Beyond bearable: Gender equality and the benefits of systemic change in academia

The focal article by Gabriel et al. (2023) provides a valuable overview on how department heads and other faculty members can support female scholars to navigate the complex demands of pregnancy, motherhood, and childcare in academia. However, we argue that these issues are rooted in wider academic and societal trends, and therefore need to be considered from a broader perspective. The focal article implies that work – life balance policy changes, combined with the goodwill and allyship of heads of departments and academic co-workers, will provide the much-needed solutions. Considering that many European countries have decent national regulations regarding maternity and parental leave in place, we make the case that, although policies are necessary for creating bearable situations and do work, they are not enough. In order to truly promote a “ cultural shift that shatters the assumption that having a family is not compatible with academic success ” (Gabriel et al., 2023, p. 2), we need to aim higher, beyond bearable and work toward changing the evaluation criteria and performance standards in the academic system itself. This would provide a more sustainable and, thus, effective strategy, that accounts for pressures and problems related to work acceleration and acknowledges the perspectives of different stakeholders, working mothers, working fathers, and childfree employees alike. The focal article ’ s suggestions for supporting female scholars focus on individual level strategies within organizations, as the political system in the US does not provide decent regulations that protect their well-being and work – life balance. We argue that family-friendly policies, whether on the national, institutional, or departmental level, are necessary but not sufficient in tackling the problems outlined in the focal paper and often do not go further than making raising children bearable (e.g., making sure that women can properly recover from childbirth, being flexible about meeting times that accommodate caring responsibilities). But in order to make combining family and academic success a realistic option, more is needed