Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)
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Initiatives to Empower Women Faculty Members at University of Ottawa: Mothers See the Value in Participation
Get PDFDespite the increasing number of female students in undergraduate and graduate programs, female faculty members are still a minority at most Canadian universities. Although participation by women has increased significantly at the pre-tenure assistant rank, substantial gaps between the number of men and women at the associate and full professor levels remain as well as for research chairs and leadership roles. This article describes the multiple initiatives put in place at the University of Ottawa to support women faculty members in their careers, a great majority of whom are mothers, trying to balance professional and family responsibilities. The policies include long-standing Policy 94 named for its year of inception, a number of career and leadership development activities through the Centre for Academic Leadership established in 2005, and tailored activities through the nserc / Pratt & Whitney Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering program (2011- 2016). Although not all of these activities were geared towards women and mothers, the participants, overwhelmingly, have turned out to be mothers or have expressed the desire to become mothers. Among these current and aspiring women professors, many are unsure of how to combine an academic career with motherhood. A short portrait of the activity participants and their reflections are included in the paper. In particular, responses from mothers who, as professors, attended the Centre for Academic Leadership writing retreats indicate that their participation was influenced by their family responsibilities; these mothers cited the particular usefulness of the activity for writing productivity
Beyond Blame: Challenging the Myths and Inequities That Compromise Academic Mothers’ Success
No full textThe 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 madeand perpetuated by these misconceptions, which ultimately define academic mothers’experiences; and, strategizes possible solutions to women’s struggle to reconcile theirlives as mothers with their work as academics by positing, in particular, the valueand applicability of maternal intelligences, such as empathy and innovation, beyondthe domestic sphere. Ultimately, this article considers maternal ways of knowing asa site of wisdom and experiential knowledge that transcends prescriptive notions ofacademic productivity and attempts to heal the disjunction between women’s maternaland academic labours by affirming the connection between who they are and what theydo. Finally, by sharing the story of my own journey to a sustainable and expandeddefinition of academic motherhood, I hope to inspire others to share their stories and,thereby, encourage constructive dialogue as well as social and institutional reform
Motherhood in U.S. Academe: How the Presence of Women Disrupts the Ideal Worker Model in Colleges and Universities
Get PDFIn this article, I consider the myth of the ideal worker and the consequences of that myth for mothers. Behind the constant juggling necessary to be successful professionally as an academic mother is the unstated assumption that a woman’s caregiving role should be her primary, essential commitment, and women graduate students and early-career academics have to think strategically about how family fits into the institution of academe. Rendering invisible the whole-person needs of workers, but especially women and mothers, academe assumes an ideal worker unencumbered by family or other life constraints. My interviews with tenured women academic sociologists provide an institutional standpoint for understanding workplace needs of parents. Towards positive change, university policies must be coupled with department and colleague support because workplace climates are experienced by individuals at an intersection of institutional policies and interpersonal interactions. Colleagues must not be expected to “take up the slack” for mothers asking for time off for family leave; nor should departmental intransigence be allowed to interrupt an administration’s efforts to institute flexible policies. There is positive potential in mothers’ increased visibility in academe, but it will only be realized through active public support from colleagues and administrators, alike
