion prospects will partly depend. She replies: 'if I didn't have to look after Emily, about a fortnight. In reality I'd be lucky to finish it in six months.'
