Academic Motherhood: "Silver Linings and Clouds (original) (raw)
Related papers
Academic Motherhood: Managing Complex Roles in Research Universities
The Review of Higher Education, 2004
Her current research interests include faculty roles and rewards, faculty involvement in service, the scholarship of engagement, and work family concerns in higher education. LISA WOLF-WENDEL is an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Kansas. Her research interests focus on equity in higher education related to faculty and students, dual career couples, and the academic labor market. The authors thank Kathleen Christensen and the Sloan Foundation for grant support of this research and other research on work and family issues in higher education. They also thank the University of Kansas and Oklahoma State University for their financial support, and Michael Mills, select women in the study, and this journal's reviewers for contributing to its development. They presented an earlier version of this article at the 2002 meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in Richmond, Virginia. Address queries to Kelly Ward, Washington State University, 367 Cleveland,
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2023
Despite becoming increasingly represented in academic departments, women scholars face a critical lack of support as they navigate demands pertaining to pregnancy, motherhood, and child caregiving. In addition, cultural norms surrounding how faculty and academic leaders discuss and talk about tenure, promotion, and career success have created pressure for women who wish to grow their family and care for their children, leading to questions about whether it is possible for these women to have a family and an academic career. The current paper is a call to action for academia to build structures that support women professors as they navigate the complexities of pregnancy, the postpartum period, and the caregiving demands of their children. We specifically call on those of us in I-O psychology, management, and related departments to lead the way. In making this call, we first present the realistic, moral, and financial cases for why this issue needs to be at the forefront of discussions surrounding success in the academy. We then discuss how in the U.S. and elsewhere, an absence of policies supporting women places two groups of academics-department heads (as the leaders of departments who have discretion outside of formal policies to make work better for women) and other faculty members (as potential allies both in the department and within our professional organizations)-in a critical position to enact support and change. We conclude with our boldest call-to make a cultural shift that shatters the assumption that having a family is not compatible with academic success. Combined, we seek to launch a discussion that leads directly to necessary and overdue changes in how women scholars are supported in academia.
Parenthood in the Ivory Tower: Engulfed by Being a Female Parent in Academia
Care and Compassion in Capitalism, 2025
In this chapter, we explore the challenges faced by female parent academics in higher education institutions where capitalist neoliberal policies make it difficult for female academics to balance their work and parenting responsibilities and draw some conclusions about how care and compassion can be used to address the challenges faced by female academics.
Mothers in U.S. Academia: Insights from Lived Experiences
Despite emerging changes in U.S. colleges and universities, mothers continue to struggle for a voice in an academic landscape that privileges students and scholars who are able to commit long hours to their areas of study under the increasing pressures of the corporatization of education within a global marketplace. In order for women who are parents to have agency and viable career choices in academia, a broad and specific organizational change must occur that emphasizes people's personal and emotional needs as well as their professional obligations and aspirations. Drawing on examples from the Mothers in Academia (2013) anthology, the authors demonstrate both the struggles and strategies of navigating academia as mothers, arguing for a culture of care where professional and personal lives can be integrated in meaningful and gratifying ways. Personal testimonials act as critical interventions in the social, political, and cultural life of academia.
ASA Research Brief American Sociological Association Mothers in Pursuit of Ideal Academic Careers
2012
▷▷Women sociologists with children are equally likely to have “ideal ” careers as men with children and childless men. ▷▷Mothers are seven times as likely to have ideal careers as fathers, childless men, and childless women, when provided with departmental resources and when they attended prestigious graduate schools. ▷▷Mothers are more likely than fathers to use work/family policies. ▷▷Despite the difficulties faced by women in pursuing the “male model for careers,” mothers in sociology appear to be as successful following an ideal career track as their male colleagues. We use data from our PhD+10 survey to investigate whether gender and parental status affected the likelihood of obtaining an ideal versus an alternative career during the first 10 years post-PhD. This new brief follows our recent research that examines racial and ethnic differences in obtaining what we call “ideal ” versus “alternative ” careers (Spalter-Roth, Mayorova, Shin, and White 2011). An ideal career is cons...
Dueling Clocks: How Women Academics Balance Childcare with the Road to Tenure
adulterc.org, 2011
This proposed study looks at the experience of academic women as they combine the demanding roles of motherhood and academic seeking tenure. Literature has identified several themes related to role-balancing: social and gender roles/expectations, time limitations of tenure and childrearing years, available support, ambiguous policies, and personal expectations ). Data will be obtained using narrative inquiry, and examined through a critical feminist perspective. Individuals representing both academics and those employed in the policy sector will be interviewed, with the aim of assisting in the adaptation of university-based policy for academics.
Beyond Blame: Challenging the Myths and Inequities That Compromise Academic Mothers’ Success
Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 2015
The hardships encountered by mothers in academe are compounded by certain culturalmyths that define the social perception of women’s roles in the realms of both maternalpractice and academic work. Such myths enable inequity and allow institutions toremain ignorant regarding their responsibility for the reproduction of such inequities.Indeed, prejudice regarding mothers’ perceived level of professional dedication andproductivity is particularly difficult to eradicate, as are misconceptions surroundingissues of freedom and responsibility related to women’s reproductive choices. As aresult, a culture of mother blame has flourished that encourages women to admonishthemselves for inadequacies related to both maternal practice and academic work.Through personal narrative and recourse to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s controversialessay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” this article examines the myths informingsocial understandings of academic motherhood; challenges the meanings that are madea...
DO BABIES MATTER: THE EFFECT OF FAMILY FORMATION ON THE LIFE LONG CAREERS OF ACADEMIC MEN AND WOMEN
2000
When I first became the Dean of the Graduate Division at Berkeley last year, I had an extraordinary experience. Fifty-one percent of the 2,500 new graduate students whom I welcomed were women. Thirty-five years ago that number would have been closer to 10%. The students I welcomed included not only doctoral students, but also graduate students seeking professional degrees in law, public health, social welfare, optometry, etc. On the Berkeley campus there is no medical school, but if there were, women would be close to the majority in that profession as well.
CohenMiller 2014 Phenomenon of Doctoral Student Motherhood Mothering in Academia (ProQuest)
This study examined the phenomenon of doctoral student motherhood/mothering in academia in a unique way by utilizing (1) an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, (2) examining the experiences of doctoral students who have become mothers for the first time, and (3) by integrating visual data collection into a phenomenological study. Participants included four doctoral student mothers from across colleges at one university. Three interviews were conducted with each participant and included visual data collection during each interview (e.g., drawing created by the participant). Additional data sources included a demographic/background questionnaire and archival data. Through phenomenological analysis of the data sources, three invariant themes (Gendered Experience, Strategic Experience, Sense of Belonging) and seven sub-themes (Realizations, Pregnancy Relationships, Childcare, Multiple Identities, Flexibility, Pushing Through, Informal Policies, and Expectations) were identified. Fo...