158 R.P. Fitzgerald and M. Legge
had their own object of care but for the scientists it was: ‘Our babies!
(laughter) Our little embryos!’ He continued:
And we have to do what is right for them most of the time and so every
now and then there will be a clash and somebody will say: “It’s not con-
venient for me to come back on that day because I’m getting my hair cut”- well it’s just amazing (sigh) what seemingly to us extraordinary things
can get in the way of a process that should be done to the letter!
Careers Shaping Selves
All of the scientists, bar one, said that engaging in a career in embryol-
ogy had a tendency to make people less judgemental, or at the very least
reaffirmed a pre-existing tendency to be non-judgemental. The work
provided continued opportunities to demonstrate this capacity:
There’s one lesbian couple who I initially thought: ‘ahh... I don’t know...
and they are the nicest women in the world and [by the end of the pro-
cedures] I just was desperate for them to get pregnant so you kind of do
have a little bit of a stereotype... and then you meet individual people...
Another couple I had when I very first started and he was ancient com-
pared to her and I thought [in the abstract], “Ahh...this is disgusting”.
And then I met them and they were the neatest, nicest, couple...Yes, I’m
sure [this job] has made me more broad-minded.The continuous exercise of self-responsibility was also a quality associ-
ated with the work, and the scientists had various stories of how they
achieved a balance between their external work life and interests and
their responsibilities in the laboratory. These qualities of the work fos-
tered a significant degree of ethical self-reflection in which workers
attempted to reconcile any challenges associated with these aspects of
the job. The self-reflection might be solitary; it sometimes took the
form of supportive group discussions with other laboratory staff. It
might also take a more formal tone through attendance at the weekly
clinic ethical meetings or a private appointment with a clinic counsellor.
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