Women in Academia and the Burden of Successful Parenting
Keywords:
academic career, attachment, feminism, motherhood, women's roleAbstract
Responsive parenting is crucial for development of children's attachment style. Securely attached children, can build a more empathetic society in the future. Despite academic freedom, the nature of academic work is highly competitive. In Eastern European cultures, where the mentality still prevails that caring for children is mainly a task for women, this places great demands on women who also pursue an academic path. The aim of the study was to define their views on juggling the role of mother and academic career. A qualitative study was conducted to outline women's views and experiences of combining an
academic career and motherhood. The data consisted of semi-structured interviews with 8 women working as academics at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and 6 women at the University of Brno (Czech Republic), at different stages of academic careers, but all having children. All participants were assured anonymity. The study findings suggest that academic world in the studied countries is not parent friendly, so that women find themselves in a balancing act between the role as mothers and their roles and responsibilities as academics, resulting in a constant feeling of double guilt as they feel they are falling short at both ends.
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