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Motherhood and academia?
20 February 2010
By Blanka Sengerová
It’s not a much talked about topic, but I think it should be. What I am going to bring up is how do you best combine having a family (especially if you’re female) and working in academia.
At a ‘Careers in Academia’ event (run by UKGrad, now Vitae, I believe) a few years ago, there was a Q&A session, which was the opportunity for us (the PhD students) to ask about what we wanted to know about getting into academia. Someone asked about whether he could go travelling for a year (since he didn’t have a gap year before Uni) and then get back to a postdoc. He was told emphatically to go and travel as part of his postdoc (i.e. do a postdoc in an exotic place) because if he was away from academia for a year, he wouldn’t be as well known as “the guy who was at the conference last month”.
Related to that I asked the question of “what if I do a postdoc, then take two, three years off to have children and then go back to the ladder?”. “No, no”, they said, “the time to have children is when you have a permanent position when it is a lot easier to fit in.” OK, if I wait that long, I am going to be mid to late thirties and could well find that biology has overtaken me and there won’t be any children at all.
So what is the solution? Should we wait and risk not being able to have children or should we risk a career slowdown as a result of a couple of years of lower publication levels?
In a discussion of the topic of “women in science” after receiving the Nobel prize for medicine last autumn, one of the recipients (Greider or Blackburn, the article was in Nature I believe) was asked about the issue of being a mother as well as a (top notch) scientist. What I recall was her explaining that there were these great buns you could buy in the supermarket, put in an oven and hey presto, here was your cake – instead of fidgeting with home-made cakes for your children. Making it sound so easy really but somehow I don’t think it is the case. I think that the problem is that the world of academia is so competitive that people find it hard to take the time off since a fixed term contract won’t be extended whether or not you take time off in the middle. And you obviously won’t have quite so many papers as the “next person” and won’t have been seen at “last month’s conference” either.
Does anyone have experience that either opposes or supports my views? Do you know many women who have succeeded in doing both – being a successful and competitive academic and having a family? I found my PhD supervisor a good role model because she managed to have a reasonably successful research group and have children at the same time. But she only had her children after she got a permanent teaching/research post but as I said above, that could take many of us to our late thirties and could be a bit risky…
What do you guys think?
Hannah Dee21 February 2010 at 10:47 AM
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I could write an essay in answer to this question, but instead I'll point you to something else... "Mothers in Science: 64 ways to have it all". http://royalsociety.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=11086 published by The Royal Society. Have a look, it's inspirational.
Sarah Davies21 February 2010 at 08:31 PM
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Jennifer discussed this topic in an early post on the blog - see http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/156431-159361/Returning-to-work-after-the-birth-of-your-first-child-.html
Sarah Davies21 February 2010 at 08:38 PM
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But I also feel uncomfortable with this being an 'especially for women' issue. While obviously there are biological factors at work here - the whole pregnancy/giving birth thing - other countries (particularly in Scandinavia) seem to manage it so that 'having a familiy' doesn't automatically equal 'being a mother' - ie men are seen as fundamental to having and caring for children as well... At the very least shifts in this direction would not mean that it is women who are automatically and predominantly disadvantaged in their academic careers by mutual decisions to start families.
Elizabeth Dodson21 February 2010 at 09:15 PM
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Totally agree Sarah. I would love to see a shift away from maternity leave to parental leave, where the current entitlement to take up to a years absence can be split between both parents in whatever ratio they choose. I've had job interviews before where I've been asked what my family commitments are and I can't help but wonder whether this was a standard question for all interviewees or just saved for female candidates. I don't believe that I have ever been overlooked for jobs or promotions because I'm 'of childbearing age' (at least I hope not) but I know women who earnestly believe they have been overlooked for exactly that reason. If men were considered just as likely to be a primary carer, to need substantial leave in the year after the birth of any child and flexible hours for years to come then the playing field would be somewhat evened.
Chris Thomson22 February 2010 at 12:46 PM
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And I for one, would like to be able to access those benefits. It really should be a decision for the family concerned and not the state to decide who should be the main carer. Also it has benefits to employers as a flexible system would allow parents to take shifts in providing care in later years - thus as employees we could manage our time jointly to ensure the best deal for our respective employers.
Blanka Sengerová22 February 2010 at 05:31 PM
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Thank you, Hannah, for the link to the Royal Society document, it certainly makes for inspiring reading. The general pattern that comes out of it (although, as you say, there are so many ways of doing it) is the support and respect of the other partner (generally the man, although there were examples of women who had spells when the man was the main "homemaker". A lot (though by no means all) of the women who described their careers also had another academic as a partner - whether that makes it easier (flexibility) or harder (lower income, two body problem for permanent position) for bringing up a family, I am not sure... I agree with those of you who said that it would be nice for legislation/government to allow the two partners to share the up to one year of leave between them rather than forcing the mother to take the time off. On the other hand, the reason may often be that the salary disparity is likely to make financial sense to keep the male partner's salary? (I wish it wasn't like that, but the disparity is still there).
Matthew Salois23 February 2010 at 07:24 PM
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Great post Blanka. You bring up a critical drawback to the fixed term contract and one that spills over into one's personal life in a way that is difficult to deal with. And as you mention, this issue is not solely a 'women's' issue as fathers-to-be face related difficulties, regardless of whether or not the man is the one to be the primary childcare provider. Obviously, women bear the fullest responsibility of pregnancy and childcare. But I have been told by many past advisors that I should think carefully before (1) getting married before graduating with my PhD, and (2) having children before obtaining a permanent tenure-track position. The candor in which this advice was given always surprised me. Elizabeth, I cannot believe you were asked in your job interview about family commitments! Is such a question even legal?
Elizabeth Dodson24 February 2010 at 11:25 AM
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I'm not sure of the legality, (I suspect that it does go against employment law) but the question related to flexibility to travel and to work unsociable hours. In that sense I can see why a potential employer might think it a reasonable question. (I should emphasize that I was not asked this direct question in relation to my present post, although the same requirements for travel and out of hours availability still apply - I was merely asked if I could fulfil the specific requirements of the job).
Tennie Videler26 February 2010 at 11:27 AM
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Hi Blanka, This is a topic close to my own heart. I took a 'career lul' (working part time) rather than a break when my children were tiny and I don't think that was conducive to persuing an academic career, but I don't regret the choice of spending time with them and having the mental workout of research. There is some stuff on the practicalities on the Vitae website: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1328/Parents.html and http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1326/Part-time.html In “Motherhood: the elephant in the laboratory”, edited by Emily Monosson, female scientists discuss how they balance motherhood and a career in science in a series of essays. Cornell University Press ISBN 978-0801446641 hope that helps a bit