The dual role of faculty and motherhood: Enabling resources for successful coping

Abstract

Gabriel et al. (in press) detail critical issues facing mothers in academia. We would like to strengthen that notion because mothers in academia face discrimination and confront unique barriers, unlike those challenging their male or female counterparts with no children. Put succinctly, mothers have a specific vulnerability resulting from their intersectional status as women and parents. First, from the perspective of womanhood, women need to cope with gender discrimination in the workplace, manifested, for example, in a glass ceiling in promotion, low pay relative to men in equivalent positions, and sexual harassment (e.g., Karami et al., 2020). In STEM professions – careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – severe underrepresentation of women is prevalent. Furthermore, the representation of women in academia declines as one goes up in faculty seniority level, which makes the promotion from junior to senior level faculty positions problematic (Corbett & Hill, 2015). Second, from the (academic) “parent perspective,” challenges include, for instance, coping with the occupational ticking clock for producing publications within a given tenure track period and dealing with pregnancy and raising a family during the same critical period. The attempt to deal with each category separately misses the mark of identifying the academic mother’s unique situation. Consequent to this declaration, we respond to Gabriel et al.'s (in press) “call to action” and venture to suggest necessary changes in how scholarly women are supported in academia. Moreover, we preface our comments by stating that we share our perceptions from both our research interest in the subject (e.g., Greenberg & Kurlander, 2022) and our stance as mothers in academia. Finally, before presenting our recommendations, we would like to emphasize three points: