Mothers! What has been your experience with timing childbirth in relation to the pursuit of tenure? What difficulties or challenges have you faced in trying to balance teaching and research with parental duties? How favorable have you found your institution’s work-family policies to be in trying to maintain that balance? Our latest research brief, Mothers in Pursui
t of Ideal Academic Careers, uses data from the Research and Development Department’s PhD+10 Survey to examine whether gender and parental status influence the likelihood of attaining “ideal” versus “alternative” careers among sociologists. A snapshot of our findings includes: 1. Most women have their first child before receiving tenure; 2. Mothers are more likely than fathers to use work/family policies; 3. Mothers in sociology appear to be as successful following an ideal career track as their male colleagues; and 4. Mothers in ideal careers are more likely to be satisfied with both careers and family than mothers in alternative careers.
The brief is expected to renew some ongoing questions about career decisions and outcomes for women in the sociology profession, and we welcome your thoughts in opening up a dialogue. Please take the time to discuss this issue with your colleagues.
The full report can be accessed here in .pdf format.
