Childbearing academics

As a female academic with nine children, who met her husband in a class taught by a male academic with ten children, I agree that having kids makes the tenure track considerably bumpier (particularly for the primary caregiver). But I wonder: is it really that the academic lifestyle is incompatible with parenthood, or that the type of person drawn to the academic lifestyle is less likely to want the distraction, noise and uncontrollable demands of parenthood?

Kalynne Pudner, Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy at Auburn University, at 5:00 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Correlation, not causality

Jonathan makes some assumptions that probably don’t hold in this particular case.

I have several children (not as many as Kalynne but more than my colleagues) and I am on the tenure track. However, after many years of observing and listening to academics, I think Dr. Pudner is correct in her analysis. Parenting does not seem to be positively perceived in academia. Not once in non-academic circles have I ever heard mothers referred to as “breeders"—but I hear it from academics all the time. (I find the usage of that word to be offensive, and I wonder if such proudly snide people would refer to their own mothers that way.) Obviously, those who have such contempt for parents should not be parents themselves.

EngProf, at 8:15 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Desire for children?

Did the study take into account a desire for children? I’m curious as to whether or not a correlation might exist between women who have no desire to have children and women who go into academe. It may be small, but it still seems like a point worth considering.

Emily, at 9:40 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Choice and environment

Jonathan, my “VAP-idity” (as we like to call it) is a matter of choice, not environment. I took 12 years to complete my Ph.D. because I was the primary caregiver of (then) eight children. I have never been on the tenure track market. We happened to move to Auburn at a time when the university needed someone to teach ethics: there I was, and they liked me. A TT position would be great, but I’ve chosen to put my family first. Ironically to this study, I chose grad school over law school because I wanted a family: I thought the flexibility in academia made becoming a Ph.D. with kids easier than becoming a J.D. with kids.

Now, I may not have had this choice if my husband were an academic (the ten-kid prof was my teacher, whose wife was also not an academic). I sympathize with Underpaid Female Prof, who points out the lack of logistical support that I think is a bigger offense than gender discrimination.

I’ve never been called a “breeder” (to my face!), but the fact that I can ever get any research done has been called “amazing” and “incredible.” And I’ll admit that when I’m hot on a project, the necessary familial interruptions chafe rather badly. Any parent, working or not, is going to have to deal with interruption; I just suspect it bothers academics more than most, which may lead them to avoid becoming parents.

On the other hand, I find that having nine kids brings a certain richness and perspective to my work that I would have missed had I avoided it.

Kalynne Pudner, VAP (by choice) at Auburn University, at 9:40 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Parenthood hinders academe

Interesting that the title of the study is “Does Academe Hinder Parenthood?” I never for a minute thought that I might delay or squash my plans for parenthood based on my academic profession. That said, though, it is absolutely true that my parenting has hindered my professional growth in academia. As a single mother, I have two full time jobs: at the academic institution and at home. This means that outside of work at the university there is little time or energy available for pursuing research, writing, traveling to professional conferences, and many of the other expected activities for someone who intends to seek promotion or tenure. I finally had to give up and get a job in administration, where the day ends (usually) at 5:00. It’s too bad that it has to be either/or (teaching or parenthood), because I think I made a very fine academic and I and many others will be lost to the profession as a result. However, I’m not sorry I made the choice I did. I never will be.

Susan Pratt, at 9:50 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Genetic Dangers of Late Parenthood

One of the dangers of later fatherhood is an increase in offspring who are autistic, schizophrenic, mentally retarded, diabetic, will have cancer, Alzheimer’s or other genetic diseases later in life without a family history. Academics need to know this.http://themalebiologicalclock.blogspot.com/

Leslie Feldman, at 10:50 am EDT on May 23, 2008

“I sympathize with Underpaid Female Prof, who points out the lack of logistical support that I think is a bigger offense than gender discrimination.”

The point is that “lack of logistical support” IS gender discrimination: the workplace conforms to male role patterns.

Grace, at 10:55 am EDT on May 23, 2008

Sometimes more patience, Steve!

In response to Steve’s comment, I can safely say that after seventeen years of teaching, I am MORE patient with my students, more understanding, and more in tune with their interests and daily lives as a result of NOT having children of my own. I am never standing in a classroom after having been up all night with sick children, and I am not pulled in a million different directions by the competing needs of work and family. I commend those with the time, patience, and bravery to raise a family. I never felt I had what it would take. But if you asked my students, they would tell you I stay “younger” as a result. Maybe it is the lack of children at home to be embarrassed when Mom acts like she is 20... I think the institution of academia is hostile to children, not the instructors themselves.

Beth, at 11:40 am EDT on May 23, 2008

To A Parent

This is in response to Steve’s post above:

Wait. What? Because some people in higher education don’t have children, we don’t have empathy for 18-21 year-old college students?

First, once your “child” has enrolled in college, they probably don’t want to be referred to as “children". Secondly, if you feel like your son’s or daughter’s college doesn’t have empathy for students, well....frankly, it’s not really your business at that point. If your son or daughter feels that way, then it’s up to them as young adults to decide how they’re going to deal with it.

The presence or absence of babies in a household does not determine one’s attitude towards college students.

Ambivalent Administrator, at 12:05 pm EDT on May 23, 2008

Does Academe Hinder Parenthood?

The fundamental fact of academic life is that marriage and family are incompatible with the necessary high standards needed for professors who must be constantly researching, keeping up to date with the subject, writing articles, attending conferences, and teaching students — to say nothing of service. It would be far better if the (19th ideal of the academic as a non-married person or one who enters into a union with a partner with both deciding not to have children would be followed.

The very nature of the profession demands a high amount of dedication, a 7 day week work schedule that opposes the 5 day, 9 to 5.0 one for most people. Those who enter academia have to do so with their eyes open and understand the responsibilities which entry into this very privileged world involves. They can not complain after the fact.

Viper, at 3:20 pm EDT on May 23, 2008

A much bigger issue

My first reaction to the question posed in this title was, “Well, duh.” But in fact, the problem is even bigger. I find academic careers to be hostile not only to parenthood but to marriage and family life in general.

The problems described here are not about a hostile department chair here or there, or post-feminist backlash, it’s about the way the academic professional track is set up with one single gauge. For those on the tenure track, it’s all about ‘trajectory’. Anything — children, spousal needs, elderly parents — that gets in the way of the ’six years to tenure’ plan, or the expectation that I will teach 2/2, or 3/3 or 4/4 every semester without end, is viewed as a failure of some kind. In my view, both men and women who wish to plan in some parenting time during those years are discouraged not only in the direct ways described by these posts, but in many indirect and subtle ways. I have never heard a dean tell me to be a ‘well rounded’ person, but I have heard plenty remind me about journal impact scores.

When I was on the job market, most of the campuses I visited had dual academic couples who did not live under the same roof. That idea scared me to death! Some of them became single parents by default because their spouse was teaching in another city. Many campuses pay lip service to programs that help to place the ‘trailing spouse’ in a local job, but few put any real resources or commitment into it, including my department. As a result, I have a trailing spouse who is still job-hunting, and who likely will require me to job hunt myself in a few years.

This is an insidious problem that will only be fixed when administrators recognize the real cost of continually losing and replacing their ‘talent’ because of family demands.

Hoosier Prof, at 3:25 pm EDT on May 23, 2008

Let’s consider data on “why” women faculty have fewer children

Anecdotes can be useful for illustrating data, but one anecdote is just one data point — and not always representative.

For more *data* on why women faculty tend to have lower fertility rates — see http://lser.la.psu.edu/workfam/mappingproject.htm

Bob Drago (Penn State) and colleagues surveyed over 5000 male and female faculty (in Chemistry and English Departments), at different types of higher ed institutions and found that on average women faculty had a fertility rate of.75 children and men had an average fertility rate of about 1.50.

Drago, et. al also asked survey respondents what factored into their decisions and found that high percentages of women had fewer children than they wanted to have. And a major reason why women had fewer children than they wanted was “bias avoidance". Specifically, these women perceived that they would face workplace discrimination for having children and so had fewer children than they wanted to avoid that discrimination.

Regarding the perception of discrimination, a study I did about 10 years ago showed that in a random sample of about 80 four-year U.S. colleges and universities, over 30% had maternity leave policies that didn’t comply with federally mandated standards. So, there is some truth to the perceptions. (See Univ of S. California Review of Law and Women’s Studies).

The data’s there — easy to read. The study reported on by Scott Jaschik is a valuable addition to prior work in this area. Anyone interested in the topics should read the research.

Saranna

Saranna Thornton, Professor at Hampden-Sydney College, at 9:20 am EDT on May 24, 2008

Academia is hostile to children

There are very few female full professors, and very few women with children in my department. Those who had kids had one, generally, and have been stuck at the associate prof rank for years with little hope of advancing to full. I had my second child as an asst. prof and was forced to take a leave (without pay) in order to qualify for the extra year toward tenure I was promised, and the year I had my second child my review scores plummeted (a complete anomaly, and due to hostility on the part of a few faculty members with “breeder” issues — and yes, I have encountered that term). No maternity leave whatsoever, only short-term disability insurance that was outrageously priced (no one has ever bought it, I was told in HR)

The kindhearted moms on the faculty did throw a shower for me, and several have continued to be very supportive. Much more supportive than the job placement coordinator (a woman without kids) in my graduate program who insisted that taking my first child, less than a year old, along on campus visits would result in no job, ever, in academia. Forty-five minute rant about my lack of professionalism. I’m still shocked by it. I ended up with the best job of my cohort, because I am very good at what I do and because I generally know when to stop listening to nonsense. Should have hung up on her, but that would have taken nerve I did not have at that time.

Four day campus visits all over the country, and I was expected to leave my breastfed child home? I pumped, froze and dumped some, I took him and my husband along for some, and kept them well-hidden in the hotel. Six campus visits in a two month period with a tiny baby in the house was pretty damn rough on all of us, but I managed it, and found a decent job. I knew then, though, that I cared more about having a second child than I cared about getting tenure, and if she was the cost of tenure, well, so be it.

Love, love, love the public perception that academics have a cushy life, with summers off... I work year-round, teach overload to pay the bills, and I spent those first tenure-track years sleeping 4-5 hours a night. My physical health deteriorated, and you still wouldn’t want to see the level of cleanliness in my house, but somehow we get the jobs done. All the jobs — the childrearing, the household, the academic stuff, too. I got tenure this year. I know I am exceptional in that regard, because the bar was set very high and it took a great deal of nerve and determination to get through it all.

Academe DEFINITELY hinders and discourages motherhood. My male colleagues, even those who are assistant professors, tend to come from wealthy backgrounds (relative to mine), and have wives who do not work or work part time in order to care for the children. They came into the profession with money for houses, education, cars, etc., since the profession does not pay very well. This was certainly true of the male faculty members in my graduate program, who all came from East Coast money families, and saw academia as a “gentleman’s profession.” This is till often the case.

Would I do it again? Maybe. Not a definite yes on that one. I’m on the other side of the mountain now, but still teaching overload to get through. Husband with a chronic, debilitating illness, so that’s a factor, too. Normal, two-parent, two-wage-earning couples may find it easier than I did (God help the dual academic couples!). I am very frank with my graduate students about the many different costs of graduate study and life in academia.

Dr Mom, Assoc. Prof at Research Intensive, at 12:30 pm EDT on May 24, 2008

I once met a woman engaged in academia who aborted because her pregnancy hampered her career. And she was a professor of demography, too… A great professional indeed, able to work every day of the week, from dawn till late. But a family needs time, and why should you want a family, if all of your time is devoted to your job? Those who choose this profession like it, and should not have babies, or, when they grow up, they will need a psychiatric help. Since this sad experience, my opinion of academics is, they have “a big brain, but a small heart”. Please, profs, keep staying in your ivory tower, and just don’t try to have a family only for the egoism of showing yourself and the world you are normal people.

John, at 5:30 pm EDT on May 24, 2008

Widowed & Childless

Regrettably, I could relate to these research findings. As part of an academic couple, I now find myself both widowed and childless. At age 42, I lost my husband and was left with only our dog (who has since died). Chasing after the “brass ring” was a tragic proposition!

Kimberly Golden, Professor & Counselor, at 12:50 pm EDT on May 25, 2008

The problem extends to granting agencies

This report complements earlier studies indicating that having a family slowed one’s time to tenure and promotion—for both sexes, but much more dramatically for women. It’s a tiny step forward that most universities now allow time off the tenure clock, but many grants and fellowships directed at particular stages in one’s career still don’t account for the different dynamic of the academic with young children. Why don’t postdocs, fellowships for recently tenured scholars, and so on offer an extra year or three of eligibility to people who have had “birth events” in the interim? Grants and fellowships can mean so much to one’s academic success, but the conditions of many of them also favor those who do not have children: residential fellowships, for instance. ACLS, are you listening?? If I ever strike it rich, I’m going to endow a fellowship for new academic mothers. —2 kids (post-tenure); recently promoted to Professor; daycare advocate.

Californian, Professor, at 5:40 am EDT on May 26, 2008

“many female academics may be opting not to have kids.”

Or opting to not have academic careers. I gave up my tenure track position because I could not manage both an academic job and three children.

Deborah, Dr!, at 4:40 am EDT on May 27, 2008

I believe this figure

I’m married to a tenure-track professor at [a top ten university in the US] in [a very liberal city]. She recently had twins. The climate at her institution was extremely hostile to this decision, which makes me completely unsurprised that this study has found female academics to be much less likely to have children.

The senior (all-male) faculty could not have been less supportive during her very difficult pregnancy. Some said things like, “Well, we used to have a policy that no-one could have children before tenure, but I guess we can’t do that any more". Others told her to carry a bag with her to hide the fact she was pregnant.

The university’s policies add one year to your tenure clock if you have a child, but only if you pass your four-year review (which effectively means you would get tenure anyway). In a misguided effort at gender parity, men are allowed to take leave to the same extent women are, but they still regularly leave the childcare up to their wives anyway. This accelerates their progress relative to childless men, childless women AND women with children.

Since she had children, it has become clear that despite an excellent research pipeline for her age and a stellar reputation in her field, the department itself has “written off” my wife as a candidate for tenure. They are now talking about hiring other (presumably childless) women of her age who “have a chance of tenure".

Steve, at 7:30 am EDT on May 27, 2008

Super Producers

Dictyranger,

You hit it directly on the head. Academia relies on “super-producers” (mostly men) who are relying themselves on their spouse (usually a woman) for taking care of the home and kids. Evidently, this is the most “efficient” way of extracting productivity from fixed resources. What is this “wrong"? It is simply efficient, regardless of anyone’s particular “aesthetic.” For those who don’t like it, they can get a different kind of job that doesn’t require this (crazy) condition.

ACF

ACF, at 12:30 pm EDT on May 27, 2008

ScienceProf/ACF tag team

ACF, ScienceProf’s little Cold War era buddy, seems happy to try and antagonize people (mainly women) who seek to create a little balance in life, do good work, and contribute to society in a number of ways. There are no “natural laws” governing creativity and innovation, faculty and researchers cannot all be categorized as either “producers” or “non-producers", and “efficiency” as the ultimate goal (?) — give me a break.

This tag team must work in a two high volume/low impact places of information productivity, not knowledge creation. I see genuine world famous scholars in a range of disciplines who hang out on the sidelines of their childrens’ soccer fields, goof off in campgrounds during holidays, and also work in remarkably productive and creative ways. It is a challenge — one not as feasible in some cases (e.g., when exploited as a sessional, commuting for hours on end, or as a single parent) — but we individually and collectively make choices and fashion our futures within some structural and management constraints. The less impact people like ScienceProf and ACF have in managing people — in determining the working conditions of other people — the better. Don’t elect people like this as administrators, and don’t work in their labs. Sidelining people like them is how we create or maintain positive and civilized working conditions.

RU/VH Tenured Prof, at 6:55 am EDT on May 28, 2008

Reductio

OK, Viper, SciProf and ACF: for optimum productivity as you describe it, you should be celibate and live in a small stone cell next to the library. Add the internet to a medieval monastery and you would have an ideal environment for scholarly productivity. Those nine religious services per day you would participate in would give your mind all the time it needs for lateral thinking, provided you can chant and cogitate at the same time. You could produce plenty of articles that would be primarily of interest to other cell-dwellers and would exert little influence on those who make decisions that affect the quality of life for all humanity.

Grocheio (who has been there and done that)

Grocheio, Asst VP Planning and Institutional Effectiveness at Shorter College, at 12:10 pm EDT on May 29, 2008

Based on my experience Academe is not hostile to Parenthood

My experience has been very different from most of the posters here. I find academe an ideal career for raising children. While in grad school my child was 5-9 years old. I could be home when he got home from school, attend his actvities and school functions without too much difficulty. My wife and I recently had more children. My schedule is very flexible and with the summer break plus the parental leave my university provides I was able to stay home with my kids for the first 7 months of their lives.

I do find academe a demanding profession but I never really worked more than 9-5 hours. I may do some reading after hours, but I like reading the material associated with my discipline. If it were up to me I would do this type of reading even on vacation. I try not to so as to not piss off my wife.

What other profession do you get 3 months off in the summer and 1 month during the winter? It’s true that this time must be used for research. But the flexibility cannot be beat.

Luke_Cage, at 10:15 am EDT on May 30, 2008

not 9-5 (or 100 hours/week)

I’m way late to this discussion — solo parenting my kids for the past few weeks left no time for such things — but I agree with Luke: you really can’t beat the flexibility of academia. (And I’m the mom.) Sure, academic work can leak into any part of your day or night, but the happy flip side is that a lot of it can be moved around to accommodate the rest of life. (Note to Science Prof: there is more to life than dreamed of in your philosophy.) Still, the most interesting thing in this article was the comparisons w/other professions — all the lawyers I know farm their kids out to day care and nannies from about 4 months, so there is no doubt much more to the story than the table presented. I’d hate to see anyone discouraged from having children whilst pursuing an academic career (or vice-versa) — there are myopic wackos in all professions who see having children as a personal hobby that detracts from professional productivity, just as there are people in all professions who cultivate a life beyond their jobs and understand that you will too.

perpetual student, Associate Prof, at 11:10 pm EDT on July 11, 2008